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Weekly challenge: Take inspiraton from maps or globes

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com

Oh hello there. Let me bring us back to our regularly scheduled scrappiness. A few things (mainly Wonder Boy learning he cannot actually fly) made me hit my first real bump in the road with keeping up with my master plan, but I hope you were able to use the pause in time to catch up with some crafty things and you’re ready for something new now! I am, and I’m happy to say I finally got unstuck with the project that was sitting half-finished on my desk pre-derailment, and got that scrapbooking project and several others finished and photographed today. Huzzah! I’ll have a few extra things to share in the next few days as I play catch up, but let’s have our weekly challenge on Monday while it’s still just barely Monday in my time zone, shall we?

weekly challenge: take inspiration from maps or globes @ shimelle.com

Way back in 2011, I wasn’t designing products for American Crafts but instead designed projects using their lines as part of my year-long spot on their design team. It coincided with the start of Amy’s collections at AC and it was definitely a joy to have every little piece of those collections, as I’ve always cherry picked my favourite pieces when doing my own shopping and can’t think of a time when I’ve splurged on an entire collection in one go. (I have been known to go back and buy missing pieces if I’m really loving how one collection works, though!) At any rate, this page is one of my favourites I created in that year of designing with all things AC, and it’s relevant to this week’s challenge, I promise!

And now, on to the challenge! This week, think as symbolic as you choose. I challenge you this week to take maps or globes as your scrapbooking inspiration. Just create a new scrapbook page inspired in some way by the idea of maps and globes – be that a more literal travel page with globe-shaped die-cuts or something more metaphorical, like a personal journey toward a goal. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Kirsty Smith and guest artist Margie Visnick.

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by KIRSTY SMITH

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by KIRSTY SMITH

One of the things I love most about the Starshine collection is that it really does work for a huge range of different subjects and styles. I LOVE to travel and take photographs as I explore, and I’m always on the lookout for new designs and ideas to inspire my travel layouts. Starshine seems absolutely tailor-made! I adore the little starry globes in Shimelle’s new line and I used one as a great starting point for this page.

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by KIRSTY SMITH

I used the globe as a focal point on a background of map-themed patterned paper. I added my photos and journaling on one side of the page, and used the starry globe to launch little stitched flight paths for paper aeroplanes soaring around the world.

I’m a huge fan of aqua, (I blame Shimelle!) and I layered up lots of coordinating stickers and papers to frame my design and my title, which had to be glittery Thickers! I used little flashes of pink to give a bit of contrast, from layers peeping out behind the photos, to puffy little heart stickers to add detail to the paper aeroplane flight paths.
- Kirsty

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by Margie Visnick

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by Margie Visnick

My scrapbook pages are quite often inspired by all of the lovely products that are available, and quite often, it sparks a story or reminds me of a moment that I need to record. This was definitely the case with the beautiful globe print, “Exploration”, from the Starshine collection. The globe plus floral pattern immediately reminded me of Epcot at Walt Disney World, and exploring the “World”, when we were there right after the Flower and Garden Festival. I started browsing my folder of photos from Epcot that day, and stumbled across this photo of my daughter, with a story still waiting to be told, and I had the basics for my page.

weekly challenge:weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by MARGIE VISNICK

I chose a blue/grey polka dot from the True Stories for the background of my page, and layered it up with several of my favorite patterned papers from the Starshine collection, and a pretty pink watercolor ombre paper from Amy Tangerine’s new Better Together collection, along with a piece of gold foiled vellum from Dear Lizzy’s Fine & Dandy collection. Shimelle’s new floral washi tape from Starshine was the perfect addition to draw the eye across the page, and from there, all that was left to do was to layer up an assortment of embellishments. I mixed all sorts of different bits, mostly from the Starshine collection, all though a couple of wee bits from an old Basic Grey die cut assortment did make their way into the layout, simply because they were on my desk, and needed to be used. I used stamped bits (the navy globe under the first letter of the title, and the tiny navy rose in the cluster to the right), punches, chipboard stickers, die cuts, an acetate piece that I stapled to a scrap of white cardstock so that it would show up, and some flair.
- Margie



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!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share some new projects of my own. I have both my old + new products and my monochromatic challenge pages ready to show you!

Today’s Guest Artist: Margie Visnick loves scrapbooking, photography, and red velvet everything. You can find more from Margie on Instagram, Pinterest, and her blog.

Weekly Challenge :: Go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com

It’s been a long while since we first talked about colour theory on this blog, but ever since it’s come up just now and then. Maybe it’s me wishing for spring, but colour is on my mind so much lately, and I’m finding it more a creative pull than perhaps it usually is. Playing with so many different colour combinations is bringing me much joy, and I’d love for you to feel happy creating with your favourite colours too. Which means, I’m going to ask you to play favourites. If I force you to answer right this second, what’s your favourite colour?

And now take that answer, and go on to the challenge! This week, it’s definitely okay to play favourites. I challenge you this week to go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page. Choose one colour and select your supplies only in that colour, though you can use plenty of shades (adding white) or tints (adding black) to have plenty to work with, and make a new scrapbook page. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! You’re welcome to include black and white photos or colourful prints – the photos themselves do not need to be monochromatic, just your page design. To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Nicole Nowosad and guest artist Zsoka Marko.

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Nicole Nowosad

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Nicole Nowosad

I find a lot of inspiration from mixing different colours and so the thought of just using one was a bit of a challenge for me until I broke it down into being just all about shading! Once I wrapped my head around the idea of using a monochromatic colour scheme, it was really just about shades of pink/red and not so much about using “one colour” anymore.

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Nicole Nowosad

I used several different colours and patterns of pink/red in the Starshine collection and kept the lines clean by using small one inch squares of the different patterns and colours and arranging in a quilt like pattern to help mix up the various shades of pink/red in the collection!
- Nicole

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Zsoka Marko

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Zsoka Marko

When I saw the word “monochromatic” in this challenge, that was it! I’ve been hoarding this striped paper from Shimelle’s True Story line for ages, waiting for the right moment, and now it just seemed fitting! I’ve created this circle cut file from some car cut files I’ve found at the Silhouette store, then backed all circles with different papers; some from the same Shimelle collection, some from other brands in my stash.

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Zsoka Marko

I love using lots of embellishments on my pages but here I kept them to a minimum: wooden buttons and star stickers from Freckled Fawn plus enamel dots and brads from Simple Stories. I didn’t have Thickers I quite liked on this layout so I spray painted some white ones with Shimmerz Vibez in deep blue sea for my custom colour.
- Zsoka



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!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share how I took on this challenge! Place your bets on what colour I’ve chosen this time.

Today’s Guest Artist: Zsoka Marko loves cut files, circles, and lots of embellishments. You can find more from Zsoka on Instagram, in her scrapbooking gallery, and on her blog.

Scrapbook Journaling for Childhood Memories

Scrapbook Journaling for Childhood Memories by meghann andrew @ shimelle.com

Today I’m delighted to welcome contributing designer Meghann Andrew to share her thoughts on journaling, childhood, and scrapbooks. Thank you Meghann!

As a mom to a toddler, I am in the midst of childhood every day – surrounded by toys, tantrums, make believe moments and big adventures that take us just down the street. While ninety-five percent of what I scrapbook lately is my daughter, I also think it is important to reflect on our own experiences in life, and document them. All too often in my journaling, I find myself starting with, “today we,” or “we went,” typically sticking with the facts and how I felt about the experience, but this layout takes a different approach to my journaling, and I decided to compare my childhood in the 80s to my daughter’s childhood today.

Scrapbook Journaling for Childhood Memories by meghann andrew @ shimelle.com

The idea for this approach came from the photo of my daughter, sitting in the airport terminal, casually playing on an iPhone, waiting for our flight to board, and all of the feelings and memories of my own childhood that that photo evoked. My layout, which also features a photo of myself at the same age, playing with a stuffed animal, rather than a tech gadget, was designed with two separate vertical columns of photos and text with a third column of embellishment in the middle to show the separation between us.

Scrapbook Journaling for Childhood Memories by meghann andrew @ shimelle.com

To ground the photos with a horizontal element underneath, I stamped my title with a playful, yet clean alphabet stamp to fit the design and color palette of the layout. This also created a great transition between my photos and my journaling, and I added a number 2 from the Shimelle layered chipboard stickers in between my photos, with a circle die-cut underneath from the True Stories tags.

I had to type my words to fit all of the journaling I wanted in the space that was available. Without a wide-format printer, I decided to be brave and cut my background cardstock in half, after stamping my title! I knew where the photos would go, and from there I formatted a 6×12 page in Photoshop to type my words.

journaling: compare & contrast childhood experiences with meghann andrew @ shimelle.com

Drafting that journaling was the highlight of creating this layout. I gave myself time to sit and think and jot down memories from my childhood, which was awesome. How often do we take the time to do that? Once I had ideas for my column, I moved to my daughter’s and compared what I had written about my own childhood to her life now. Some of these comparisons, like how we were/are both only children for a long period, or how we were both most comfortable with adults, surprised me. I had never thought of them before.

Once I figured out the main comparisons I wanted to feature on the layout, I typed them in the space that I had between my title and the strip of patterned paper from the Starshine collection at the bottom of the layout. To make sure the two sides had things in the same place, I typed my text for my memories, printed it to check it would work, then went back to the same document and changed the text to my daughter’s memories, and printed that. After printing each side separately, I pasted them together with a twelve inch strip of cardstock at the back. I wasn’t troubled by seeing a hairline where the two pages met, but I tried to cover it as best as I could with embossed stars from the Starshine stamp set, and punched circles from the True Stories Berry Infusion paper. (If you don’t have a pinked circle punch, a die set like this can be helpful and offer a wide range of sizes.) After adding a few more embellishments to my central column to increase the texture on the page, I called this layout done.

Today, I’d like you to think about your own childhood and how it may be different than childhood for your children, parents, spouse, or siblings. The similarities or differences may surprise you, and may inspire you to document the story today. I’d love for you to share how you put this journaling exercise to work in your scrapbook.

Weekly Challenge :: Mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites

weekly challenge: Mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites @ shimelle.com

It’s nearly four years since my sparkly friend shared a video adventure of this page, mixing all her old supplies with new and coming up with kits to make them work. Which means everything highlighted as the ‘new’ then is basically the ‘old’ now. But I still have a few select bits of the ‘old’ from then… which means the old piles up. I cannot be the only one to experience this phenomenon.

And so, on to the challenge! This week, take that pile of old down a notch. I challenge you this week to mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites. All you have to do is create a new scrapbook page, choosing supplies that are a mix of newer purchases and older items in your collection. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! Don’t worry about how new or how old something is in the bigger scheme of things – everyone’s stash is a little different, so just go with your definition of what feels old and new to you when you look at what you have. To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer May Flaum and guest artist Aimee Madden.

weekly challenge: mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites @ shimelle.com // layout by May Flaum

weekly challenge: mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites @ shimelle.com // layout by May Flaum

When mixing old and new product, I focus on what I’m trying to create instead of the product. What am I making? What colors do I need? Sizes? Textures? Patterns? By making the focus on what I’m making, it makes the use of various brands and older with newer product seamless. Instead of worrying if things go together, I focus on the project and enjoy the process.

weekly challenge: mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites @ shimelle.com // layout by May Flaum {full page by contributing designer}

Nothing brings out my inner child faster than time at a Disney Park – and adding dressing up to the equation is just loads of fun! Luckily, I’ve got a daughter that is just as fun loving as I am that decided it’d be a great idea for us to get in the Star Wars spirit together. What could top all of this off? Having some navy and star covered papers from Shimelle’s new Starshine line to bring everything together.
- May

weekly challenge: mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites @ shimelle.com // layout by Aimee Maddern

I have always loved to mix and matching product, but just recently have I been able to use up my stash! I normally am a white space scrapper using very little product. Lately seeing a little bit of everything on a page makes me really happy.

weekly challenge: mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites @ shimelle.com // layout by Aimee Maddern

With that happiness in mind, I used lots of different product for this layout that represents/reminds me of my childhood. I used Shimelle’s True Stories Collection as my main product focus, but I love how it mixes with so many other products and collections. The white background allowed me to determine exactly what I would add as I went along, and I was particularly happy with how this strategy let me include plenty of textures and dimensions without any stressful or super messy techniques.
- Aimee



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!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share how I took on this challenge! Now go, go, go find the old stash you know you love and want to get into your albums!

Today’s Guest Artist: Aimee Maddern loves non-fat lattes, traveling and the beach. You can find more from Aimee on Instagram, Studio Calico, and her blog.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

Today, please welcome contributing designer Kirsty Smith, with her delicate and handmade take on a Valentine of a scrapbook page. Thank you, Kirsty!

As Valentine’s Day approaches, it’s nice to be able to scrapbook about the people in our lives that we love. But while pages about loved ones are topical at this time of year, and there’s lots of great inspiration around, we don’t have to document these feelings with giant pink hearts. So today, I’m going to share with you a page that is personal and heartfelt, but takes a look at the theme of love from a different design perspective.
Don’t get me wrong: I love pink as much as the next person and I use a heart icon on almost all my pages as a heart is a universal way to indicate that you like something, or someone. But it’s nice to mix things up sometimes.

I wanted to make a page about my relationship with my partner, documenting some of the letters I’ve written to him over the last few years. I loved the idea of recording the things that I have written so that I can look back on them at some point.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

I used a photo as the starting point for this page, and drew the colours of blue, grey, yellow and teal from the picture. I wanted the page to have a soft, romantic feel with plenty of space, but to still have plenty of detail. To me, this means a clean, white background, and lots of detail in layers.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

I pulled my supplies together and found I had three key elements to the page. First the picture, which influenced the colour choices. Next came the journaling. I wrote my journaling out onto little sheets of writing paper and folded them to fit into a vellum envelope. I find vellum to be a wonderful material for journaling like this: it’s just dusky enough to hide the details of more private words from casual eyes, but it’s transparent enough to let my handwriting show through. I always aim to include my handwriting on my pages in one way or another; our handwriting is something that is unique to each and every one of us, and it’s a nice way to add your own twist to a design.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

I also created a title that would reflect the letter-writing idea of the page. I wrote out my phrase on scrap paper in a thick, black marker pen, making sure all the words were touching and adding a heart here and there both to tie in with the design and link the phrase together more securely. I cut out the phrase to make a template, and then traced around it onto cardstock. To complete the title, I cut out the cardstock title with a craft knife. I’ve used this technique a lot lately, and if you use a die cutting machine, it’s probably much quicker and you will achieve the same effect. But I enjoy the process, and I have been loving the lacy, delicate look titles like this produce.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

My only concern with the title was that it wouldn’t stand out or be legible, so I outlined it in black pen for emphasis, and stacked the title on coordinating scraps of patterned paper. The layers add detail without being overwhelming, and raising the title up on foam squares makes it a real feature of the page.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

With the three parts of my page ready – photo, journaling and title – I was ready to put my design together. The three elements together nicely filled three points of a 2×2 grid design. Grids are wonderful starting points for scrapbook pages, but I didn’t want anything too rigid or blocky in style which might clash with the softer feel of this page. So I opted to create a background design on the white cardstock to give the illusion of the fourth square in the grid, and to add additional layers of texture to the page.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

To create a background design, I sketched out a few slightly wonky heart shapes, and cut them out with scissors (although punches or die cuts would work equally well!). I arranged them on the page and in pencil, filled in the middle with a few words drawn from my journaling. The grey of the pencil tied in nicely with colour scheme and meant the contrast with the background was less severe than the black journalling pen.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

Then I adhered my hearts to the page with a trusty clear glue, and the background was complete!
Making a background like this is a great way to add detail to a page. It adds layers and texture through the use of text, but because the design is white on white, it won’t draw attention away from the main focus of the page.

Lovehearts don't have to be red: A scrapbooking tutorial in textures and layers by Kirsty Smith @ shimelle.com

This page is a layout of contrasts. It’s a Valentine’s day page without pink; it’s a simple grid design with lots of detailed letters; it has hidden journaling in plain sight and there are four square blocks with only three of them filled. For me, it works and this is a page I hope I can keep adding too, tucking future letters and sentiments away into the envelope to look back on one day.

Of course we’d love to see what you create inspired by Kirsty’s techniques! But which will you pick? Are you going to try the hand lettering or maybe writing in a tiny heart frame? Or the white on white colour scheme? Decisions, decisions!

Scrapbooking with pink and red

scrapbooking with pink AND red @ shimelle.com

Are you feeling the lovey-dovey vibe with your scrapbooking this week or do you prefer to opt out of all things Valentine? I had to laugh when I looked back at my photo library for what we did for Valentine’s Day 2015 – we set the table properly and ate lunch during nap time. That’s all. And it was awesome and should definitely go in my scrapbook. But in crafty days, I love Valentine’s as an excuse to mix pink and red together. Truly pink is just red with white added, so they certainly go together in a monochromatic sort of way, but it’s not a combination we see everywhere and it feels just a little extra special and maybe even rebellious to me.

scrapbooking with pink AND red @ shimelle.com

I threw orange into the mix today as well, and I wasn’t really planning that. But that Sassafras Valentine cut-apart sheet included orange and it made sense. In colour wheel terms, red-red/orange-orange all in row makes them analogous colours, so there’s a harmony there. A bit like blue and green feeling like the sky and the grass, red and orange feels like the colours of the horizon at sunset! But I had pulled out so many patterns, with all the hearts and text and that bold floral in the background, and I knew those two square photos would get a bit lost, so I blocked out a big section of the page in black. Solid black would work, but I just prefer more pattern! This dot is more subtle in terms of my pattern selections, and adding brown ink around the edges toned it a bit more in line with that vintage floral background. Or so I’d like to think, anyway!

scrapbooking with pink AND red @ shimelle.com

In design terms, I did something a little different – no triangle of things surrounding the pictures! There are still three areas of more embellishment with the chipboard and wood veneer hearts, but they are all in that column on the right. I think their placement brings more attention to the cuter of the two photos (the one on the right) but that photo on the left might be a bit lost. Not enough for me to change anything, but it’s nice to look back and evaluate sometimes. I think the lighter bits of the patterned papers, like the calendar, the text behind the photos and the frame around the orange card at the bottom are really key in this mix of so much stuff. That off-white tone helps it from being too dark and heavy, and those do create a triangle that surrounds the photos, so I’ve not gone full on rebel or anything.

Today I’ve also asked guest artist Karla Yungwirth to take on the pink and red challenge, and she obliged with a Project Life style!

scrapbooking with pink AND red - page by Karla Yungwirth @ shimelle.com

Not too long ago, my husband and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary! It was such a special day, and I wanted this page to really focus on our love for each other. I looked for red and pink pieces in my scrapbook supplies and was surprised at how many ‘love’ themed papers and ephemera I actually had!

scrapbooking with pink AND red - page by Karla Yungwirth@ shimelle.com

I pulled papers from Shimelle’s True Stories collection and a Fancy Pants paper pad as well as using stickers, stamps, rub-ons and some My Mind’s Eye accessories to complete my pocket page. With eight pockets but just three photos, I made sure my pictures were the size of the full pockets so they wouldn’t get lost, but I still had plenty of room for my journaling and to play with embellishments in the pink and red colour scheme for a monochromatic look.
-Karla

Karla and I would love to see anything you’ve created with both red and pink, be it a scrapbook page or a Valentine greeting. Share it in the comments if you like! Happy crafting, no matter what subject you’re scrapping today.

Today’s Guest Artist: Karla Yungwirth loves family craft sessions, organizing and, of course, scrapbooking. You can find more from Karla on Instagram, Facebook, and her blog.

Glitter Girl Adventure 128: Old Stash Simplification

Glitter Girl Adventure 128: Old Stash Simplification scrapbooking video @ shimelle.com

This week’s question comes from Val, who asked:
I miss using all my older scrapbooking tools and supplies like mist, paint, and plain chipboard. I know styles change, but I have so much older stuff. It would make me feel better to mix my new and old supplies more frequently. Glitter Girl, can you help?

So this week, Glitter Girl shares her top tips for getting rid of the guilt of scrapbooking supplies you’ve had a long time and getting more of them onto your pages, and of course there’s a new scrapbook page to show those tips in action. Come along for the adventure, won’t you?

Let go of anything giving you guilt
I know what is like to hold onto supplies because you paid good money for them. I’ve been writing about this topic for a while now and I often find myself looking at supplies and asking myself ‘is this the new version of my special expensive paper?’ and sometimes it totally is. I liked it when I bought it but I kept it because I spent money on it… not because I am loving how it would look on my page. So with the exception of that original super ugly paper that made me have the realisation, if I don’t love it, it goes to someone else. It might be brand new or I may have had it for fifteen years.

Plain chipboard is something I don’t really love, and I only had a few little exceptions I had kept because I thought they would be easy to adapt. I’m taking that as a good sign that I didn’t have to choose between twenty-three unopened packages of plain chipboard shapes.

Find a way to let go that makes you feel good instead of rubbish
Years ago, I posted on Freecycle to give away a big box of offcuts and leftover workshop supplies and stuff that was just weighing me down but was still so lovely I didn’t want to just put it in the recycling. Someone answered and it turned out she ran crafting workshops with the patients in a children’s hospital. Perfect. I give her big boxes a few times a year and I feel good about it rather than rubbish! I love that I can help with a cause that hits my heart. You don’t need to find your good connection in some random way like that and you can go direct to a source you know. Call up a children’s hospital, school, scouting group, Sunday school, family shelter – whatever feels right to you. Don’t let not knowing anyone there scare you. You can send an email or make a phone call and find the solution for you, if you are in the position of being overrun with supplies. (If your stash is small and you don’t have the overrun problem, that’s okay too! But it does happen, and it’s good to make a change for the better than to live with guilt every time you look at your supplies.)

Choose up to three older products or tools to use at any time
If I set myself a mission to ‘use older stuff’, I would be so overwhelmed. There are too many options, especially after so many years of scrapping and collecting supplies! I work best with a visual reminder I can see and I don’t like to move around much once I start my page (even though I scrap standing up – go figure). A mission that does work for me is something more narrow and specific, so I can challenge myself to ‘use acrylic paint, plain chipboard, and embossing powder’ and I put those things on my desk before I start the page. That way I couldn’t easily forget – they were staring at me! (I’ll admit, this visual aid works best if my desk is relatively tidy when I start so nothing gets lost.) I ended up making a few more silver hearts than were practical for my finished design, so those are currently still on my desk, waiting to go on my next project. They’d be great for a Valentine card, so I’ll use them straight away but I packed them away somewhere, I guarantee I would forget and in three years we’d be having this discussion about challenging myself to use two random silver hearts. Trust me.

Create pages that are still in a style you love
With just those few things picked out as my old supply mission, I don’t feel obligated to time warp my style to how I was scrapbooking when I purchased every colour of acrylic paint or stockpiled plain chipboard (remember the cute lunch tins they came in? They made it hard to resist!) and I can mix those elements with current papers, stickers, and whatever else, as well as photos currently inspiring me. My style stays true to how I make stuff today, which gives me a little game of figuring out how to mix those older things with the new ones! (Short answer: usually less is more and I find I’ll add a little acrylic paint now where ten years ago I would have added a heap of the stuff. On this page, I love the texture it gives to those paint layers without the layout shouting HEY! I USED MY PAINT! IN 2016! This makes me happy. I’m not a fan of shouty pages.)

Glitter Girl Adventure 128: Old Stash Simplification scrapbooking video @ shimelle.com

In terms of supplies, the old stuff is old, okay! Jenni Bowlin chipboard hearts (I also kept quite a few of her chipboard butterflies), Ranger acrylic paint from the days when Jenni was a signature designer there, and American Crafts Zing embossing powder in silver. The papers come from my Starshine line (the grey star), Dear Lizzy Documentary (ampersands and turquoise boxes) and Happy Place (red cross hatch). Plus silver Fitzgerald Thickers for the title, a journaling card from the Polka Dot Party Project Life mini kit, washi tape from an old Studio Calico kit, stickers from True Stories, and some red Pebbles pearl dots. I think that’s everything!

If you want a bit more Glitter Girl in your life, you’re welcome to chat and share what you’re making in the Facebook group Scrapbook like a Superhero. See you next Wednesday for a new adventure!

My take on scrapbooking with hearts

scrapbook page by shimelle laine @ shimelle.com

Some days, short and sweet scrapping sessions are just the thing, and that’s the case with my take on this week’s scrapbook with hearts challenge. I had twenty minutes, a photo already printed, and a few papers on my desk. Time to go, go, go!

Cutting boxes is quick, so I cut one square to frame the square photo and three more into horizontal rectangles, each a little bigger than the last. All those papers are from the Starshine collection – the background is from my first collection with AC. The two 3×4 cards were already that size, and easy to find in a box of cards roughly filed by colour. They are both Studio Calico designs – the one of the left from a 12×12 cut apart paper and the one on the right came in a kit from about this time last year.

Using the same paper as one of the boxes for the embellishments is another way to speed things up! Punches and dies are quick and easy enough for cutting shapes, but hearts are something I prefer to cut by hand. I cut one large heart then four small hearts from the scraps around the edges of the big heart.

It was at this point that I really wanted something more floral to pick up on all the daffodils in the background of the photo. (They are out already this year! It’s crazy.) I am currently wasting no opportunities to use that shaped washi tape with the flowers! A little at the top and a little at the bottom of the page made me realise where everything else would go: title between the photo and the big heart, journaling down the page in a column on the right, and a little bit of embellishment below that to connect it all and act a little like a frame so the journaling catches your eye a bit more. I felt like a bit of colour at the bottom would help it not feel so bland, so found another strip of the same paper that frames the square photo to run across the bottom edge.

Simple simple title with Thickers and Studio Calico stickers (from that same Valentine kit), two little rub-ons with sweet sentiments in typewriter text (mostly to make the black journaling pen not feel so stark), and a bunch of little enamel hearts from Amy Tangerine.

Start to finish in twenty-five minutes. Because some days the need for sleep and the need for creativity are in a big, big battle, yes?

Happy scrapping with hearts, whether you have just a few minutes or several hours of blissful creating time this week!