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

Many months ago, I shared my original plan for keeping a baby’s first year album in the Project Life format. Time for a bit of a reality check, I think.

So far, this album has four printed 4×6 landscape images for every week up to three weeks ago (I order prints roughly monthly, so that makes sense), all placed in the correct pockets, with each week’s page protectors labelled with a post-it note for the date. All of those weeks in 2014 also have the additional photos printed (at a smaller size) and just stored in one of the pockets for that week, uncropped and not planned for placement for most of the weeks. There are notes for each week in one of three places, which seems disorganised but worked well for me, as depending on my location it would be easiest to jot something down in either my planner, a small notebook I keep in my bag, or my phone. They are all small enough and organised enough within themselves that it’s no problem to have all three with me when I go to scrapbook a week.

That’s a fair amount I was able to keep up with as we went through the year, but completed pretty pages are pretty lacking. There are about ten complete weeks and an additional six that have the photos and supplies picked out and in the album, ready to put together. It does make it all come together relatively quickly for me if I’m not interrupted but it’s also possible to do bits and pieces in two or three minutes here or there. So that seems pretty balanced and practical to life as I now know it.

I’ve kept the ideas of choosing two colours for each week, using white borders on the 4×6 cards, mixing my handwriting with the old typewriter, and the label stamp with text on the four larger photos. The second 3×4 slot from the far left is always an accent card, but the other cards mix and match from accents, photos, and journaling. Supplies for this particular week include Sassafras Sunshine Broadcast, Carta Bella Hello Again, a WRMK 3×4 tablet, glitter stickers from Pebbles’ Jen Hadfield collection, my grey letter tile stickers, some Studio Calico chipboard, twine, and stickers, and the sticker book from Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic, so it’s safe to say I am embracing quite a few old favourites in this album! I’m finding that quite refreshing.

I love seeing this book come together, but I feel most of the emotion in it will come when the writing is in place for far more weeks! I’m not particularly concerned about finishing it all by any certain date, as I really just don’t work well on those sorts of personal project deadlines, but I’m still glad I had a plan from the beginning and so happy that including all those landscape shots has reminded me to use my proper camera rather than just relying on my phone, as all my favourite shots from Wonder Boy’s first year are those lushly lit, better composed photos I capture on my DSLR – though I am still glad I have snapped so many pictures by having my phone to hand. Hurrah for modern technology.

I’m not sure any of that is a revelation, but it seemed worth sharing. Thank you so much for the warm welcome back this week, whether you are reading and watching quietly or saying hello or sharing something yourself. It still feels quietly odd, but it is lovely to craft and talk about craft again!

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I know it’s early days, but so far I’m making good on my quest to get using those supplies I ordered when I wasn’t really stepping anywhere near my scissors and glue. It means I have a page that is out of season for this hemisphere, but I’ve never really been one for having to scrap in line with the calendar anyway, so why not a bit of crunchy leaves and knitted hoodies?

In pretty much every video I’ve ever shared, I’ve had a specific goal from the beginning, like a technique, design concept, or some sort of problem and solution that guided the process. I decided to throw all that out the window and see what would happen if I just made the page and narrated it as I went, and kept the editing pretty minimal. The answer is about thirty-two minutes long. Sigh. That will not be everyone’s cup of tea. I’m warning you now, so if half hour videos of a single scrapbook page are just not your style, please don’t watch and then invoice me for those thirty-two minutes of your life. I can’t give them back, I can only warn you in advance.

On the other hand, if you want to see what random thoughts come to mind as I scrapbook in pretty much real time, then the ‘As it Happens’ concept is for you. You just may want several cups of tea ready to go before you press play.

The supplies for this page came from two Studio Calico kits I purchased a few months back: the Walden scrapbook kit and the Underground Project Life kit.

May your autumn bring you plenty of pretty, crunchy leaves… whether that is now or in six months!

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Back in the Scrapbook Inspirations days, I used to write a piece about colour stories – sometimes it was something we used just in planning and when we went to the book format, we actually developed it into an article. And I found all the inspiration for those was purely visual. In recent weeks, a specific colour story has jumped to mind and it didn’t come from the visual at all. It came from a song that has been stuck in my head for what seems like an eternity.

We very much like They Might Be Giants in this household. In fact, it is one of the reasons I went on a second date with The Boy: I met him when he was working in a record store and I figured anyone working in a record store could at least have one date of decent conversation in them by talking about music. When the two bands he name dropped first were the Pixies and They Might Be Giants, I knew there would be more than one date of decent discussion! Even my grandmother will tell you that I have loved this band since my youth, and I thank her profusely for letting me use her phone on occasion to call their Dial a Song hotline to cheer me up on rotten days. (Dial a Song is back but weekly on their YouTube channel. I rejoiced, I tell you.)

In the years since I joined an epic conga line at my first TMBG show, they added children’s albums to their repertoire and I remained aware but blissfully ignorant of most of them. Until six months ago, when Wonder Boy was giggling so much at their back catalogue that it seemed appropriate to pull out the children’s tracks, even if Meet the Elements is perhaps a little beyond his comprehension at present. That song may indeed inspire a colour story and a layout on another day, but today it is most definitely a song about a magical little elf called Roy G. Biv.

That song plus the blanket in the background of the photo set me in a spin of finding a rainbow of colour to use on a layout. There is a bit of True Stories on this page (in stores next month!) and also some Simple Stories Daily Grind, paper from my first 6×6 tablet, and that yellow sheet is an older Studio Calico paper.

I don’t think I grabbed that particular blanket with a specific thought in mind at that moment, but once it was printed, something really came through that I wanted to tell, and that was how much Wonder Boy’s personality changed around six months. Those first six months were pretty rough some days with a boy who seemed grumpy so much of the time, but once we were to the point where he could grab things and start to sit up, he was a bundle of happiness. I am sure much of that crabby personality was simply wanting to do things and not being able to do them, or however that translates to baby logic. I still wouldn’t trade the days with him even when he was grumpy, but that colourful personality had me hook, line, and sinker. I’ll take cheeky over subdued any day.

These days we play that incredibly catchy tune some time in the morning, with an amazing accompaniment of tambourine, maracas, and blown raspberries, so even with a quieter flat and some time to scrapbook, I found myself singing about that colourful man, proudly found at the rainbow’s end. I suppose it is nearly St. Patrick’s day, after all. Maybe that calls for a rainbow or two. I’ll let you know if I find the corresponding pot o’ gold.

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For so long, I’ve had the mantra that I must use at least as much as I buy – preferably more – in terms of scrapbooking supplies. But somehow I forgot my mantra entirely while taking that break More than once or twice, I convinced myself if I placed an order for new supplies, I’d find a way to scrapbook.

It may have taken me a few hours to open those parcels and find my desk recently. It’s shameful. My immediate plan is to get out of this surplus situation with a new stack of layouts into albums, a file of cards ready for all occasions, and perhaps even catching up on Wonder Boy’s Project Life baby book. And so Cut, Stick, Stamp is born: one of the new series I’ll be sharing here with projects and videos. It’s a pretty simple concept – multiple ideas for one stamp. I’m starting with a Studio Calico stamp I couldn’t ignore: this Alice in Wonderland Tea Party set by Emily McDowell.

Starting with just the text and teacup outline, I tried a simple photo embellishment shaded with markers. This teacup was coloured with Copic numbers G82, G24, and G99. Simple, quick, and easy to add just a bit of journaling to the empty space of a 4×6 photo to pop it into a divided page protector. But I think this stamp gets a bit better…

The set also includes a large solid image to create a shadow effect that colours the cup with ink. Sets that include a solid shadow and a coordinating line drawing are always my favourites! This 3×4 card is cut from watercolour paper, with the cup and text outline stamped first (using waterproof black ink) then the shading stamp added with two shades of pink Distress Inks. For this card, I added a bit of the same watercolour shades to the top edge and some of the small flower stamps in this set, plus a label and some stitching, but the video below shows the same stamping technique step by step for use on a 12×12 page.

Same idea, but quicker and less fuss: stamping the block image with a paler ink rather than adding any water to things. Just an even colour rather than the more delicate shading with the Distress Inks and water. Other supplies on this card include Cosmo Cricket patterned papers, Dear Lizzy washi tape, adhesive pearls, and a Crate Paper label sticker.

My first video in a long while – I think it will take me a few to find my pace again! So you may need a hot beverage to make it through the twenty-two minutes or so, but it does include the Distress Ink watercolour technique in detail (and it’s easy, I promise). I realised after filming that my narration assumes you make the leap with me that things that are vaguely Alice in Wonderland themed should include some things that are upside down. I’m not sure if that is something that makes sense to the world or only the scrapbooker inside my head. Moving right along then…

And yes, that is an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party put on entirely for babies. It was mind boggling, and included a tiny drink me vial that changed flavours mid-sip. And Wonder Boy spent most of the party trying to drink my rhubarb and custard flavoured tea. Anyway: back to the crafting.

One last card with the same sort of idea, but much bolder in colour and the addition of embossing powder in place of black ink. This was still Distress Ink, just two shades of blue, and the steps are still in the same order – I stamped the outline and text in Versamark then embossed with white powder before adding the blue. The stamp at the top is an older Studio Calico design from a kit with different sentiments, and most of the papers here are from the Pink Paislee Solstice collection.

My aim is to try this with a different stamp set most weeks, so if there is a particular stamp set or technique you want me to try, do let me know! Likewise, if you’ve shared anything with this stamp set or similar techniques and different stamps, I’d love to see. I am definitely in that soak-up-the-inspiration phase of diving back into something you love, so links and tags are even more welcome than usual! Share away, and have a lovely day!

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All good things must come to an end, and with that, I am back to work. It is mostly every cliche in the book, from phoning in a few times a day to see if things are going well (often yes, but sometimes no, including being very glad I am self-employed when I had to collect a burning up version of Wonder Boy early on his first day without me) to that mix of it seems like he was born two weeks ago and at the same time it seems he has been here a very many years indeed. I’m not sure I have anything new to add to the greater realm of words written on motherhood for the entire world and instead I just record my own meandering thoughts in my scrapbooks. Because when I try to remember what I do for a living, I think that was it. Something about recording meandering thoughts. Something about stories. Something about pretty paper.

Taking a proper maternity leave has been an interesting adventure. I see a few friends with babies the same age a couple times a week and I am only the second of the group to head back to work, and truthfully I continued to do what I could do during nap times, and for that I can just say that getting a collection finished for CHA was entirely at the sacrifice of tidying up the toys, but we all seem to have made it through. Taking a year (or nearly a year) is a very normal practice for maternity leave in this neck of the woods but I know there are so many places where it just isn’t possible and while the Facebook requests for new videos and classes were so kind, I have no regrets about taking this time to just find our feet as a family of three and to spend so much time with that lovely little boy who turns one next month.

Of course, I had all sorts of ideas in those early weeks that I’d be able to just keep right on scrapbooking because my baby would love to go to bed early or take long naps in the afternoon or whatever else I imagined. Of course that was entirely wrong, and instead I had a few instances of ‘if I buy it, I will scrapbook’ that I had to clear away to even find my desk this morning. I have a hunch my next few dozen pages will have a real mix of supplies new and old because now pretty much everything feels new to me, having done so little cutting and pasting over these past months.

On this page, that includes Crate Paper’s Notes and Things, Pebbles’ Jen Hadfield collection, some Amy Tangerine Plus One stickers, October Afternoon letters and some Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic. And one single sticker from my own collection, up there in the corner.

When I was teaching, there was always much discussion of the ‘work/life balance’ that was so difficult to find and I’m sure this new one will take a little time to feel right, but at the moment I feel happy that we’ve found a good balance on paper, at least, so I can work and he can play but I don’t have to feel like I’m boring him by trying to get work done and I can still have some full days without looking at my desk so we can do amazing things like realising that my ten month old can basically swim better than I can at this point and being treated to near-hourly tambourine recitals.

All that to really just say ‘Hi. I had a baby and now I’m going back to work and it is really nice to see you again. Can we scrapbook now?’

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Somehow I am writing from London again, after the CHA adventure in California and time at the American Crafts office in Utah. No one in this house is on the right time zone and while the laundry is now more clean than not, what needs to be folded and put away is suddenly reaching modern art proportions. Seems as good a time as any to ignore that and show you my little corner of CHA 2015 – the annual trade show for the craft and hobby industry.

We show new lines at the show, so most things on the floor won’t be available in stores for a month or so. True Stories ships in April. In the mean time, we try to set the tone so shop owners can imagine how the product will connect with their customer base. Much of the inspiration for this collection came from libraries and coffee shops, so we gave away a True Stories blend of whole bean coffee as well as silver True Stories pencils.

But I know you probably would rather see the products.

We did gold in the first collection, and although that trend is still going strong, I was ready for silver. We added a silver glitter album, and like the gold version, the glitter doesn’t fall off or crack or feel gritty. Smooth and sparkly! On the right you’ll see the stamps – two single stamps that retail for a dollar: a camera and a starburst. The starburst is just the right size to add a background to a small embellishment, like a flair badge, a button, or some layered punched pieces. There are also tiny enamel dots, in a mix of circles, hearts, and stars.

Four new Thickers! The Fitzgerald font (formerly in gold) returns in silver glitter and black foam, and we added a new style called Hipster, available in plain black chipboard or a multicolour pattern. There is a 12×12 paper with large monograms to match the coloured version, which you can cut apart or grab a coordinating cut file to cut out the whole sheet with the Silhouette Cameo.

Starting on the left, the embellishments begin with the 4×4 card pack (more about that in the earlier post), a tag set based on a vintage design that allows you to select the right vellum phrase and pop it onto the patterned background of your choice. The small wood veneer set includes rainclouds and several text pieces. The die-cut pack includes the pink plastic radio I carried on the school bus in the fourth grade. The photo overlays are a mix of 4×4 and 4×6, with some in white, some silver foil, and some in colour. Below that you can see the 6×6 and 12×12 paper pads. The paper weight is heavier in the 12×12 pad now, but it doesn’t include the specialty papers (more on that coming up). The roller stamp comes with a 3×4 tear-off notepad that says ‘I just want to…’ and the stamp has all different phrases of things you might want to do, so you can finish the statement and lead into your writing. And the small sticker sheet is the same format as before – new words and phrases on the front and an alpha on the back – it’s white on teal and navy tiles.

The sticker book looks like our standard format, but the stickers themselves are specially designed for layering. We’ve measured the pieces so they will balance beautifully in clusters, a bit like nesting dolls. There are stencils for mist or ink in a four pack: a tea cup, a large heart, background filled with small hearts, and a banner. The banner shows up again in the embossing folder. The die set has six shapes: the largest makes a tiny bag that can work for gifts, cards, or inside a page protector. Then there are two small folding banners (one says ‘lovely’, the other has no text), plus a photo corner, heart, and label for layering. At the bottom of this frame, you can see the wooden buttons shown earlier.

While we’re discussing tools, I have a couple that fall under the WeR brand to coordinate, and one is this set of letterpress plates. So excited to give these a try. (I know that says February, but the full release is April.) There is also a set of six card making embossing folders, but I don’t have a photo – they are small greetings and motifs, about two inches high.

Back to embellishments, there are two larger sets: those wood veneer borders and rulers we discussed earlier and a new set of cork stickers.

And of course there is paper! Lots of colour and a mix of patterns – cut-apart sheets, florals, lightbulbs, rockets, and coffee cups to have in or take away. There are six specialty papers. Three have silver glitter: raindrops on navy, film negatives on white, and a turquoise and navy diagonal stripe. Two are a colourful print on vellum: patterned rainclouds and small hearts. The last one is a perforated sheet with designs you can punch out and fold to make dimensional embellishments in moments.

That’s a quick look at everything! I know that’s a lot at a glance, but part of my time at the AC office right after the show was filming a full series of videos showing these products in action (like this), so by the time April is here and True Stories ships to stores, there will be plenty of examples of each product.

But for now, there are a few layouts I made at the show – those houses are one of the punch-out-and-fold pieces from the perforated paper.

And those small letter stickers are the teal from the back of the small sticker sheet.

And just for good measure, some love from Wonder Boy! (We didn’t go match-matchy on the very last day. The others… perhaps.)

It was definitely a bit different staying put rather than walking the floor, but so lovely to meet faces from shops that have stocked the first collection (and the second, I hope!) as well as see familiar faces from the designer side of the industry. For more comment on the show as a whole, you’re better off listening to the CHA edition of the Paperclipping Roundtable.

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Greetings from sunny California, where the annual CHA trade show is just about to start – and I’m thrilled to be here to release a new collection with American Crafts: True Stories! Over the next week, I’ll be sharing so much about this, from an in-depth look at the products to project ideas and techniques. But today, just a little look to get things started, and a heads up about the chance to win the collection from American Crafts over on Instagram.

True Stories is my interpretation of everyday daydreams: a mix of things that appear most days at home and the odd fantastical notion that makes you look twice. Because when I asked myself what I wanted to see on my desk with my paper and scissors, my literal answer was ‘coffee cups and rocket ships’. I promise we have both for you.

We also have wood veneer border strips for you. With Alice in Wonderland quotes for good measure.

And wooden buttons with happy little centres. No sewing required – ready to stick straight to your project as a lovely little detail.

(That’s with a card from the cut-apart patterned paper and a sticker from the sticker book, which itself is a product I’m irrationally excited about, but I’ll show you that in detail soon.)

And a pack of 4×4 cards, which is such a simple product but something that makes me so happy. Each card is a four inch square, but each design is created so it can be trimmed to 3×4 without losing the image or text, so it doesn’t matter if you want to use a 3×4 or 4×4 pocket, it will work perfectly. They are also handy for cards…

…since they can be dressed up with just a little something to finish a design in minutes.

Don’t miss your chance to win a True Stories prize pack from American Crafts – they are running that opportunity here via Instagram.

With that, I think we’ll get back to preparation for the show – and I’ll be back with more details, projects, and photos throughout the coming week. Thanks for taking a first look at True Stories!

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Wishing you the merriest Christmas from one home very much filled with happiness this year.

May your holidays be so happy, it seems rational to run around with Christmas pudding on your head.

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