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

Next up with my August 2020 Best of Both Worlds kit: something with a custom title that is NOT cut with a Silhouette or other die cutter! For this project, I revisited a technique I used often many, many years ago: reversing and printing a title on the computer, then cutting it out with scissors. I used this font to mimic the title of the Friends television series to match photos from Friends Fest. I’ve scrapbooked several photos of this day trip already, but that BFFs piece on the Simple Stories cut-apart paper just shouted for my Friends-themed photos!

This page was inspired by a Pagemaps sketch in the Summer 2020 issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine, but changed a bit because I wanted to add a 4×6 portrait photo into the mix of the small squares in a grid.

By the way, if you’re not already subscribed to my YouTube channel, that click means so much to me! Head over here and click subscribe. Thanks!

For the supplies and indeed all about this first month of Best of Both Worlds scrapbooking kits – including how you are totally welcome to play along with the supplies you already have in your stash – please check out this post.

If you make a page inspired by this project and share it online, please tag me @shimelle and add the hashtag #shimelleBOBW so we can all share ideas together!

When I scrapped my last marshmallow themed page, someone helpfully informed me there is such a thing as MARSHMALLOW DAY so I am all on board and it’s time for more marshmallow scrapbooking. This is again all from my August 2020 product picks (see the complete kit list in this post) and today I’m unwrapping that specialty die-cut paper from my Field Trip collection!

This video cuts off rudely, because in a shocking new development of this phenomenon called summer, my phone decided it was too hot and turned itself off until it reached a safe temperature! So I grabbed an ice block so we could have a part two. (Add that to the list of things I never thought I would do and yet they seem completely fine and normal in the year 2020.)

And completely cheesy title included, there we have part two!

Now that die-cut paper is designed to give you way more than just one layout. You can use some or all of the interior pieces together, plus there’s then the whole background frame that you can back with whatever colours and patterns you like. This is just the first take on that paper, but you’ll be seeing a lot more of it right here in the coming days.

For the supplies and indeed all about this first month of Best of Both Worlds scrapbooking kits – including how you are totally welcome to play along with the supplies you already have in your stash – please check out this post.

If you make a page inspired by this project and share it online, please tag me @shimelle and add the hashtag #shimelleBOBW so we can all share ideas together!

I promised YouTube videos as well as Facebook Live – especially for those of you who don’t do chit-chat and would much rather have something direct and on topic – and here we are! No chit-chat outside scrapbooking. With one exception: there is a lot of backtalk from the local crow population. I don’t know – you try your best to be professional, and a bunch of really clever, really loud birds just have other ideas.

Today’s YouTube video is all about using the stamp set in the August kit, stamping on a variety of patterned papers and cutting out the shapes to create a uniquely patterned background. You can use any stamp motif you like for this technique, but it makes things easier if you choose a shape that will be easy to cut out with scissors or you could use a stamp set along with a matching set of dies. As the stamping only requires a small space, this technique is great for scraps of papers you love and want to use to the very last inch.

For the supplies and indeed all about this first month of Best of Both Worlds scrapbooking kits – including how you are totally welcome to play along with the supplies you already have in your stash – please check out this post.

If you make a page inspired by this project and share it online, please tag me @shimelle and add the hashtag #shimelleBOBW so we can all share ideas together!

The next scrapbook page from the August 2020 Best of Both Worlds kit started with a discover of what did NOT work! I love this really simple mixed media technique of applying a mix of dye ink and water to a relatively plain background with either a paintbrush, an acrylic block, or a scrap of something textured, like cling film (plastic wrap, for some of you). With most dye inks, you can stamp the ink pad directly onto a resistant surface, like a craft mat, a plate, or an acrylic block, then add some water, and you’ll have a mix similar to watercolour. Using ink comes with the bonus that you can later stamp on the layout with an exact colour match. I’ve been stamping with a variety of the Scrapbook.com Hybrid Inks and somehow had never noticed they do not mix with water at all – I just ended up with water with specks of pigment, instead of a pool of colour!

Live and learn – I swapped to another (non-hybrid) dye ink in my stash and it worked just fine. I used an old Jenni Bowlin ink, but Distress Inks and lots of other inks would work for this too. You can also use plain old watercolours (even a children’s set) for this technique, if you’re not bothered about stamping to match.

The cut file for this page is a free download from the Summer 2020 issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine, and I cut it at the size it opened – about 10 inches wide – from plain white cardstock. (If you don’t have a cutting machine and these page ideas give you a headache, I have a video coming next week with ideas and techniques for how you can adapt the ideas to a cutting-machine-free craft table!)

For the supplies and indeed all about this first month of Best of Both Worlds scrapbooking kits – including how you are totally welcome to play along with the supplies you already have in your stash – please check out this post.

If you make a page inspired by this project and share it online, please tag me @shimelle and add the hashtag #shimelleBOBW so we can all share ideas together!

A second live video, a second layout finished with the August Best of Both Worlds kit! If you’re starting here, pop over to this post to get up to speed with the whole Best of Both Worlds concept!

Today I started putting the summer issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine to use! Take a look at their summer sketches – I used the sketch at the top right, but adjusted the design to two small portrait photos. (By the way, if you like the idea of scrapbooking videos from page sketches, I have a class on that and it includes 45 videos to work through at your own pace!)

Today’s is a live video, so it’s a chatty one, though not as far off topic as I sometimes find myself! We do cover my joy of secondhand copies of American Girl books. As you do. And also that ‘sup? is the perfect greeting for chickens. Please do join us with that the next time you pass friendly poultry.

I’ll be live again with this kit at 9:30am UK time this Friday, and I’ll be using the summer cut file from the magazine extras. (It will be available as a replay video as soon as it finishes.) But next up is a YouTube video that’s heavy on those camera stamps! See you soon!

---

Annnnnnd thinking ahead to September, the next shopping list is now live! Here’s a look at everything on the list, and a few things to keep in mind! (Please note, these are affiliate links – thanks for your support!)

*This is rather a big kit, because I added a few things of opposite styles. If you love florals, you’re good with the Crate Paper stickers and die cuts, but not everyone loves a floral. Or a pink paper. Or primary colours. There’s a Pebbles cut apart that is quite friendly to card making, so if you don’t make cards and don’t love the b-side, skip that one. When I designed my AC collections, I always started with a really varied colour palette (Christmas Magic excepted) to make sure there would be potential for lots of scrapping topics – even if the collection at first glanced seemed very pink or purple or blue. This mix of papers is my way of bringing that logic to the kit. As always, choose the things that work for you!

*I’ve been asked a few times recently why I love mixing woodgrain with light and bright colours, so I’ve included two different woodgrain patterns in this kit to demonstrate just that. If you’re shopping your stash, my Glitter Girl collection might be useful for this.
*I’m going to keep the Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine on the list every month, but it comes out quarterly. If you ordered it with last month’s kit, that would be a duplicate. (The magazine is free with your order but you have to remember to add it to your cart, hence why it’s on the list.)

*The stash-building elements of this month’s selection are a Distress Oxide ink, a stencil, and a sticker book. These are all elements we can keep using well beyond the projects of the papers and embellishments in this kit.

Thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm for this project! It is truly brilliant to see and has made my heart so happy.

By the way, I’ve turned off comments on all my recent posts not because I don’t want to hear from you! It’s because I’m just getting a deluge of spam and some of it was most definitely NOT family friendly! I run a clean ship here! So comments are off, but you can always email me or get in touch via Facebook or Instagram. Thanks for understanding!

Kit all unpacked and ready to go, and I’m straight in to make that first page with the August Best of Both Worlds kit! This one is from a Facebook Live scrapping session, so it has lots of non-scrapbook chit-chat. (If that’s not your style, please don’t worry. There will also be strictly-on-topic YouTube videos of projects with this kit!)

Everything about the kit concept and the supplies used can be found in this post and I’ll be working with this kit again on Monday’s live session at 1:30pm UK time, on my Facebook page.

If you share projects made from your version of this kit, please tag me @shimelle and add the hashtag #shimelleBOBW so we can all share inspiration!

Have a fabulous weekend!

I love the idea of a scrapbooking kit: a collection of beautiful crafting items curated by a designer who has an idea for how they will go together, but sets you free with the supplies to make unique projects in your style. But subscribing to a kit is a delicate matter, because budgets change, styles change, favourite products and techniques change… but with a kit subscription, you’re stuck with everything that arrives in the box. No more, no less.

On the other hand, you can shop from scratch. But for most of us, that’s now an online activity. (If you have a local store, support it! Go shopping!) It can be tiresome to look at the screen for a long time, trying to imagine what the products look like in person, guessing what green will go with that yellow. It makes it dangerous to take a risk on a new brand or colour or product, because it might not be as useful in real life as I imagined.

To me, the Best of Both Worlds is a monthly shopping list that gives you the ease of a curated collection with the flexibility to add, remove, and change items from the list. It’s something I used to do seven or eight years ago, and it was great fun to put the kit together then use it up with videos to share those projects. But the shop I worked with then is long gone, and the idea went with it. But I think it’s just the right time to bring it back. Best of Both Worlds, from me in 2020, with affiliate shopping links to Scrapbook.com! It’s all ready to go now!

Here’s the schedule for things: I will update the shopping list just before the first Facebook Live of a calendar month. (My Facebook Live broadcasts are Mondays at 1:30pm and Fridays at 9:30am, both UK time.) I’ll be ordering then too, and it takes a while for an order to make it from Arizona to me here in London! But that’s okay – because I’ll be making projects with one kit while the next kit is on its way! This first kit went live on the 6th of July and arrived with me on the 30th, so I started creating with it on the 31st of July, but let’s call it the August kit. The September list will be available for shopping on Monday the 3rd of August, but I’ll be making stuff with it throughout September. I will be sharing process videos using the kit supplies on both my Facebook Live videos (where there is lots of informal, non-scrapbook chit chat) and my YouTube channel (where there is no off-topic discussion and I focus on scrapbook talk only), and then I very much hope I can stay up to date with sharing all of that here so it’s in one place and easy for you to come back and reference.

Here’s a video walk through of what’s in my August 2020 kit! Remember, this is the kit that went live at the beginning of July, so many items on the shopping list are now sold out. But that’s okay! You are welcome – even encouraged! – to shop your stash for similar products that could work just as well without you needing to shop. And if you prefer, you can take the shopping list to another store of your choice! If you are shopping, leave out items you won’t use or double up on papers you love. Make it work for you. I originally had the turquoise (swimming pool) enamel dots on the shopping list and they sold out very quickly so I changed the list to yellow (bumblebee), but you could choose any colour in the kit for your enamel dots or use a variety of colours if you have a stash of half-used sheets at home. If you don’t stamp, don’t add the stamps and ink and you’ll have a less expensive kit without waste. If you do stamp but already have lots of camera stamps or plenty of ink pads, you can leave those off too. That’s the Best of Both Worlds idea: you can keep it simple and add one of everything to your cart or you can shop selectively to suit your needs perfectly.

The Best of Both Worlds shopping list can be found here, and will automatically change over to the new list on the first Live of each calendar month – you won’t need a new link. So here’s also an itemised list so you can see the individual items I’ll be working with over the course of August 2020.

Thanks so much for your support and interest in this project! If you share your supplies all gathered (from a shop or from your stash) or any projects you make with this kit, please tag me @shimelle and add the hashtag #shimelleBOBW so we can all see the different projects made from the same supplies. I can’t wait to see what you make!

It’s the first of June. June! Time for me to stare at the calendar in shock that we’re nearly halfway through what still feels like a new year, that Wonder Boy is a month-and-a-half old, and that it’s been a very long time since I slept for more than a couple hours at a time. Of course. But it’s also time for a new month’s scrapbooking product picks, which can now be found here.

This month’s kit includes plenty of summery brights, with a bit of distressed detail to bring it back from Rainbow Brite territory. Nine double-sided papers give you a mix of bold patterns and smaller, more subtle designs, brought to life a bit with red Thickers letters. This chipboard set is one of my favourite products in a few months, at least. It will stretch to so many layouts! Enamel dots always make a great finishing touch, and the travel motifs made me think it was time to bring in a map background for those of you who love to stamp.

This was my mystery item this month: in the store it looks like a pack of playing cards! But it’s actually a lush set of double-sided 3×4 cards. The Crate Paper design team have been creating gorgeous projects with these, so I’m inspired to see how they will come to life on my projects. Have a look at these posts to see the cards in action: travel notes, two mini books, springtime cards, and a pre-made vacation journal.

Plus a printable for some creative fun. My plan is to print it once in the original colours then also recolour a few elements so it can match any page made from these supplies. There is also a matching cut file if you are a print-and-cut fan!

As always, the Best of Both Worlds kit gives you the flexibility to customise your selection – add more, make substitutions, or keep to a specific budget. You can start your shopping here and add one of everything or make any changes you like. Thanks as always for your support!

Comment [7]