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

There are five new free digital scrapbooking kits available at Two Peas this weekend in celebration of National Scrapbooking Day, including this template and set of three papers from Shimelle Digitals.

Download this free kit and use it on a page this week and you can win your choice of any three items from the Shimelle Digitals store. Your project can be digital or hybrid.

To enter, create your project and upload it to the Two Peas Gallery. To upload a project there, click on ‘Member Gallery’ at the top and choose ‘upload a new project’ from the pull-down menu. In the final step of uploading your project, it will ask if you want to add products to show what you used when you made your page. Click yes and add the kit (it’s called Enjoy the Little Things). Then complete the upload. This will enter you in the challenge!

You can leave a link here as well if you would like to share what you made — plus please note the uploading process above is how you’re formally entered to win. Thanks!

This challenge ends next weekend at 11:59pm on the 9th of May. The winner will be posted here on shimelle.com.

Happy scrapping!

xlovesx

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Wilna comes up with some fabulous ideas and this is one I have been meaning to try for ages: an album made from a tall Starbucks takeaway coffee cup! She has three of these in her shop, each with a different theme. Cupcakes and coffee, love and this kit with a garden theme.

The beauty of these is that you don’t have to do anything digital other than print the pages onto cardstock or photo paper. Just like you would print anything else from your computer. If you want to get all digital, she includes PNG files you can use for that, but I used the straight print-and-go PDF files in the kit and did everything else at my scrapping table, not my computer.

Well, you will have to do one other thing away from your scrapping table, and that’s order a coffee. (Well, actually you can print that too if you like — she’s included a printable cup too.) I used a tall sized cup from Starbucks, rinsed it out and let it dry, then took it apart following her directions. So easy. I added colour to the cover and some of the pages with Glimmer Mists and added a bit of patterned paper, some trims and some gems, but most everything here is just print it out, stick on a photo and glue and/or sew it all together.

Of course gardening isn’t the most obvious theme for someone who lives in a flat without a garden and hasn’t even managed to keep the herbs alive through the winter, but I have plenty of photos of my favourite nearby green space and maybe this little book can will some blue skies to fruition so it can soon be the perfect place for a picnic. I love few things more than a picnic.

So here’s the inside of the book:

The cupcakes and coffee kit is a free download, so go get it, order a hot beverage and get crafty! Soon you’ll want to make one in every theme imaginable…so more coffee for you or you’ll have to invite a friend. Shame!

Also, just a little heads up: I’ll be teaching a 5 hour workshop at Eclectic Keepsakes in Essex for National Scrapbook Day. It’s an album class (not a minibook!) and there shall be a great deal of Dear Lizzy on the premises, along with some other fabulous goodies. The places are very limited, so if you would like to come, book your place soon.

xlovesx

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The lovely Rebekah is celebrating her birthday with a scrapping blog party all this weekend and you get all the presents. If you visit her blog you’ll find giveaways and special projects from dozens of scrappers. Rebekah is giving away a shimelle.com class pass this weekend and I know you’ll love her blog anyway as her paper projects are delightful, so add her to your reading list. Enjoy!

And for my little stop on the hop, I have a free gift for you to download! Click here to download a free Happy Birthday printable with a full page of birthday accents and journaling boxes that you can print on any paper you like. I hope you find it useful for pages or cards — and if you make something please share a link as I’d love to see!

The next party stop is Annette who will have something new for you at 9 this morning!

And tomorrow I have something so terribly exciting to share with you, so do come back to see!

Right: off to the final day of Stitch & Craft London! See some of you there!

Have a fabulous birthday Rebekah!!!

xlovesx

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_{Supplies include the ever-so-lovely Jolly by Golly collection from Cosmo Cricket and journaling paper by Making Memories.}

Throughout 2009, I’ve led a weekly challenge at UKScrappers called Scrap Like You Mean It, and we’re in the final few weeks of that year-long adventure. We’ve scrapped with different materials, different topics, different sizes and different designs to make sure we made time each week for something fun and crafty.

This week’s challenge is a sketch challenge based on the layout above from the December issue of Scrapbook Inspirations. The sketch is also available as a free digital download.

Click to download this sketch as a digital page template in psd format.

The challenge runs through the end of next Wednesday and I’d love to see your pages! Paper, hybrid and digital all welcome! Find this week’s challenge discussion here on UKScrappers. UKS members can upload their pages to the Scrap Like You Mean It gallery, or you can play along by leaving a link to your page in the comments here.

If you’re downloading the template, it would be lovely if you said hello! I hope you find it useful.

Happy scrapping!

xlovesx

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All this weekend there’s a birthday party going on at the Pencil Lines sketch blog. At some point you’ll find a challenge from yours truly, so check their site so you don’t miss it! If you complete the challenge, you might win a little something! But even if you don’t win, there’s a little something for you!

Just click to download this free .psd layered page template if you would like to complete the challenge digitally!

Happy Saturday!

xlovesx

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_{Click to download layered .psd template.}

Every month, Scrapbook Inspirations includes a sketch and six corresponding scrapbook pages, but how about a little bit more? Karen Cole contributed the sketch in our October issue, and it’s here today for you to download as a digital template or use as a starting point for a paper page.

_{Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Earth Love patterned papers, My Little Shoebox Mini Alpha Stickers, Bazzill Basics Dotted Swiss cardstock, and letters from American Crafts and Basic Grey.}

Here’s my paper page derived from the sketch — with some Cosmo love, which I do believe has developed into a requirement for every page lately! Quite happily, I might add. Their papers always look so lovely.

_{Supplies: papers by Meredith Fenwick, Holly McCaig and The Queen of Quirk Worn Frames by Mary Ann Wise Hand-stamped alpha by Meredith Fenwick plus title alpha & flowers from Paislee Press/Audacious Designs collab kit and spatter brush set by Rhonna Farrer.}

And a little something digital from the layered template — photos from the Japan Festival held in East London a few weeks back. Crowded but delicious fun.

(By the way, does anyone else suffer from a Juno-induced problem with Benihana? I can’t walk by the place or hear it referenced without saying…either to myself or aloud..that the plan is to go to Benihana, then the prom, then Vijay’s parents’ cabin. Seriously, it’s a problem. Thankfully I am easily distracted back again by Japanese food. Otherwise I will get really angry about Katrina Devorte, perhaps. And no one wants to see that. Wait. It’s just me, isn’t it? Rubbish. Back to scrapbooking now.)

You can also catch Karen’s original layout and Rachel Ward’s layout for more inspiration.

We’re always looking for layouts that our readers create when they’ve been inspired by something in the magazine, like the sketch. If you tell us about them, you might even find your page on the SI blog or on the pages of the magazine. So it’s your turn now: let’s see what you do with this sketch. If you upload your page online, make sure to leave a link in the comments so we can find your page!

xlovesx

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Just a quick note — I have a free digital scrapbooking kit up this week (and also a new set of penned words brushes). The free kit celebrates the upcoming online crop at Two Peas as well as my love of The Cure.

The crop is on American time, so how I’m going to stay awake is still a question in my mind! But if the hours suit you, definitely stop by this board where Jen, Gen, Meredith and I will be hosting with games and challenges and prizes all evening. We would love to see you there!

xlovesx

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~Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts Thickers, Doodlebug letter stickers, Making Memories stamps and ribbon, Fiskars border punch.~

It was my turn to put forth a sketch for this month’s Sketch Collection column in Scrapbook Inspirations. My favourite thing about this column is just a little bit awkward: I always love the contributors’ layouts far more than my own! But the boss never lets me change my layout at the last minute, so I’m always stuck with that first page I made from the sketch. There are five additional pages in the magazine, but you can see pages by Lisette and Jen on their blogs to get an idea of their yummy pages.

If you read the fine print rather than just looking at the pictures, you’ll already know that we added the sketch in a digital layout format as a free download — you can find it here, even if you didn’t read the fine print in the magazine! That template is what I used for the hybrid page above — the middle section of the layout was created digitally and printed out on an A4 sheet of photo paper, then the paper embellishments were added from there. Even better, you can also download a second version of this template just from me by clicking here. The second template is a bit more suited to a full digital page I think, but you can use either for your digital or hybrid projects. Both templates are .psd files, ready to go in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Enjoy!

So this month’s sketch looked something like this:

The space in the middle was the part I was most interested in when the pages started to come in. It can be filled with journaling, patterned paper, a border, a larger photograph…lots of options.

And since the article was done and dusted, I’ve been able to use it a few more times. Like this page that was featured on the Banana Frog Blog.

~Supplies: Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock, BasicGrey patterned paper, American Crafts Thickers (and these), Doodlebug border stickers, 7gypsies word stickers and Banana Frog stamps.~

And this fully digital page made with the layered template…

_{Supplies: Study Hall kit by Jen Allyson, Swirls by Rhonna Farrer}

So of course, I think there’s a need for a bit of a challenge, right? We’re always looking for layouts that our readers create when they’ve been inspired by something in the magazine, like the sketch. If you tell us about them, you might even find your page on the SI blog or on the pages of the magazine.

Your turn now: let’s see what you do with this sketch. If you upload your page online, make sure to leave a link in the comments. If you don’t upload your pages but still want to share, email me pretty please!

Happy scrapping!

xlovesx

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