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

I know: you thought it was going to be a Halloween page, right? But it turns out I have scrapbooked all the Halloween photos in my possession. Sad times. We are seriously considering it time to throw a Halloween party in order to rectify that situation! But it turns out if you throw enough yellow and blue into the mix, you can go from this very Halloweenish start to something not requiring a pumpkin in the embellishment!

This is a bit of a funny page though, and this photo makes it look even more the case. The two pictures are Instax photos from several years ago when I had a pack of film that just didn’t expose very well. On this image, it looks like the photo on the left is completely black – it’s not, I promise. There are indeed three people in the picture and they were sitting in bright sunlight but for whatever reason, the shot came out very dark. But there’s something about instant pictures that makes me never discard the mistakes, and I figured actually that is part of the story: I love that amount of imperfection that comes with instant film in a world full of ever-climbing megapixels and accuracy. I don’t play roulette at a casino, but I do like the crazy gamble of instant film. So out of the drawer and into the album they go, overly dark exposure and all!

Here are six of my favourites from the scrapbook pages submitted throughout this past week. They started with this starting point but ended in such different layouts! Click the corresponding link to see any of these pages in more detail and get to know the scrapbooker behind the project.
Top row, L to R: one, two, three.
Bottom row, L to R: four, five and six.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this week’s challenge!

So whether you’re scrapping beautiful pictures or something completely imperfect, happy crafting!

xlovesx

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A little red, a little black? Has to be a whole bunch of Jenni Bowlin! This week’s sketch of the week comes from this page I made for the JBS blog. Lots of layers in limited colour scheme, and for this page a mix of old collections and newly released products. (I love that about JBS papers – new releases always mix well with older stuff!)

I worked on this sketch with just a single 4×6 photo, but it could easily be adapted to two or three 4×6 photos or a collection of smaller prints. Two portrait shots would sit in the same place as the single photo, or for three landscape images you could stack them in a row and move the title to the left. One photo or several – feel free to change it up to make it work for you! And of course the butterflies can be absolutely any embellishment you like.

As always, the weekly sketch is no-stress and just for fun! If you use it, I’d love to see, so please leave a link if you post your page online.

I love how many different styles and looks came from last week’s sketch! These are nine of my favourites. Click the corresponding link to see any of these layouts in more detail and get to know the scrappers behind the pages.
Top Row, L to R: one, two, three.
Middle Row, L to R: four, five, six.
Bottom row, L to R: seven, eight and nine.

Now… are you up for some sketchy scrapping this week? What colours will you pick for your page? Give it a go and share it with us!

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Finally, the very last of my summer CHA posts! All the brand new things from Jenni Bowlin Studio. First up, the treat box! It comes with the dividers and the inside surfaces are covered with a non-themed pattern and then you can add whatever you like, to use it as a display or storage piece. Store owners can even use this near the till for last-minute sales of small items.

Jenni also has new products in her Jenni Bowlin for Ranger collection. I’ll let her introduce those to you herself:

(Thanks, Jenni!)

On to the paper collections! The first full holiday collections from JBS. A vintage Halloween line mixes with the existing products, like the mini bingo cards.

I love that the papers may be vintage in design but they work perfectly with modern photos and the colours are crisp and bold.

Speaking of vintage, how amazing are these vintage boxes in Jenni’s display? They are about a hundred years old and were for tobacco, but I love how they say ‘scrap’!

These mini spools came out at the winter show, but I had never thought of using them for a minibook spine.

For the Christmas collection, vintage themes with bold colours, just like the Halloween collection. This is definitely going to be in my Christmas journal, and I love that shade of green for the lettering.

Also new to the collection are foam stamps to go with the paint dabbers. Borders, backgrounds and butterflies? I’m in.

What is this? I have no idea! And of course I asked. It’s super secret… but I am intrigued!

Click here to shop for Jenni Bowlin products!

xlovesx

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The Haven collection was a mid-season release so it’s already in stores… and it’s ready to give away! Jenni Bowlin Studio have provided a lovely Haven prize pack to a lucky reader. *Leave a comment on this post anytime before Midnight UK time Friday 22nd July 2011.

That page in the middle of the photo is one of my favourite new things in Jenni’s lines – an accent sheet. It includes the cute journaling cards she’s always made, but including them on printed cardstock makes them more affordable plus you get all the other coordinating stuff to go with it – like all those green labels plus some border strips. And it’s double-sided with a polka-dot pattern on the back, so if there’s anything you won’t use, you can use the scraps so easily.

I have to show you this project because it is partly made by The Boy! He is slightly addicted to Pinterest, despite not having an account, and saw a pin with gifts wrapped and stamped. Next thing I knew, he was wrapping a father’s day gift for his dad and searching through my letter stamps. So he did the wrapping and I used those green labels from Haven to create the card to match.

I know Jenni really loves the versatility of the thinner, single-sided papers of the older collections but I adore the cardstock weight she uses now. It takes paint just perfectly!

On another note, I guest posted on Ali’s blog today and you can read (and watch) that here. I will probably talk more about that everyday adventure idea soon. So happy that it seems to have resonated with some of you today!

Don’t forget – comment on this post to be entered to win a prize pack of Haven goodies from Jenni Bowlin! (Thanks, Jenni!)

xlovesx

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I may have an unhealthy obsession with butterflies as craft embellishments. I know I use them when they are not really needed or thematically linked to the page at hand. I punch them and stamp them and cut them and glue them, and really if all my closest friends staged a butterfly intervention for me, with a big banner and heartfelt words composed in advanced to let me know that I’ve gone too far down this dangerous butterfly path, the truth is: I would still have a hidden stash of butterflies. They really aren’t going away.

Instead, I’m up for the challenge of taking one very favourite butterfly stamp from Jenni Bowlin Studio and using it for five very different projects. So while I may be an addict, at least I value variety.

(Also, if I were a true addict, I wouldn’t be able to give away butterflies – and that’s just what I’m doing at the end of this post, so don’t miss out.)

Mix with another stamp for a card
I love how the butterfly stamp is just the right size to make a dramatic flourish for a card, and it’s a similar size to the Flower Wood Background stamp by Hero Arts. For these cards, I stamped the butterfly in black ink on smooth white cardstock and coloured them with Copic markers for lots of rich colour, and spritzed them with Chalkboard Glimmer Mists for some shimmer too.

Embellish a scrapbook page
If you like pages where a bit of embellishment goes a long way, this stamp will be your best friend. I love how it looks when stamped in colour on white cardstock, and it’s easy to cut out with scissors. I thought it would be a ridiculous mess but really it cuts quite simply.

Make a butterfly garland
If you really fancy cutting out butterflies, try stamping and cutting two for each butterfly in a garland. You only need antennae on one in each pair. Then cut a slit halfway through the body – from the top to the middle on one and from the bottom up to the middle on the other. Then you can slot the two together for a butterfly garland that is both dimensional and delicate. Make several and hang them in a circle if you prefer a mobile to a garland, or make just one and attach it to a card or parcel with some pop dots to hold it in place.

Stamp and embroider
Stamps make perfect embroidery patterns, and it’s easy to customise any bit of fabric by stamping the design then stitching the outline of the design. For this design, I stitched the outline plus a little bit of detail from the butterfly, then filled the centre by pencilling in a word and stitching over that.

You can see more notes on this embroidery project here on the Jenni Bowlin blog and you may also want to check out this different take on embroidering another stamp by Kerry Lynn Yeary. It’s lush, even if it’s not a butterfly.

Stamp, repeat and quilt
I love stamps that are interesting even when they are stamped simply and even when they are repeated. This project is super simple but makes a great gift. Cut twelve squares of cardstock and stamp a butterfly on each. Ink or paint the edges if you like. Then sew it all together with a zig-zag stitch and pop it in a frame. You can create it in any colour scheme, so it’s a lovely housewarming or new baby gift.

Okay… so here’s the deal: to prove I can let the odd butterfly go, I have a butterfly giveaway today! Just comment on this post to be entered to win a gift pack from Jenni Bowlin Studio that includes this butterfly stamp, butterfly chipboard and some other butterfly goodness that can wing its way to you! (And I’d really appreciate it if you wanted to share this post with anyone you know who is also bordering on butterfly intervention. We need a group, right? Thanks.)

And this isn’t even the regular weekend giveaway – there’s one of those coming tonight too. Goodness gracious, giveaways!

xlovesx

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I am still loving the last bits of wedding decoration in central London. Today I passed the offices of The Lady magazine and the entire building is wrapped in giant purple ribbon, like a wedding gift. So sweet. But I have the very best wedding story to tell you.

On Friday, I headed to Charing Cross as I usually do, but I brought The Boy along because well, I needed him to babysit my luggage while I was in class, believe it or not! And he could happily work on his project sat in Starbucks so this seemed ideal. Upon arriving at Charing Cross station, he first comments on how many people are milling about the station at lunchtime on a Friday. And then adds ‘But why are they all carrying Union Jacks?’

Darling, it’s the wedding.

‘What wedding?’

I kid you not.

So, a wedding layout then, even if my dress was less fancy than Kate’s. At least I could get away with wearing comfy shoes in the evening, right? I am very excited at how the former Miss Middleton has now brought sleeves back to wedding fashion, as a random aside! So more on topic, papers here are from Jenni Bowlin’s Be Our Guest collection. A little scrapbook info about Jenni’s papers — starting from this collection, the patterned papers are now double-sided and cardstock weight. They are seriously lush and I love that I can use them as a full page background now. The colours and the paper quality are just fabulous with the new stock, so definitely give them a try.

That ‘photographs’ stamp? Best £1 market find ever, perhaps! One of the camera stalls had it tucked away in a box of old photographer’s business cards. I couldn’t come up with a reason to buy thousands of business cards with someone else’s contact details, but asked if I could just buy the stamp and was quoted that princely single-quid sum. Also, actually useful for sending photos in the post… and usually my market purchases are not exactly practical. Unless one needs a dozen different editions of Through the Looking Glass. Maybe I’m gearing up for some epic readers’ theatre someday…

Oh, and look: it’s a single photo layout again! I didn’t even plan that. I promise.

xlovesx

_{This weekend, join us for challenges, prizes, chats and inspiration aplenty at the Two Peas three day party for National Scrapbook Day. I’m hosting a live chat on Sunday (8pm UK time / 2pm US Central time) and we’ve planned lots of other fab things for the weekend too. I would love to see you there!}

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All this weekend, Jenni Bowlin Studio is hosting an online crop party, complete with challenges and prizes and chats! It’s my turn to host the challenge, and you have three options, so I hope you’ll find something that fits your style!

My challenge all starts with this layout, In a Looking Glass. Here’s a look at how it came together from the scrapdesk cam!

Now it’s your turn to create a project – it can be a scrapbook page, card, tag, clothing project or anything else that comes to mind. You can even go bake cupcakes with option one, I think! Pick your poison from three challenges.

Option 1: Use this colour scheme as your inspiration.
Create your project in black, white and green for something that’s a little unexpected but very simple and elegant!

Option 2: Use these products as your inspiration.
Create a project using butterflies, die-cut label papers, polka dot papers or paint dabbers! They don’t need to be the exact same products that I used – feel free to choose what you have in your own stash, using these as an inspiration point.

Option 3: Use this sketch as your inspiration.
Create any project you like, using this sketch as a guide for placing your elements. Feel free to rotate, reverse, add more photos or whatever else makes it work for you.

How to enter: Head over to the Jenni Bowlin Studio message board where you’ll find a special section just for this weekend’s online crop. Each challenge has a thread there and that’s where you enter. You can either link to your project or display it right there on the board, whatever you prefer. While you’re there, be sure to check out the various challenges throughout the weekend, as sometimes you can win a prize just for joining in a chat, plus there are lots of crafty challenges you can enter all week.

What you can win: There are two types of prizes up for grabs. Each challenge (like this one) has a JBS gift certificate as a prize and that will go to a randomly chosen participant. There are also some special prizes on offer that are not randomly chosen: throughout the crop, Jenni and her team will be looking for some stand-out crafting. One runner-up will win a JBS giftbox worth $75 and one grand prize winner will win $150 of JBS goodies – plus both the runner-up and the grand prize winner get to guest on the design team and have their projects highlighted.

Remember, the deadline is Sunday, the 13th of March. Jenni will announce all the winners on Monday the 14th.

Now, this blog post isn’t the place to enter, but if you would like to leave a link to your projects here, you’re most welcome to share them with everyone!

Have a great weekend and happy scrapping!

xlovesx

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Welcome to Jenni Bowlin Studio’s CHA Winter 2011 Blog Hop brought to you by our newest release, “Be Our Guest!” This is the largest release ever from JBS, filled with all sorts of pretties from the patterned paper, stickers, rub-ons, bingo cards, and unique embellishments you’ve come to know and love to a new foray into acrylic stamps and project foundations. You can see the entire release here. To celebrate, JBS is offering so many opportunities to win $15 gift cards to JBS Mercantile, including this post – just leave a comment to be entered!

You can also enter to win at the following locations:

Twitter: We will be giving away TWO $15 gift cards to one new follower on Twitter. These will be sent to the winner and to a friend of the winner’s choosing, so if you’re already a follower of jbsmercantile then get some of your friends to follow us too! We will also be randomly choosing a winner from those who retweet the “CHA Winter 2011 Giveaway” post.
NEWSFLASH . . . Jenni now has her own Twitter account! It’s jennibowlin and we will be choosing a random winner from her followers as well!

Facebook: Look for the post that mentions the “Be Our Guest Giveaway” and leave a comment to be entered into the first drawing. We will also be randomly choosing a second winner from our NEW Facebook followers, so share this post with your Facebook friends (there’s a little button to click at the bottom of this post to make it easy).

JBS Mercantile Message Board: On the Town Square forum, leave a comment on the thread marked “Be Our Guest Giveaway”.

The JBS Inspiration Blog: Leave a comment on the “CHA Winter 2011 Blog Hop” post telling us which of our new products is your favourite.

The blogs of the design team members: find a full list of those giveaway blog posts on the JBS Inspiration Blog. But of course, you’re here so please enter now before you hop away!

Leave a comment on this post to be entered for a chance to win!

Get to hopping! And good luck!

xlovesx

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