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

_{Scrapbooking process video for this older layout can be found on YouTube if you fancy a watch.}

Maybe it’s the inspiration of bonfire night just this past weekend or maybe it’s the arrival of little signs of the holidays, but the colour on my mind right now is red! Time to bring it to a scrapbook page, and this week, we challenge you to do just that. Go big with red on your next page to participate this week. You can do that through paper, embellishments, ink, paint, ribbon, or washi tape – whatever gets you excited to create something new. To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Heather Leopard and guest artist Jessica Brown.

For this week’s Go Big Red theme, I knew I wanted to document a recent trip to London and that I wanted to include two things that I’ve enjoyed seeing in abundance almost every time I’ve visited – the Union Jack and red Poppies. I had this cut file in my files so I supersized it and cut it out of some fun pattern papers in the same color scheme as the Union flag. Of course I stitched all of the different patterns together.

I kept the embellishments to one – fussy cut flowers to demonstrate the poppies. I layered most of them around my photo on the bottom right and a small cluster in the upper left. Then I added a journaling tag tucked behind my photo. I think this will make the perfect opening page for our London album.
- Heather

I found the big red challenge very challenging indeed, because I didn’t want to just go with all red and ignore all the other wonderful colours out there! I started with red and navy due with my London photos, then I added aqua and finally, to brighten it up a bit I chose yellow. For the London theme, while I considered doing something more abstract, I decided upon going with an obvious use of London motifs. I love London and I don’t often embrace theme scrapbooking. I know that a lot of scrappers make themes work beautifully, so I went with it!

The background paper is one that has a pre-printed design on it. These are difficult for me to use so I wanted to show one way that I use them – cover up the parts that you don’t want!

Simple, but it makes you look at those papers hanging around in your stash in a different way.

- Jessica

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!

Today’s Guest Artist: Jessica Brown loves travel, history, and scrapbooking. You can find more from Jessica on Instagram, YouTube, and her blog.

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Ready to make something big? Contributing designer Nicole Nowosad joins us now for our next challenge: make a big title for your page! I love her page design – it’s one I want to try myself this weekend!

We are fortunate to have a lot of outdoor camping spots within close range of our city. We don’t often take the opportunity to battle the mosquitoes and make a weekend of it. Truth is, we are more of hotel travellers! A few years ago, we made a trip out to a local camping ground and had a brief and wet weekend at the park. Although it wasn’t the greatest of weekends, we still made some great memories and spent time together.

I only captured a few photos from that weekend and wanted to highlight them in a different way. The photos we are pretty busy but I didn’t want to just narrow it down to one or two on the page. I decided to diecut a large title “CAMP” out of some patterned paper and then in the open spaces, added a photo behind each of the letters – one photo signifying something we remember about that trip. I love how each of the letters highlights a different photo, while also making a title for the page. It took a little time to balance out what photo would look best behind what letter, but the result something different and unique!

We had a few small different memories of the trip that I wanted to make sure to have included on my page, so I documented little bits of journaling beneath each the five small polaroids that I had cut from some patterned paper and embellished with more fussy cut patterned paper, wood buttons and clear shapes. It is an easy way to note a few small things about this weekend away with the kids.

Now it’s your turn – what word will you turn into a BIG title for your next page? Don’t forget to share it here this weekend to get your discount on the new class!

A note about this weekend’s challenges: I’m leaving all the challenges open until the end of the following weekend to allow more time to participate, but the special discount on the new class will be sent to those who upload a new project just this weekend – by the end of Sunday, 30th of October, 2016. This is for new layouts created this weekend, not archived layouts made previously. One discount applicable per person. You can upload your page to another site (blog, Instagram, Facebook, scrapbooking gallery, etc) and use the InLinkz button above to link to that OR you can upload a photo of your page directly with the same button rather than linking elsewhere. Either is fine! If you have trouble figuring out what to click, give a shout in the comments and I’ll email you with help. Thanks!

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Hands up if you have plenty of outdoor photos you need to get into your albums! As beautiful as they are, it can be easy to fall into a rut of ruddy, dark colours and neutrals with outdoor pages, and sometimes it’s nice to remember the world outside our windows isn’t actually entirely made of kraft, evergreen, and bark. Please welcome guest artist Helen De Ram, who challenges you to scrap at least one outdoor photo in a colourful style of your choice.

My husband and I enjoy the great outdoors and try to experience it in different ways. A road trip out west every summer gives us the opportunity to take horseback rides through beautiful landscapes in a part of the country that we love. This page tells the story of a ride we took through southern Utah that helped me let go of a previous bad experience so I could fully enjoy myself.

When selecting a color story for the layout, I took my inspiration from the photos and my memories of the colors in the canyons and deserts we rode through. I selected blue, green, brown, and grey, as well as yellow and red.

The Grey Floral paper from Shimelle’s True Stories collection did double duty as I was able to use the navy polka dot side behind the photos, and the yellow and blue flowers on the other side were perfect to cut out and use as a visual triangle around the page.

I usually use letter stickers to create my title, but instead the Shine Brightly card from the Starshine cut apart sheet was perfect in color and sentiment. To make it clear that it was my title, I placed it in the center and used red patterned paper as a border.

I was able to find several sentiments in the phase stickers from both Starshine and True Stories that were good matches to my color story. They also help to connect the photos and title card to the journaling and embellishments at the bottom of the page.

Starting with a color story made it easier to select patterned papers and embellishments to create the design as well as support the story and the photos on my page. Will you choose your colors first for this challenge or is there a perfect product you have in mind to suit an outdoor story of your own? We can’t wait to see what you make with those pictures.

A note about this weekend’s challenges: I’m leaving all the challenges open until the end of the following weekend to allow more time to participate, but the special discount on the new class will be sent to those who upload a new project just this weekend – by the end of Sunday, 30th of October, 2016. This is for new layouts created this weekend, not archived layouts made previously. One discount applicable per person. You can upload your page to another site (blog, Instagram, Facebook, scrapbooking gallery, etc) and use the InLinkz button above to link to that OR you can upload a photo of your page directly with the same button rather than linking elsewhere. Either is fine! If you have trouble figuring out what to click, give a shout in the comments and I’ll email you with help. Thanks!

Today’s Guest Artist: Helen De Ram loves coffee with cream, old movies, and quiet country roads. You can find more from Helen on Instagram.

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For our next challenge, contributing designer Leigh-Ann Odynski, invites you to embrace colour and pattern with layers of simple shapes. It’s a great project for small scraps of paper and the end result is beautiful – I can’t wait to see what you make!

It’s almost time for trick or treating! How fun is that? I am sure I am not alone in loving a good sweet treat! On this scrapbook page, I wanted to feature a different kind of treat. It’s one of our family’s favorite birthday treats, cupcakes.

I thought about how to embrace dimension on this layout. I came up with the idea to punch circles and score them so that they resemble cupcake wrappers. In Shimelle rainbow colors of course! Just punch 2 inch circles and score them with straight lines as shown above, before cutting them in half. You can use a score mark (at 1 inch) to cut them in half.

In deciding where to place them on the layout, I tried different spots, but thought they looked most like cupcake wrappers when placed this way. Try it out and see how you can layer them up!

Starting with the bottom row, attach some of the “wrappers” with foam dots. This gives tons of dimension. The scoring also adds dimension to each half circle.

Once you have a full row, just zigzag stitch across the top to give even more texture. Continue with the rows and stitching until you have the amount you desire!

I decided to drop a few splats of Heidi Swapp Color Shine behind the photo, just for a fun icing look. I added tissue behind the photo to give more dimension and resemble bakery paper.

The wood buttons from the new Go Now Go collection were just perfect as a minimal embellishment, and they tie in the wood grain color from the photo.

Your turn to have a go at this challenge with plenty of layers of colour! You can also share what sweet ideas you have to embrace dimension!

A note about this weekend’s challenges: I’m leaving all the challenges open until the end of the following weekend to allow more time to participate, but the special discount on the new class will be sent to those who upload a new project just this weekend – by the end of Sunday, 30th of October, 2016. This is for new layouts created this weekend, not archived layouts made previously. One discount applicable per person. You can upload your page to another site (blog, Instagram, Facebook, scrapbooking gallery, etc) and use the InLinkz button above to link to that OR you can upload a photo of your page directly with the same button rather than linking elsewhere. Either is fine! If you have trouble figuring out what to click, give a shout in the comments and I’ll email you with help. Thanks!

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Next up, please welcome guest artist Karen Lai with our third challenge. This one is all about the colours of autumn!

I love the colours of autumn. I love to go on a hike to see the beautiful leaves and actually bring some of the leaves home.

I wanted to scrapbook this photo of a hike that we went off trail and found an area full of beautiful golden-leaved trees and red leaves on the ground. We dove right in – playing and throwing the leaves up in the air as though we were kids. It was so much fun!

For my layout, I started by painting the background with autumn colours with Distress Inks. I love using them like watercolours. Then I chose papers and embellishments from Shimelle Go Now Go collection because it matches perfectly to my autumn hiking adventure theme. I added the leaves I collected during the hike in my layout as well because the colours were just so pretty. Then I created the title by cutting parts of the patterned paper and added different alphabet stickers from October Afternoon and American Crafts.

Now it’s your turn – I challenge you to scrapbook with a colour scheme inspired by autumn!

A note about this weekend’s challenges: I’m leaving all the challenges open until the end of the following weekend to allow more time to participate, but the special discount on the new class will be sent to those who upload a new project just this weekend – by the end of Sunday, 30th of October, 2016. This is for new layouts created this weekend, not archived layouts made previously. One discount applicable per person. You can upload your page to another site (blog, Instagram, Facebook, scrapbooking gallery, etc) and use the InLinkz button above to link to that OR you can upload a photo of your page directly with the same button rather than linking elsewhere. Either is fine! If you have trouble figuring out what to click, give a shout in the comments and I’ll email you with help. Thanks!

Today’s Guest Artist: Karen Lai loves coffee, watching tv dramas and hiking. You can find more from Karen on Twitter, Pinterest, and her blog.

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Ready for your second challenge this weekend? It’s from contributing designer Heather Leopard, who gives you two options for your page: try patterned paper fringe or scrap with her pumpkin cut file. Or you could be an overachiever and try both!

Hello my friends…While Halloween is all about dressing up and going out trick or treating, it’s also about decorating pumpkins, whether carving or painting so I thought I’d do a layout about my daughter’s Halloween party at school. Sorry, no costumes allowed and by the way, where’s the fun in that?

Anyway, today’s tutorial is all about super sized die cuts. I’m sharing a few TRICKS as well as a TREAT with you today. I was inspired by this cute photo of my daughter painting a pumpkin at her school last year. I decided I wanted to do a super sized pumpkin cut with fringe on the inside. At first, I had planned to use varying colors of orange for the fringe but orange is a bit hard to find in this collection so I went back to the drawing board. I put my thinking cap on and went ahead and cut the pumpkin out. You can download my free Silhouette cut file HERE. I kept both pieces and you should too if you plan to recreate this project. Set them both aside.

As I was pondering, I realized I should mimic the colors my daughter was painting her pumpkin – blues, red, yellows, green, etc. so I set out to look for fun patterns in those colors.

Next I cut little slits about 1/4” to 1/2” apart on each strip and adhered one on top of the other use the cut out piece that I would typically throw away as the base.

Once all the layers have been added, trim around the pumpkin and lay the overlay on top. Stitch it to the top for a pretty effect.

Pull up gently on the little strips to lift them up. You can simply lift them or roll them up over a thin pencil or like object to curl the edges.

Add a title around the top of the pumpkin. This title is included in the free Silhouette cut file, which you can download HERE or you can create your own.

Add layers of pattern paper, die cuts and stickers over and under your photo. Adhere to the page using foam adhesive to lift it up. You don’t want to crush those lovely lifted strips.

To complete the layout, I added journaling below the photo and around the bottom of the pumpkin along with a smaller alpha to complete the title, even though the large title at the top works great if used alone.

Thanks for stopping by today. Please share any projects you make using this free cut file or with patterned paper fringe to participate in this challenge!

A note about this weekend’s challenges: I’m leaving all the challenges open until the end of the following weekend to allow more time to participate, but the special discount on the new class will be sent to those who upload a new project just this weekend – by the end of Sunday, 30th of October, 2016. This is for new layouts created this weekend, not archived layouts made previously. One discount applicable per person. You can upload your page to another site (blog, Instagram, Facebook, scrapbooking gallery, etc) and use the InLinkz button above to link to that OR you can upload a photo of your page directly with the same button rather than linking elsewhere. Either is fine! If you have trouble figuring out what to click, give a shout in the comments and I’ll email you with help. Thanks!

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Goodness me, I have a lot of photos from those twelve days. Thank goodness I dropped my phone and not my camera! Does a giant stack of new photos make you excited or intimidated? It is actually one of my very favourite things about scrapbooking: I never feel like I have to make it through every photo in the stack, so I’m excited by all the potential in those new photos! Of course, if I made them all single photo layouts, I’d need even more room to store all my albums, so let’s be practical with this first challenge of the weekend: create a new page with lots of little photos!

A few posts in the archives might be useful for this challenge: Glitter Girl’s Multiple Photo Mayhem adventure and a double page Sketch to Scrapbook Page spin both include process videos, and Formulas for Stretching Supplies shares four layouts from one kit to scrap seven small photos and one big one.

Now, to get you started on this first challenge, take a look at these fabulous examples from contributing designer Nicole Nowosad and guest artist Michelle Gallant.

Halloween is always a busy time of the year in our house, carving pumpkins and pulling costumes together. Every year I try to take photos of each of my kids for Halloween all dressed up and thought it would be fun to make a bit of a recap page on this project. I had so many photos to scrap that I was a little stumped at first at just how to pull them all together. I decided to print some smaller photos of each of my kids as well as their group photo for each year and then create mini flip outs on my page to keep them all together in one year!

I simply cut a 3“x 12” strip of paper and scored it every 4”, folding it accordion style to the inside of another 3“x 8” piece of folded card stock that I decorated with some die cut shapes, vellum, and wood buttons. I added in each of the small photos and stamped their costume to the empty area in the mini flip out before securing the little mini books to my page in a simple grid. It is a great way to tuck in lots of small photos in a simple and interactive way too!
- Nicole

I decided to use these photos of my kids because it was the first year we let them carve the pumpkins by themselves (with a little help with the cutting). They were so proud!

For my project I used mostly the Go Now Go collection. I love the colors of this collection, it was perfect for my pumpkin page!
- Michelle

I’m leaving all the challenges open until the end of the following weekend to allow more time to participate, but the special discount on the new class will be sent to those who upload a new project just this weekend – by the end of Sunday, 30th of October, 2016. This is for new layouts created this weekend, not archived layouts made previously. One discount applicable per person. You can upload your page to another site (blog, Instagram, Facebook, scrapbooking gallery, etc) and use the InLinkz button above to link to that OR you can upload a photo of your page directly with the same button rather than linking elsewhere. Either is fine! If you have trouble figuring out what to click, give a shout in the comments and I’ll email you with help. Thanks!

Today’s Guest Artist: Michelle Gallant loves taking photos, spending time with family and watching hockey. You can find more from Michelle on Instagram, and her blog.

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Thanks so much for sharing all your painted pages last week! This week, we’re thinking all things travel and autumn, but don’t worry – there is room to take this challenge to any topic you’d like to scrapbook. We’re looking back at an older page and video and taking inspiration to make something new.

Every once in a while, I find it really interesting to look at how my process has changed over the years by reviewing old videos. (Not too much, mind you, because it is easy to just look at all the things I would do differently now and there’s no sense in that!) That’s the same desk I use now and I’m amazed at how much I managed to keep on the table. Today I’d be afraid it would all fall off and, with my luck, I’d smash a bottle of mist and paint everything in sight. Whoops!

I made this page more than four years ago as a guest artist for Studio Calico, and it’s one I still really like. Yes, it has plenty of embellishment, but there’s also that big focal area across the middle of the page that lets the photos stand alone. And it’s an easy design to adapt to your chosen level of embellishment – just use more or less in that bottom right corner as suits your style! But you could also take inspiration from just one little detail and have a very different page design: pop tags into vellum pockets or string small embellishments on twine, or place your title on a stack of paper strips, perhaps.

This week, I challenge you this week to take inspiration from this page. There’s so much room to interpret this challenge that you might find you’re not even making a scrapbook page, but rather a card, planner layout, or gift tag! To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer May Flaum and guest artist Sandy Lewis.

When I was looking at the sketch I made from this scrapbook layout, I got to thinking it would translate beautifully into a card design. I didn’t have three little tags, so I went to my Shimelle die cut stash and found a few little things to cluster in a similar area. Using the big strip of white cardstock to hold my big sentiment? Perfect in lieu of photos!

All ready for fall and inspired to try more paper crafting cross inspiration where sketches are concerned, I’m really loving how this turned out!
- May

(By the way, don’t miss May’s beautiful autumn star project – it’s gorgeous!)

My only grandson turned one on my twenty-fifth anniversary, and photos of him and his family are some of my main inspirations for scrapping. Having watched Shimelle and Glitter Girl scrap for the past however many years, I often scrap lift from the videos. I used many of her lines on this layout that I scraplifted and made my own, and they work so well together: Go Now Go Journey paper, Starshine Orion and Hubble papers, washi, tiny letter stickers and embellishments. I used a wood word and rubber faces from Freckled Fawn, and Versamark and Hero Arts white embossing powder, along with Distress Ink in Peacock Feathers and the Tim Holtz applicator.

_My layout features my adorable grandson with his family at the beach for the very first time. I wanted to tell the story from the ‘I’m home every time I’m with you’ angle, rather than a vacation or travel topic. It seemed apt to work with the concept of ‘home’ with such a little one, as ‘vacation’ is a pretty complex topic for a baby. _
- Sandy

You have a week to complete the challenge and share your page – but of course you’re welcome to set your own time schedule. Whatever keeps you happy and creative! By the way you don’t have to link to your page on a blog if that’s not your thing! You can simply upload a photo of your page when you click to add yours or you can link to any site, including Instagram, Facebook, and scrapbook page galleries. We’d love to see what you’re making, no matter where you prefer to share!

Today’s Guest Artist: Sandy Lewis loves family, scrapbooking, and Chihuahuas. You can find more from Sandy on Instagram, Pinterest, and her blog.

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