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

Stitch & Craft London starts this Thursday!

minibook class in London
The London Stitch & Craft show is this week! It runs Thursday through Sunday at Olympia 2 in Kensington. If you’re in the neighbourhood, do stop by and say hello! I’ll be demonstrating scrapbooking techniques and you can do a free make and take at my table, plus I’ll have some of my favourite stash for sale (two words: Dear. Lizzy.) plus there are some more formal classes too!

I’ll be teaching two workshops each day: Minibook Marvel at 12:15 and Texture Tech at 1:30. The classes are just £7 and include all the supplies so you can sign up on the spur of the moment if you like! You can sign up on the day at the workshop registration table. (My Saturday classes are all sold out, but it’s definitely worth putting your name on the list in case someone doesn’t turn up!) You don’t need to bring anything with you, as there will be tools to share in the classroom, and everything comes pre-cut (including that title above — I’m not going to make you cut that with scissors or anything similarly insane). For the minibook class, you can make the book in the workshop and add the photos at home in just a matter of minutes.

If you would like to come prepared so you can finish the project in class, you can bring a selection of favourite photos or happy photos to finish this project — it’s easy to adapt to whatever theme you would like really and there are several colours available in the class kits so if you’re toward the front of the line you can grab the colour you like best! It’s a 6×6 book that can accommodate a mix of 2×3, 3×5 and 4×6 photographs. Five of each is perfect! You can also bring your own scissors and adhesive if you would prefer not to have to share with a neighbour. You won’t need a paper trimmer.

cardmaking class in London

In Texture Tech, we’ll be working with a variety of textures, like embossed paper, vintage paper and fabric paper! We’ll make three cards in class but if you’re a scrapper who doesn’t make cards, don’t worry: you can easily keep the embellishments for a layout rather than popping them on the card blanks, and the techniques are ones you will use in scrapping projects of your own.

In this class we’ll be using a variety of American Crafts products, including the new Dear Lizzy papers! Again everything is precut so you won’t need a paper trimmer. If you would like to bring your own scissors and adhesive, then you won’t have to share. But if you sign up on the spot that’s fine too – we’ll have everything you need!

If you have any questions, let me know! Otherwise I hope you’ll stop by and say hello!

xlovesx

Elsewhere on ye olde internets...

wedding printer's tray
©twopeasinabucket.com

Lots happening here with class starting on Wednesday, so I’ll be quick but I wanted to share a few things that might be of interest! Like the project above, which you can see in full here.

handmade stamped thank you card
Or this card on the Frog Blog which also includes the chance to win free Banana Frog stamps!

go-kart scrapbook page
©twopeasinabucket.com

Or this layout that mixes pretty papers with…go-karts.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I’ll be hosting a live chat on the Two Peas message board at 4pm UK time / 10am CST. You can join me here and say hello!

Thanks to RobbieLee at ChickieDee who featured my work space on her Studio Sunday feature this past weekend!

sneak peeks from the new online scrapbooking class
Have you figured out all the Something from Almost Nothing guest artists yet? Jennifer McGuire is one of them and she has a giveaway for a free class space that closes later tonight. Shannon Tidwell is contributing too and her giveaway closes tomorrow. And Caroline Ikeji has a giveaway closing on Tuesday too! Make sure you’re in it to win it! (And of course if you are already signed up and you win, you can have your choice of gifting the free place to a friend or having a refund of your class fee!)

…but have you spotted all the guest artists yet?

Best wishes for a fabulously creative week at your house!

xlovesx

Ten looks with Top Ten Lists

The Write It Down designs for 2010 are each just 99 cents and they include files for both digital and paper scrappers. If you scrap with paper, you just print out a PDF onto a sheet of white cardstock or any other paper you want to use. If you scrap digitally, the same elements are included in PNG format so you can paste them straight onto your pages and give your journaling the perfect spot. I just wanted to take a minute to show you ten different looks with just one of these kits — Top Ten Lists — courtesy of the always creative Baker’s Dozen design team! This kit includes four different journaling cards that are perfect for writing lists on your pages. Choose from red, blue, pink or green or print in black and white. Digital scrappers will also know some tricks for changing the colours!

scrapbook page by karen scrapbook page by scrapdolly digital scrapbook page by allison
digital scrapbook page by taly digital scrapbook page by rani digital scrapbook page by scrapdolly

click any layout to see larger.

digital scrapbook pages by SJ

And it’s about time I welcomed our newest team member here! SJ joined us last month when we had an opening and she has been creating gorgeous pages! (She also gives away a free digital download every Friday on her blog, so be sure to check it out!) I love how she made the numbers the size of the full page for a striking look.

digital scrapbook pages
Two more — I love this puppy page by Sheri and the last page is from me!

Click here to get Top Ten Lists for just 99 cents! (You can find today’s brand new release, Cute Circles there too!)

xlovesx

And the winner is...

The winner of the Pencil Lines Sketch Book giveaway is

Claire Williams Says:
23 February 2010, 16:13
I love to scrap holiday photos, it brings back all the happy memories!

Congratulations! Claire, email me your mailing address so I can get your brand new book in the post!

Thanks everyone who entered! Check out Pencil Lines for sketches, inspiring pages and order their new book!

xlovesx

Win a copy of the new Pencil Lines book!

scrapbooking sketch idea book from Pencil Lines

You probably already know Pencil Lines is a sketch challenge blog that delivers beautiful layouts every week to keep you scrapping and inspired. Now they have a lovely new book with 40 new sketches and layouts to match. It’s hardbacked and spiral-bound so it lays flat on your scrapping table too. You can find more details here.

I was honoured to be featured in their book and even more fun, I have a copy to give away!

To enter, just a leave a comment on this post answering this question:
What is your favourite topic to scrapbook?

Comments will close at the end of this Friday, UK time.
Entries are now closed. Winner will be posted Saturday evening!

Good luck!

xlovesx

An easy photography challenge...

sky photography challenge

This week I’m hosting the photography challenge at Two Peas and the challenge is Cloudy with a chance of…. Just point your camera toward the sky and see what magic you can find. It’s a challenge that’s easy to participate (well, as long as it’s not chucking it down with rain at your place like it has been here today!) but there’s plenty of room to get creative too. And one lucky sky-snapper will win a prize too!

You can check out the challenge here and be sure to tick the box for this week’s photo challenge when you upload your images to the gallery so you can be entered to win!

In other news, I’ve set up a Q&A page here and I’ll have a giveaway here tomorrow, so be sure to check back!

Have an amazing week!

xlovesx

A scrapbooking update

my scrapbooking table
For the past week, this scene has been pretty constant around here. Lots to get done, not as many hours in the day as I would like and of course there seems to be more to life than work too! But I can’t complain as it has all been very exciting work and it’s probably a bit difficult to pull me away from it right now. Let’s see if I can do a bit better with posting now that the pages are in from the call (I’ll start sending those happy emails later today).

scrapbook page with fabric flower tutorial
One little bit of excitement has been a big change over at Two Peas. There used to be two major places to go to see layouts there — the gallery (open to all members) and the garden (just the design team). Now the two have merged and the Garden Girls’ layouts are right there in the gallery — they just have a little frame around them so you can spot them quickly. Which means for the first time, you can leave comments on these pages and tell us what you like or ask us questions when you want to know more. Our pages will also be spread throughout the month so there is something new every single day rather than just lots of stuff on two set days each month. (By the way, if you go to the gallery and look over at the options on the left side of the screen, you can click Designer Projects and find all the Garden Girls’ projects with just one click.)

My first page in this new system went live yesterday, and it features a quick tutorial on making a fabric flower from the Studio Calico FabRips, which are a bit like border stickers but made with fabric instead of paper. You can check it out here!

birthday card with banana frog rocket ship stamps
I also posted this card on the Banana Frog blog. Check out this post for all the details on making a quick and cute rocket ship card! (And to find out if you won last week’s Banana Frog giveaway!)

By the way, all my Banana Frog stamps are in stock here if you are looking for them. I need to get thinking about some new designs actually!

In addition to those projects, I’ve obviously been working on the books and also preparing for upcoming workshops in London, Southampton and Germany... but what if I said I was also working on a new online class? And sign-ups would start next week? Would that be a good thing, perhaps?

xlovesx

Call for page submissions

scrapbooking supplies

With book one nearly ready, I’m currently on the lookout for layouts for our second volume which will be in stores this summer.

If you’re interested in submitting to this call, please email me with a photo of the pages you would like to submit. An image around 600 pixels wide is ideal — please do not send full-size photographs straight from your camera. (If you don’t know how to resize the image with your own software, you can do this at Picnik online.)

Submissions of both digital and paper projects are welcomed from anywhere in the world. Please keep in mind that paper pages will need to be posted to the UK for photography. Your pages will be returned when the book goes to press.

I’m currently looking for layouts for these themes and techniques:
Girls (any age)
Boys (any age)
Summer
Outdoors
Pets
Love
About Me: Crafting (layouts about your crafting projects, be they scrapping, sewing, or anything else creative)
Pages with machine stitching
Pages with detailed borders (the border can be anywhere on the page)
Pages inspired by this template (paper or digital)
Interactive pages
Pages with an interesting focal point, like a unique frame or large photo or anything else that draws the eye to one point on the page

Please keep in mind that all submissions should be unpublished and your own work. A little clarification about whether pages posted online can be submitted: yes, given a few guidelines. We would prefer pages with fewer than 100 views in a gallery or on your blog but will consider those with up to 1000 views. You will need to be able to take your pages offline until the book is out if your pages are chosen. Pages shouldn’t have won contests or been posted on websites where you can’t take them offline. If your pages posted online fit those guidelines, you’re all good to go!

This call closes on the 17th of February. Successful submissions will be requested on the 18th and 19th via email.

Looking forward to seeing your favourite pages!

xlovesx

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