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

Last weekend one of my workshops at the Stitch and Craft show was this little scrapbook: a 6×6 minibook that can work with pretty much any happy topic. It’s called Marvel, and for the next three days you can find all the instructions for this mini right here on the blog. If you were in class, parts two and three pick up where we left off. If you weren’t there, you can adapt the project to suit your own supplies and photos. My finished album includes fifteen photos: five 4×6, five 3×5 and five 2×3 prints. (All my measurements are in inches – my apologies to my metric friends.)

The album itself is a 6×6 book with cardstock pages and cover and a staple-bound spine. I’ve ordered these from Bazzill in the past but I believe they have been discontinued. Not to worry: there is a similar (if not identical) book by Kolo or you could make your own by cutting 12×12 cardstock in half, folding and stitching the binding. 

The cover has a square window for a photo but we filled this with some woodgrain loveliness in the form of sticky-back plastic (which is exactly the same as contact paper stateside but I think you will agree sticky-back plastic is far more fun to say) from the DIY store. I adore this stuff and use it for many minibook projects. It is not archival though so you may want to keep it away from your more formal albums. My view is that minibooks are meant to be enjoyed until they fall apart – I don’t have any plan for these projects lasting to antiquity so I don’t mind using products with dubious ph levels.   Of course you could use a photo or patterned paper in the window if you prefer. 

At the bottom corner of the window, add a luggage tag. We stamped these with a polka dot background then cut off the bottom of the tag and gave it a decorative edge with a border punch. 

With the tag stuck in place, there are just a few things to add. A strip of ribbon is tucked into one side of the window then glued over the tag. The title was cut on the Silhouette with a cursive font. You could substitute any lettering you like of course! Then just a flower with a brad centre to hold everything in place. Nice and easy and simple to make with supplies you have to hand. 

Tomorrow I’ll cover the first half of the book’s pages. The supplies are pretty simple: you can use cardstock and/or patterned paper and quite a lot of the designs are made with punches. I used several Martha Stewart punches plus some Fiskars border punches but as long as you can cut or punch basic shapes in a variety of sizes to create layers then you can easily follow along.  You’ll also need adhesive and a journaling pen and then you can add whatever else you like to make it work with your style. Choose some photos and colours and check tomorrow for the first eight pages. 

xlovesx

 

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I’m so excited about the arrival of spring, even if I’m still having to wear gloves and a winter coat to go outside and enjoy the blue skies! I’m also excited to share these two new releases with you: Negative Frames and Springtime Basics. Both are breaking out the lighter colours for the new season.

_{Supplies: Springtime Basics paper pack and Negative Frames from Shimelle Digitals, Give me Simple Templates 2 by Vinnie Pearce.}

I love a good sheet of kraft paper – both digital and traditional! The Springtime Basics paper set includes solid, dotted and ledger papers in kraft, cream, turquoise, pink and olive green.

_{Supplies: Springtime Basics paper pack and Negative Frames from Shimelle Digitals, Create Art template by Vinnie Pearce, Fall Primitives and Willow Tree by Brandy Buffington.}

The Negative Frames are part of the Write It Down collection, so the kit includes a printable PDF as well as a digital PNG file with three frames and three borders, all for just 99 cents! So even if you’re a paper-only scrapper, you may find the printable negatives useful for making your own journaling boxes or photo frames. (By the way, several people have asked if you can purchase digital kits even if you’re not in the US and you certainly can — you can pay by credit/debit card or from your paypal account and both options have the ability to work in your currency, even though the price is displayed in dollars and cents.)

The Baker’s Dozen designers have lots to show you today too, as they’ve arranged a special blog party to celebrate these new releases! The next party stop is Kate at Liberty Cottage, and you’ll also find updates from Taly, Karen, SJ, Rani, Allison, Sheri, Dolly and Elisa so be sure to catch them all.

Click here to shop for Shimelle Digitals kits and printables!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a minibook tutorial so you can see a little of what we got up to at London Stitch and Craft over the weekend!

xlovesx

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I know some of our regular readers were very sad to hear of the end of Scrapbook Inspirations’ monthly issues last December, and it was certainly sad news for all of us involved behind the scenes, both our full-time staff at the office and our team of contributors. But I am so very excited to report Scrapbook Inspirations is officially back on the scene.

Instead of thirteen magazines a year, we’re bringing you quarterly books. We’ve changed the format to bring you more ideas and less clutter, and there’s only a tiny amount of advertising. Each volume will include a variety of themed galleries sharing beautiful pages in a range of styles as well as articles on techniques, composition, photography and colour. In volume one, we’ve focused on some classic scrapbooking themes like family, weddings, babies and travel and there’s also an article on improving your everyday candid photographs, great looks with hand-stitching, ten techniques to put your patterned papers to work and a range of projects with one of my favourite colour combinations. We’ve also kept some of your favourite features from the monthly issues, like a revamped edition of Sketch Collection. We’re also bringing you special codes for free downloads from some of your favourite scrapbooking websites.

Volume One hits stores on the 31st of March. In the UK, you’ll find it at WHSmiths, Sainsbury’s and newsagents. It is on its way to the States as well, so keep an eye in the magazine section at your local Barnes and Noble and some other stores too. But even easier, you can order it online and have it delivered right to your door. Click here to order your copy now and it will be on its way to you on the 31st of March! The prices include postage: £10.99 for the UK, £11.99 to Europe and £12.99 to the rest of the world. (If you buy it at the store in the UK, it will be £9.99 — I’m not sure what the price will be in dollars in the stores just yet.)

We shared a few preview copies with readers at the Stitch and Craft show and it was lovely to see people excited that SI is not gone! As far as contributors, you’ll see familiar faces from our team and also new faces who have joined us to share their amazing pages. As the editor, this project is obviously pretty near and dear to my heart — but I hope you enjoy this new publication as much as I do! I have more bonus features to share with you online on and after the 31st of March too, so don’t be a stranger!

Contributors for Volume One, your layouts will be returning to you with a copy of the book very soon.

In other news, it’s rather an exciting week all round here! Tomorrow afternoon we’re having a Shimelle Digitals blog hop with some brand new releases and this Wednesday you’ll find a new step-by-step tutorial for the minibook class I taught this weekend at Stitch and Craft. So lovely to see so many of you in class — please do stop by on Wednesday afternoon for the post we discussed!

It’s sunny here today too — may this be a good week for everyone!

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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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.

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

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_{©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.

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

_{©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!

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

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Watching today’s livestream and want to jump straight in? These are the classes coming up!

The Old 1-2 Punch – Starts next week

January Stories featuring Old Stash

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!

click any layout to see larger.

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.

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

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