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

lovely to meet you Twitter Facebook Pinterest YouTube

Take a Scrapbooking Class

online scrapbooking classes

Shop Shimelle Products

scrapbook.com simon says stamp shimelle scrapbooking products @ amazon.com shimelle scrapbooking products @ amazon.co.uk

Reading Material

travel

Scrapbooking older photos with a monochromatic colour scheme

Scrapbooking older photos with a monochromatic colour scheme by Shimelle Laine

The results for the recent monochromatic turn of our weekly challenges really gave my face the human version of the heart-eyes emoji. Seeing all those layouts in just one dominant colour each made for such a happy grid of inspiration! And when we set that challenge, I was convinced I would go into vastly familiar territory and create in shades of pink or turquoise.

Then I found this photo and decided against being predictable. (This is The Boy at just a few months older than Wonder Boy is now. Obviously that fills my creative heart with glee. And more heart-eye emoji faces.) Red it is!

Scrapbooking older photos with a monochromatic colour scheme by Shimelle Laine

But red is such a bold colour that even as I pulled out a desk full of red supplies, I could see the photo fading into some lost dimension. I tried a few things to see if I could find a good ground of compromise between the ideas of ‘I heart this photo!’ and ‘All The Red!’ and some worked, some didn’t, and some are up for debate.

What didn’t work: crisp white. It just didn’t work with this photo and it felt sterile to me. I know, I know, how many times will I pull out white cardstock for a background because it looks beautiful all over the internet and then put it away because it doesn’t look beautiful on my own desk? Apparently that number is somewhere near infinity.
Also: overloaded embellishment. I probably pulled out three times as much as what is here. But I just got to a point where I pulled a bunch back and sighed a very zen sigh and took it as a sign that this is how much was meant to me there, no more. It does mean it’s a bit simpler than some of my pages, but there is room for that!

What did work: distressed off-white and cream. That chevron background (from Crate Paper) was where I started with choosing the vintage tones and then just found whatever had bright reds but not bright whites, and that ended up being Cosmo and Sassafras. I’m starting to see a theme with that lately.
Also: less embellishment and bringing in brown, which I started thinking was a total cheat but I liked the look and the more I looked at it, I realised the brown is really just a shade of the distressed off-white (albeit at the extreme ends of that shade card) and that means this is not a monochromatic layout at all now. Well, hmpf. But I wouldn’t have ended up here if I hadn’t started by aiming to make it a monochromatic layouts, so I think that’s still in the spirit of the challenge, if not the letter. I am totally good with that if ever happens with your own challenge projects, by the way!

What is up for debate: the red letter stickers. I really like elements that you have to look closely to see, and I find when I’m filming videos I have to keep asking myself if it will be clear on camera. Just because I can see it with my own eyes in person doesn’t mean it will show up with that same clarity when photographed, of course. The red letters are exactly that sort of thing: I know they are subtle but I am sure some of you would quickly say that choice is not one you would make in your own album. Totally cool. My thought was that the giant glittery ampersand makes you realise that the brown letters are probably not all of the title, so you’ll look back if you miss the red letters on first glance. But I totally accept that easy to read titles are a better choice for some! So although all of this design stuff is clearly up for debate really and you’re welcome to prefer crisp white to distressed off-white any day of the week, I think the monochromatic letter stickers are probably the thing worth thinking about whether you would personally like or dislike in your album – and then if you dislike it, you’ll never waste time or supplies on trying it!

Scrapbooking older photos with a monochromatic colour scheme by Shimelle Laine

Since we just had a challenge a couple weeks back to make a monochromatic layout, that part is optional. Your real challenge here is to scrapbook an older photograph. You can decide what is ‘older’ in your photo library! But probably not something from the past week. Any style and any interpretation welcome – just let us see what you’re making!


We're bringing colour blocking back

Modern colour blocking for scrapbook pages

Yep, that title line is horrible and I love it anyway. Please sing it at least once if that song is now in your head. Thank you. But onward to some actual scrapbooking! I asked Cheryl from Scrapstorian to revive an old scrapbooking technique and she pulled out a page template designed to colour block a scrapbook page. While I never owned the exact one she used, I did have plenty similar items! Maybe twelve years ago I was teaching workshops using the Deluxe Cuts colour blocking templates – please put your hands up if you remember those or still have them in your stash. The idea of colour blocking takes me back to that phase…

Modern colour blocking for scrapbook pages

…and also to this phase! This was my scrapping style circle 2000, and in fact this layout was in the CK Hall of Fame book in 2001 (bonus points for anyone who is reading this who is actually too young to remember 2001, scrapbooking or otherwise). It was a time when I had basically no access to patterned paper and all of my pages were made with solid cardstock. I got to a point where I did a lot of experimenting with randomly wide open spaces, and it all went a bit Mary-Quant-gone-wrong sometimes but it was a phase that helped me find what did and did not work in terms of design. But it was almost always colour blocking, even if I didn’t know to call it that.

Modern colour blocking for scrapbook pages

Back to 2016 and trying to figure out how I can mix that old school technique with my current style and have it actually be useful and enjoyable! The first big difference for me is to swap all that solid cardstock for patterned paper. I keep very little solid cardstock on hand these days compared to patterned paper. Patterned paper is definitely what feels right to me, and there’s no reason why it can’t be used in the same way. My usual practice is to use the more subtle patterns for the bigger expanses of the page if I’m scrapbooking more than one photo on that layout. I started with that blue paper in the background from Starshine and added a dark blue crosshatch (a Starshine b-side) and the yellow print from an older October Afternoon collection (Midway, I think).

In terms of making things useful, colour blocking is a brilliant way to work with that combination I so often try to avoid: one landscape and one portrait photo. These are both printed at 4×6 and if you look at everything at this stage of putting things together, there’s a lot in common with that older layout! Multiple photo mats that are square and even. No angles on anything. Straight lines in the open space (the stitching on the far right on the old layout; the strips of paper at the top of the new layout). But then I got to the point where I wanted to bring it up to date with how I scrapbook today!

Modern colour blocking for scrapbook pages

This felt like shaking off the things I don’t love about colour blocking. Now there is some movement, with curved shapes and slight angles and overlapping layers. But there’s also purpose. Wonder Boy’s friend in the background of the landscape photo was having a momentary unhappy face, and I have much happier photos of her on other pages in my album. I’m okay with using a bit of embellishment to cover that bit of the photo and that gives a softer line to the top right of that photo – so it’s blocked underneath all that, but not just blocks on the surface. (Also I was really happy I could use that rocket die-cut because it matches the rocket on his shirt, which I made with the same drawing, but that is really not a requirement of scrapbooking and I do not expect you to fire up your lightbox to customise baby clothes to match die cuts. I said I’m not expecting it but I don’t disapprove either.)

Does it still count as colour blocking? I’m voting yes. If nothing else, it is definitely an old page inspiring a new one! But what would Cheryl do with her trusty page template that started all this?

Modern colour blocking for scrapbook pages

No matter how many times I go through my supplies and “de-stash” or donate items, my Creative Memories page template stays. I’m sure it’s been around for 10 years. It’s purpose used to be to fit as many photos on a page as possible, but since that’s not what I needed here, I had to rethink it.

Modern colour blocking for scrapbook pages

I wanted lots of colour, so a modified grid design was the answer. Each square of the template became a home for a different patterned paper. It was an easy way to dress up the Shimelle True Stories background.

Modern colour blocking for scrapbook pages

I loved the pencil lines (and what tool is older than a pencil?) so I doodled around the edges of each paper piece. A vibrant, carefree page is the perfect home for this silly story. Now, if only I was as good at keeping track of teeth as I am photos.

Okay, your turn now! Cheryl and I challenge you to colour block your next page! With or without a template, create a page with blocks of colour or pattern. You can scrap lift either of our pages or come up with something totally your own. You maintain all artistic freedom here, of course! We’d love to see what you make!



Today’s Guest Artist: Cheryl loves to play with paper, sing in the car, and lift heavy stuff. You can find more from Cheryl on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and her blog.

Project Life Baby Book update

Project Life Baby Scrapbook by Shimelle Laine

Nearly two years ago, I started working on this much-anticipated (by me!) bit of documentation – a Project Life baby book to record so much about Wonder Boy’s first year. I wrote that first post with everything thought through in my head and tried to develop a system even though I’m not usually an entirely systematic crafter at all.

Then one year ago, I was nowhere near done with the album, but I wrote again and I still had a working system. And a few months later, I did a video series with ten updates on how I was making some progress card by card. And now we’re in March 2016, which means next month Wonder Boy will be two and it’s time for me to say I am still nowhere near done with that album. In many ways, it would seem I am not even halfway there.

But I’m okay with it!

Project Life Baby Scrapbook by Shimelle Laine

I am so grateful I decided to have a system even though I normally don’t. I guarantee if I hadn’t had a system in place, this project would be collecting dust on my shelf, no matter what my intentions. Instead, it looks like it’s not even halfway because I’m only on week fifteen of completed layouts like this. But that system has actually let me have a lot more that is already done even if the pages are not complete.
-The photos are printed up to the point where I ran out of Design A page protectors and the remaining photos are all organised in folders by what size they should be printed and what week they are for, and that is backed up in more than one digital place for safety. So that’s a big job done for the entire year of that book.
-The notes that accompany those photos are in two places (a notebook where I wrote by hand and a note taking app on my phone for when that was more convenient) and that big job is done for the entire year too. I just refer to those two sources of journaling when I’m putting weekly layouts together.

So really all I have left is the crafty part and I think it’s perfectly okay to take my time with that. Maybe I should aim to have it finished in a year or two, before he is old enough to realise how slow I am, but sarcastic offspring aside, I’m okay with it. And the biggest reason I’m okay with it is this album has taught me exactly how much I love 12×12 pages.

Project Life Baby Scrapbook by Shimelle Laine

Don’t get me wrong: I love many things about the pocket page system. I love that you can make it totally easy and if I wanted to convert those photos and notes to a finished album with no further embellishment, I could grab a core kit and do it in an evening basically. I love that this option exists if embellishment and the crafty side is not your interest. …but it is totally my interest. I love it. And that makes me want to treat every little pocket like a full layout. And that makes me wonder where I ever thought I was going to get an infinite amount of scrapping time. Yeah, I have not found that just yet. I would rather be slow with a project and enjoy it than rush it and have it not feel like my own. (Interestingly, I know I’m not the only person feeling this way, because it is the very topic of a recent Scrap Gals podcast!)

But I also love the amount of detail I can include in that book with the weekly set up and all its little pockets. In no way am I going to record that style of information with all those specifics on my 12×12 pages. The way I have written things in this book is very different – all the things we did and places we went and people we saw rather than three paragraphs about my thoughts on one lovely afternoon. I love that I have all those details for his first year. But it’s not something that would feel true to my personal scrapbooking process in the bigger scheme of things. After one, there’s a shift to everything on full 12×12 pages and that journaling is right in line with the way I found my happiness in scrapping. I think the two can definitely coincide – one is a project where the end result will be so valuable to me (he might not care at all and I am okay with that, always!) and the rest is my ongoing creative process that has just as much value as I make the page as when I fill an album. I enjoy them both, but for different reasons.

It’s one of those feelings that leaves me thinking ‘I hope this all makes sense’.

So he’s fifteen weeks in this album now and at the same time, I’m plotting out a train-themed toddler party for next month. And I am completely content with that!

This was my answer to the mix old and new products challenge, with some older things like the cloud print paper from BasicGrey Soleil and those journaling cards that are preprinted as 2014 so they clearly can’t be that new! But the chipboard and some of the other cards are from an Ali Edwards story kit that I bought via a Facebook group to give it a try (that is a way I love to try out kits from other countries, and it works out well to give one month a try when a subscriber decides that particular kit is not her cup of tea). Some old favourites out of the stash and into the album and some fun using some new things that made me think differently! I loved that diagonal stripe card and really like how the writing turned out on those lines framed by the panoramic photo.

Okay, less of me waxing philosophical about scrapbooks and more about inspiring you to get making! Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create something that has value to you, whatever that may be. And share it with us. How’s that for a totally open challenge? I can’t wait to see how you respond to that idea.


Welcome to the {Scrapbooking} Party!

online scrapbooking challenges open until 14 march 2016

Good morning and welcome to an entire weekend of scrapbooking fun! From 8am to 4pm UK time, both today and tomorrow, you’ll find a new scrapbooking challenge here every two hours. But don’t worry if that time zone doesn’t work for you – all the challenges stay open until the end of next weekend and you don’t need to be here at any specific time. I hope your schedule finds a match sometime between now and then!

Now throughout the weekend, you’ll see a variety of challenges plus some videos, special guests, plenty of new projects, and a surprise or two! But all the challenges are quite open for interpretation so you can make new pages that will feel right at home in your albums, no matter your style. The only guideline for all the fun is that the challenges are for new pages created from now on, not for existing layouts made before now. Easy enough!

I always believe in starting with a warm-up, so challenge one is the easiest of the ten – or is it? You’ll have to make a decision! Since we started the recent weekly challenges here every Monday, we’ve had selfies, hearts, mixing old with new, monochromatic colour schemes, and the current challenge of maps and globes. To start, choose one or more (or all?) of those challenges to create your next page! Simple… once you’ve made your decision, anyway!


See you in two hours with your next challenge… and enjoy the warm up until then! So happy to see you here this weekend.

Scrapbooking with symbolism and sketches

Scrapbooking with Symbolism and Sketches by Leigh Odynski

Today I am so happy to welcome contributing designer Leigh Odynski with her insight into getting more from your patterns and favourite pages! I also have an exciting announcement about this weekend (as in tomorrow!) at the end of this post, but first of all, Leigh!

While perusing the beautiful papers in Shimelle’s new Starshine line with American Crafts, I was really drawn to the globe paper. This design not only works wonderfully with travel themes, but also with layouts about anyone and anything you love! Thinking about the world kept leading me back to the thought that my kids mean the world to me. Of course, this could be anything that means the world to you. The little globe and flower motif on the patterned paper was just begging to be detail cut, so detail cut I did! Adding more globe shapes in the other embellishment areas and circles to continue the repetition of shape rounded out my design. What means the world to you? What do maps and globes inspire you to create?

Scrapbooking with Symbolism and Sketches by Leigh Odynski

An easy way to get your scrapbook page layout together quickly can be to start with a sketch, or to look at layouts you’ve already created and love! That’s what I did with this page, starting with a fave layout I created last fall with the True Stories line. One way to use the same design but create layouts that look very different is to vary the geometric shapes that take up the space on the page.

scrapbook page sketch by ArtfulLeighCreative

In that original layout, I used a cut file with a honeycomb design of several hexagons and matted my photo with a crocheted flower, but when I converted it to a sketch, I simplified those shapes to circles. That meant I could approach this new layout with the same page design but a new look. I could use this sketch yet again with a very different look by using just one very busy patterned paper for the large circle rather than the mosaic look to the circle with all the different paper scraps that I went with this time. And of course things would look different still if the smaller circle was made from paper, vellum, transparency, or fabric rather than the crocheted mat! (If you prefer a PDF to make the sketch easy to print, you can find that here.)

Scrapbooking with Symbolism and Sketches by Leigh Odynski

Speaking of that big circle, start with any cut file and any paper you like (I used this cut file and white cardstock), then add different patterns behind it. I cut around the negative shapes left on the mat with an X-acto Knife. Love that the Starshine line has so many great patterns to choose from! This technique is a great one for getting more from your scraps or from a favourite 6×6 paper pad.

Scrapbooking with Symbolism and Sketches by Leigh Odynski

Adding the light woodgrain paper from Amy Tangerine’s Rise and Shine collection behind the cut file softened and grounded the shape in the overall design. Then I could use the remaining space for embellishment, thinking about that ‘means the world’ symbolism and having fun picking adorable embellishments like these Starshine chipboard stickers and Starshine ephemera, which includes pieces in transparency as well as printed cardstock.

I’d love to share my process with you here, if you have a moment to watch and relax!

Scrapbooking with Symbolism and Sketches by Leigh Odynski

I love to use the patterned paper in a way that is meaningful to me, and for each of us that will be different. Look at your patterns and think about what story it can help you tell. What patterns have a symbolic meaning to you in this same way? Of course those globes could work for travel pages, but there are definitely other ways to interpret them. Don’t you love when you see other designers and memory keepers work and think, “Oh I never thought of that!”. I know I do. I love the infinite possibilities, and endless creativity this hobby offers. Here’s to telling your stories, creatively!


Now about that announcement: this weekend includes Mothering Sunday here in the UK, and whether that applies to you or not, I’m hoping you have some crafting time this weekend. If so, please join us for an online scrapbooking weekend! Starting Saturday morning at 8am UK time and running until Sunday evening, there is a full schedule of ten different scrapbooking challenges with new projects, videos, downloads, and all kinds of fun. There are some prizes, some special guests, and maybe an announcement or two! All you have to do is show up and join in as you can. We’d love to see you! Happy scrapping indeed!

Weekly challenge: Take inspiraton from maps or globes

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com

Oh hello there. Let me bring us back to our regularly scheduled scrappiness. A few things (mainly Wonder Boy learning he cannot actually fly) made me hit my first real bump in the road with keeping up with my master plan, but I hope you were able to use the pause in time to catch up with some crafty things and you’re ready for something new now! I am, and I’m happy to say I finally got unstuck with the project that was sitting half-finished on my desk pre-derailment, and got that scrapbooking project and several others finished and photographed today. Huzzah! I’ll have a few extra things to share in the next few days as I play catch up, but let’s have our weekly challenge on Monday while it’s still just barely Monday in my time zone, shall we?

weekly challenge: take inspiration from maps or globes @ shimelle.com

Way back in 2011, I wasn’t designing products for American Crafts but instead designed projects using their lines as part of my year-long spot on their design team. It coincided with the start of Amy’s collections at AC and it was definitely a joy to have every little piece of those collections, as I’ve always cherry picked my favourite pieces when doing my own shopping and can’t think of a time when I’ve splurged on an entire collection in one go. (I have been known to go back and buy missing pieces if I’m really loving how one collection works, though!) At any rate, this page is one of my favourites I created in that year of designing with all things AC, and it’s relevant to this week’s challenge, I promise!

And now, on to the challenge! This week, think as symbolic as you choose. I challenge you this week to take maps or globes as your scrapbooking inspiration. Just create a new scrapbook page inspired in some way by the idea of maps and globes – be that a more literal travel page with globe-shaped die-cuts or something more metaphorical, like a personal journey toward a goal. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Kirsty Smith and guest artist Margie Visnick.

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by KIRSTY SMITH

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by KIRSTY SMITH

One of the things I love most about the Starshine collection is that it really does work for a huge range of different subjects and styles. I LOVE to travel and take photographs as I explore, and I’m always on the lookout for new designs and ideas to inspire my travel layouts. Starshine seems absolutely tailor-made! I adore the little starry globes in Shimelle’s new line and I used one as a great starting point for this page.

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by KIRSTY SMITH

I used the globe as a focal point on a background of map-themed patterned paper. I added my photos and journaling on one side of the page, and used the starry globe to launch little stitched flight paths for paper aeroplanes soaring around the world.

I’m a huge fan of aqua, (I blame Shimelle!) and I layered up lots of coordinating stickers and papers to frame my design and my title, which had to be glittery Thickers! I used little flashes of pink to give a bit of contrast, from layers peeping out behind the photos, to puffy little heart stickers to add detail to the paper aeroplane flight paths.
- Kirsty

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by Margie Visnick

weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by Margie Visnick

My scrapbook pages are quite often inspired by all of the lovely products that are available, and quite often, it sparks a story or reminds me of a moment that I need to record. This was definitely the case with the beautiful globe print, “Exploration”, from the Starshine collection. The globe plus floral pattern immediately reminded me of Epcot at Walt Disney World, and exploring the “World”, when we were there right after the Flower and Garden Festival. I started browsing my folder of photos from Epcot that day, and stumbled across this photo of my daughter, with a story still waiting to be told, and I had the basics for my page.

weekly challenge:weekly challenge: take inspiraton from maps or globes @ shimelle.com // layout by MARGIE VISNICK

I chose a blue/grey polka dot from the True Stories for the background of my page, and layered it up with several of my favorite patterned papers from the Starshine collection, and a pretty pink watercolor ombre paper from Amy Tangerine’s new Better Together collection, along with a piece of gold foiled vellum from Dear Lizzy’s Fine & Dandy collection. Shimelle’s new floral washi tape from Starshine was the perfect addition to draw the eye across the page, and from there, all that was left to do was to layer up an assortment of embellishments. I mixed all sorts of different bits, mostly from the Starshine collection, all though a couple of wee bits from an old Basic Grey die cut assortment did make their way into the layout, simply because they were on my desk, and needed to be used. I used stamped bits (the navy globe under the first letter of the title, and the tiny navy rose in the cluster to the right), punches, chipboard stickers, die cuts, an acetate piece that I stapled to a scrap of white cardstock so that it would show up, and some flair.
- Margie



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!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share some new projects of my own. I have both my old + new products and my monochromatic challenge pages ready to show you!

Today’s Guest Artist: Margie Visnick loves scrapbooking, photography, and red velvet everything. You can find more from Margie on Instagram, Pinterest, and her blog.

Weekly Challenge :: Go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com

It’s been a long while since we first talked about colour theory on this blog, but ever since it’s come up just now and then. Maybe it’s me wishing for spring, but colour is on my mind so much lately, and I’m finding it more a creative pull than perhaps it usually is. Playing with so many different colour combinations is bringing me much joy, and I’d love for you to feel happy creating with your favourite colours too. Which means, I’m going to ask you to play favourites. If I force you to answer right this second, what’s your favourite colour?

And now take that answer, and go on to the challenge! This week, it’s definitely okay to play favourites. I challenge you this week to go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page. Choose one colour and select your supplies only in that colour, though you can use plenty of shades (adding white) or tints (adding black) to have plenty to work with, and make a new scrapbook page. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! You’re welcome to include black and white photos or colourful prints – the photos themselves do not need to be monochromatic, just your page design. To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Nicole Nowosad and guest artist Zsoka Marko.

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Nicole Nowosad

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Nicole Nowosad

I find a lot of inspiration from mixing different colours and so the thought of just using one was a bit of a challenge for me until I broke it down into being just all about shading! Once I wrapped my head around the idea of using a monochromatic colour scheme, it was really just about shades of pink/red and not so much about using “one colour” anymore.

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Nicole Nowosad

I used several different colours and patterns of pink/red in the Starshine collection and kept the lines clean by using small one inch squares of the different patterns and colours and arranging in a quilt like pattern to help mix up the various shades of pink/red in the collection!
- Nicole

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Zsoka Marko

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Zsoka Marko

When I saw the word “monochromatic” in this challenge, that was it! I’ve been hoarding this striped paper from Shimelle’s True Story line for ages, waiting for the right moment, and now it just seemed fitting! I’ve created this circle cut file from some car cut files I’ve found at the Silhouette store, then backed all circles with different papers; some from the same Shimelle collection, some from other brands in my stash.

weekly challenge: go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page @ shimelle.com // layout by Zsoka Marko

I love using lots of embellishments on my pages but here I kept them to a minimum: wooden buttons and star stickers from Freckled Fawn plus enamel dots and brads from Simple Stories. I didn’t have Thickers I quite liked on this layout so I spray painted some white ones with Shimmerz Vibez in deep blue sea for my custom colour.
- Zsoka



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!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share how I took on this challenge! Place your bets on what colour I’ve chosen this time.

Today’s Guest Artist: Zsoka Marko loves cut files, circles, and lots of embellishments. You can find more from Zsoka on Instagram, in her scrapbooking gallery, and on her blog.

Scrapbook Journaling for Childhood Memories

Scrapbook Journaling for Childhood Memories by meghann andrew @ shimelle.com

Today I’m delighted to welcome contributing designer Meghann Andrew to share her thoughts on journaling, childhood, and scrapbooks. Thank you Meghann!

As a mom to a toddler, I am in the midst of childhood every day – surrounded by toys, tantrums, make believe moments and big adventures that take us just down the street. While ninety-five percent of what I scrapbook lately is my daughter, I also think it is important to reflect on our own experiences in life, and document them. All too often in my journaling, I find myself starting with, “today we,” or “we went,” typically sticking with the facts and how I felt about the experience, but this layout takes a different approach to my journaling, and I decided to compare my childhood in the 80s to my daughter’s childhood today.

Scrapbook Journaling for Childhood Memories by meghann andrew @ shimelle.com

The idea for this approach came from the photo of my daughter, sitting in the airport terminal, casually playing on an iPhone, waiting for our flight to board, and all of the feelings and memories of my own childhood that that photo evoked. My layout, which also features a photo of myself at the same age, playing with a stuffed animal, rather than a tech gadget, was designed with two separate vertical columns of photos and text with a third column of embellishment in the middle to show the separation between us.

Scrapbook Journaling for Childhood Memories by meghann andrew @ shimelle.com

To ground the photos with a horizontal element underneath, I stamped my title with a playful, yet clean alphabet stamp to fit the design and color palette of the layout. This also created a great transition between my photos and my journaling, and I added a number 2 from the Shimelle layered chipboard stickers in between my photos, with a circle die-cut underneath from the True Stories tags.

I had to type my words to fit all of the journaling I wanted in the space that was available. Without a wide-format printer, I decided to be brave and cut my background cardstock in half, after stamping my title! I knew where the photos would go, and from there I formatted a 6×12 page in Photoshop to type my words.

journaling: compare & contrast childhood experiences with meghann andrew @ shimelle.com

Drafting that journaling was the highlight of creating this layout. I gave myself time to sit and think and jot down memories from my childhood, which was awesome. How often do we take the time to do that? Once I had ideas for my column, I moved to my daughter’s and compared what I had written about my own childhood to her life now. Some of these comparisons, like how we were/are both only children for a long period, or how we were both most comfortable with adults, surprised me. I had never thought of them before.

Once I figured out the main comparisons I wanted to feature on the layout, I typed them in the space that I had between my title and the strip of patterned paper from the Starshine collection at the bottom of the layout. To make sure the two sides had things in the same place, I typed my text for my memories, printed it to check it would work, then went back to the same document and changed the text to my daughter’s memories, and printed that. After printing each side separately, I pasted them together with a twelve inch strip of cardstock at the back. I wasn’t troubled by seeing a hairline where the two pages met, but I tried to cover it as best as I could with embossed stars from the Starshine stamp set, and punched circles from the True Stories Berry Infusion paper. (If you don’t have a pinked circle punch, a die set like this can be helpful and offer a wide range of sizes.) After adding a few more embellishments to my central column to increase the texture on the page, I called this layout done.

Today, I’d like you to think about your own childhood and how it may be different than childhood for your children, parents, spouse, or siblings. The similarities or differences may surprise you, and may inspire you to document the story today. I’d love for you to share how you put this journaling exercise to work in your scrapbook.