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

It’s midday here so the remaining kits and stamps are now available, and you can take a look inside at all the details with a video.

Stamps and kits are now available for purchase here. Stamps ship worldwide, and kits are most economical for delivery to the UK or at the most Europe, as otherwise you’re likely to find the shipping costs prohibitive when getting the heavy box to another continent. In the US, you can find similar offerings at Blue Moon Scrapbooking*, Scrapbook.com*, A Cherry on Top, Scrapbook Generation, and Paper Issues. This kit from Studio Calico includes a few of the same items in a smaller kit. In Australia, take a look at this kit from Scrappy Canary. In Canada, a few JYC participants have given a big recommendation of Clipper Street Scrapbooking, who are a bricks and mortar store in Langley, BC, but might be able to help if you give them a call.

A note on numbers: there are a few days left for pre-ordered customers to pay their remaining balance, which means I have a certain number of kits available now but I may have a few more. If the kits and stamps available now sell out, I will open a waiting list and fill those orders in the order received.

I think that’s everything, but feel free to get in touch if you have any questions. Thanks so much!

Click here to purchase a kit or stamps!

_{*denotes affiliate link.}

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It’s a flurry of Christmas preparation around here and I’m surrounded by these kits at the moment! I’d love to share with you the scrapbooking supplies I’m using for Journal your Christmas in 2015. I’m just finishing up pre-ordered kits at the moment, so will be ready to put the remaining kits for sale at midday tomorrow (that’s Sunday, and GMT/UK time). The kits are available for UK and European shipping, or the stamps only can ship worldwide.

There’s a quick look, and payment buttons and the video with full commentary of the kit will be live here at noon tomorrow! See you then!

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I started scrapbooking by accident, making a gift that was a group present in stolen moments hidden away so the recipient wouldn’t see. By the end of that first album, I was already in love with the idea of this craft. The idea that you could put photos and notes and memorabilia and just cute stuff together with some paste and ink and have a truly unique handmade time capsule of memories filled my heart with excitement and my head with ideas. That was a very long time ago, in 1998. Very much has changed since then. But not that excitement and not those ideas.

The funny thing for me is I could start about ten sentences with ‘The most amazing thing about scrapbooking is…’. At least ten. Which is terrible, because clearly I should know how to use a superlative and if it truly is ‘the most’ then it can only be one. I just don’t know how I would choose. I’m amazed that I have all these albums that track all those changes in life since 1998. I’m amazed that this format of memory keeping makes it easy for me to go back and document things that happened before I was a scrapbooker (not so easy with Facebook or Instagram or whatever other online capture of everyday life). I’m amazed that teaching in this craft became my actual job. I’m amazed that I’ve met such wonderful people with amazing stories. I’m amazed that some of them became my closest friends in life. I’m often amazed that my husband doesn’t stress about me taking up an entire room of our home with albums and craft supplies! And over this last year and a half, I’ve been more and more amazed at how much it fills me with happiness to see people creating their own projects with products I’ve helped to make. I can have the most rotten of days when everything just seems to be going wrong and I’ll take a peek at a project on Instagram and the entire bad day is gone. I really didn’t predict when I had that first discussion with American Crafts that I would ever be that emotional about product! But I truly am.

It’s that emotion that has made me put something off for a bit. I love seeing everything that is shared and I hope those who don’t post their projects online are enjoying the products as well. But one other thing that hasn’t changed is that I’m just a one scrapbooker show over here. After a year and a half of products with American Crafts, it’s time I branched out a little bit and put together a team of crafters to help me share the ways these products can be used in styles that are not my own. I need someone who is confident with cards, someone who has a passion for pocket pages, maybe even someone who plans with panache or dazzling with decor. I’d also appreciate some help from a few fellow 12×12 fans too, since there is such a wide range of styles in the scrapping world.

From this, yes, it’s time for a design team call. Rather than just say there are x number of spots and each person will have to make x number of projects per month or similar, there are a range of opportunities available. Some will be perfect for someone who works well in a tight time frame, like making projects for display at the CHA trade show. Some will be perfect for someone who has wanted to try out the idea of being on a design team but didn’t love the idea of the commitment, with just a one or two project remit. My hope is this will be a great way to share the love: of paper craft in all forms, of sharing ideas, of meeting new faces in this industry, and yes, of my products too.

To apply, please send an email to shimelle+dt@gmail.com and include the following in your message:

…Your name and location

…Links to pages where you share your work with others. This might include: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, your own blog, the blog of a brand you currently design with, the gallery of an online store or community. Please don’t feel you have to include any platform you use just to share non-crafty things. I totally respect that many people use Facebook to connect with real life friends rather than scrapbookers, and so forth.

…A summary of what kind of crafting you do, how you got started with it, and why you love it.

…Images of three to five projects you have made and love. I hope you’re applying because you love the products in the American Crafts Shimelle collections, so it would be awesome to see at least one of those projects including Shimelle products. However, if that just isn’t possible, then that’s fine. You do not need to purchase anything new or make anything from scratch just for this call.

…For at least one of those projects, please include a short write-up to go with the project. Think along the lines of if you were posting this on your blog, Instagram, or elsewhere, what would you want to communicate to your readers?

…Answers to these questions:
1. What are your favourite colours for crafting?
2. How long do you like to take on your projects from start to finish?
3. If I asked you to make something new next week, no rules at all, what’s your first impulse for what you would make?
4. I’m ordering for us at my favourite coffee shop. What would you like?
5. What are your favourite tools for crafting? (Think die-cutter, stamps, punches, etc, rather than individual elements like paper and stickers for this question please.)

That’s everything. And it’s due by the 21st of October, 2015.

Like I mentioned earlier, this isn’t a case of everyone on the team having the same exact remit. Instead, I’ll be contacting applicants by email with the specifics, and I won’t be announcing anything in a public format until all those conversations have been had and all the details are agreed. But like all the guest posts on this blog and the guest contributors to my online classes, all the work will be compensated with pay. Paypal usually works easiest, but if that doesn’t work for you, there are other options we can discuss.

I’d love to hear from you. In fact, I would find it amazing.
Thanks for considering it!

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Today we’re staying on this side of the Atlantic with our guest! Please welcome Sian Fair, who inspires me with her love of writing in her scrapbooks (pages with storytelling make my heart flutter!) and her design style with a lovely lightness and freedom to the look. I hope Sian helps you get more from your mists today!

I’m Sian and I love to scrapbook. But, you know, sometimes I look at all the amazing, talented scrapbookers out there, all posting beautiful pages, and I feel a little..well, unworthy. Especially on a day when I’ve tried something which hasn’t quite worked, or when I think I’m right out of ideas. And it’s on a day like that I’m especially grateful for the generosity of everyone who shares projects for us all to enjoy, for the treasure trove of inspiration, right here, with Shimelle. Be inspired by anyone you like! she said. Pick a post! So I looked, I browsed, I was spoilt for choice; but eventually I settled on Five ways to Use Mists on a Scrapbook Layout by Corrie Jones

I own a collection of mists. Sometimes I even use them: a little, not a lot, just a few drips here and there. And I’m guessing I’m not the only one. It’s easy to think mists: out of control, spoilt pages, carpets which never look the same again. But Corrie gets such beautiful results..well, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?

So what I decided to do was to use my mists, but to keep them away from my layout. No splats on carefully placed embellishments here, please. I decided to use my mists “off the page” to create some of the brightly patterned alphas we’re seeing at the minute.

First I had to choose which of my mists to use together and because this sheet of patterned paper was on my desk I used it as a colour combination inspiration.

Now it gets messy. I opened up a pizza box to use as a carpet saving tray, propped it against my shelves and, yes, took the lids right off the bottles so that I could dribble the ink down the page. The only tricky part came when I realised that if my alphas were to be small I would need the ink runs to be close together, so that each of the letters would pick up some of the stripe. I told myself that if it all went wrong I could start again with a fresh sheet of cardstock, and still no layout would have been harmed in the making of this project.

Once my cardstock was dry I used my Slice machine to cut alphas for a title. And because I had a whole sheet to cut from, I wasn’t afraid to experiment. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to outline my letters here, for example, but I had enough ink dribbled paper to quickly cut again if I didn’t like the hand drawn outlines.

Now, with some mist usage safely achieved I was encouraged to try another lovely Corrie trick and use a paintbrush to paint ink straight out of the bottle onto white cardstock to create a background for a layout which finished up looking like this.

I’m a dreamer: but it’s when I let my mind wander that I get an idea, or maybe two. When I’m taking a bath, when I look like I’m reading, but especially when I’m staring into space, leave me be, please. I’m planning, not dreaming.

Sian Fair lives with her family in the UK and takes her daily exercise by climbing the four flights of stairs to her desk at the top of the house. She loves to scrapbook the life and times of her friends and family and she has been known to follow them round, as she carries a notebook and waits for something scrapworthy to occur. She is currently designing for scrapbook kit club Gossamer Blue and for Get It Scrapped. She has also written for scrapbook magazines and contributed projects to classes at Craft With May and Masterful Scrapbook Design. You can find Sian on her blog at From High in the Sky Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

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I think you will love today’s guest project – I really do! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a page made by Nancy Damiano that I didn’t love. Her style is so clean and crisp but detailed and nuanced. It’s just always a breath of fresh air to me. I miss working with this lady all the time – she was also a Garden Girl back in our Two Peas days – and I’m so happy she is able to join us here today. Please welcome Nancy! -Shimelle

For my layout I was really inspired by Shimelle’s Scrapbooking Colour Schemes with Pink layout. The first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful colour scheme. I love bold pops of colour and this layout delivers. I also like linear designs that feature repetition of a shape or element. The repeated hearts on Shimelle’s layout inspired the band of painted wood veneer featured on my page.

Let’s take a look at this tutorial on how to dress up plain wood veneer and create a bold band of repeated shapes:

It’s a lot easier than it looks isn’t it? Using supplies on hand like a stash of veneer shapes and acrylic paint can add dimension, style and a splash of colour to your layouts. Individually, the painted veneer may not look like much but take a look at how repetition adds a punch of wow to a plain background.

Adding a small stamped sentiment to a layout lends a nice handmade touch. The fuchsia ink provides a nice contrast to the white card stock.

The fun painted accents and colourful patterned paper are the perfect background for these photos from Disneyland. They tell the story of a whimsical, happy place from the start. This layout is the opener for my Disneyland album and showcases the ‘where’ and ‘who’ went. The heavily embellished page is a delightful way to begin this story.

If inked hearts inspired painted wood veneer, what’s your next step in this bit of creative Chinese Whispers? We’d love to see what you’re inspired to make today.

Nancy Damiano lives in New Jersey with her husband, son and a gaggle of nieces and nephews she adores. She has a passion for the color aqua, Disney, and anything paper + craft. She currently designs for Simple Stories, Scraptastic Kit Club and Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine. You can find more of her work and life at her blog, Instagram and Pinterest. You can also find a lovely collection of process videos on her YouTube channel.

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Today I’m delighted to welcome Alissa Fast, who I ‘met’ when she first signed up for a class many years ago. Since then, she’s done Christmas journals and Learn Something books aplenty, amongst all her other lovely projects! I hope you love her inspiration for getting more from your phrase stamps. -Shimelle

I love roller stamps. It’s that simple. I’ve always loved roller stamps and it all started with an office supply store date roller stamp so many years ago. Today the roller stamp has evolved to a supply I cannot live, or scrap, without. They just add that special touch to all of my projects. Sometimes a finishing touch. Sometimes as the journaling. Sometimes as a design element. Always something. Shimelle went a step even better with this little set. The notepad that comes with the True Stories Roller Stamp is so versatile and, well, amazing. I loved working with it to create these fun projects and I hope you find them inspiring.

The card.
I started with a fun card for my sweetie. I punched out a couple labels from a sheet of the notepad and strategically layered papers from the True Stories collection, washi tape, letter stickers and a phrase from the roller stamp to personalize my card. Layering papers, washi tape and letter stickers are my go to techniques when scrapping.

The layout.
I really wanted to tear off a bunch of the notebook pages and layer them up for a background page. Reminds me a bit of a messy pile of papers and I love all the layers. I stamped all of the ones I could still see with the “be happy” phrase and made it my tile of the pages. Lots of layers, staples, a little glitter and stamping. These are a few of my favorite things.

The planner.
Next up was the September monthly spread in my home planner. I love my planners because they help me “make it happen” every day. They keep me on task, which I love. I snipped off the top of one of the notebook sheets and stamped it with the “make it happen” phrase as the title to my month. I stamped random, appropriate, phrases to my special days in September and added a few bits from the True Stories Die Cut Cardstock Shapes. This spread just makes me happy to look at it and really motivates me to get things done. Don’t forget your scrapbook supplies are perfect for decorating your planner pages. I find it’s a great way to use up your stash.

The pocket page.
I think pocket pages are my favorite to scrapbook lately. Each little pocket is like a tiny little scrapbook layout or page in a mini book. I find that they also come together pretty quickly. Here, I selected a cut apart page from the Tue Stories collection and a page from the roller stamp notebook to fill the pockets. The notebook is the perfect size for 3×4 pockets and it’s a perfect spot for the journaling on this page about my niece’s recent 10th birthday. I also punched out labels from another sheet of the notebook to add to each of the other 3 3×4 cards with a stamped phrase from the roller stamp. Staple them on and we are good to go! The perfect little design element on this page!

The mini book.
My last project is a mini book I made out of tags and 4×6 photos. On each of the tags I layered a sheet from the notebook and stamped it with a different phrase from the roller stamp. This mini book came together fairly quickly by using the same design idea for each page. I just varied the washi tape, die cuts and photos to provide a little variety, while still keeping the whole book cohesive.

Now, I encourage you to take one of these ideas for the phrase roller stamp and notebook set and make it your own. There are so many uses for a roller stamp that I didn’t even get to them all. You could stamp them all over the page, or pocket card, as a background element (similar to the “to do list” card on my page layout) or add them as a simple journal element on the photos in a mini book. So many ideas I could go on for days! I hope you’ve enjoyed these ideas and have been just a little bit inspired.
Thanks for stopping by today!

Alissa Fast lives in Ferndale, WA with her hubby of 28 years and her beloved cat, Stormy. She loves taking photos and documenting her everyday life. Her all-time favorite scrapbooking products are her tiny attacher stapler and washi tape. The last thing she made was a mini book about her family’s last trip to the pumpkin patch last fall. See more of her work on her blog, Instagram or on Facebook . She also designs for Cocoa Daisy, Simple Stories and Elle’s Studios.

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Thank you so much for the amazing response to Christmas Magic! I am so, so excited to see it arrive in stores this month and to see your projects come to life with this paper version of my childhood Christmas memories! I am really quite speechless reading your comments. Thank you times infinity!

Here’s my first page with this collection on my actual desk! The only things I added were a pinked circle punch, some Amy Tangerine washi tape, gold Color Shine mist, and a brown precision pen and ink pad. Everything else is Christmas Magic!

But it’s also time to open reservations for Christmas in a Box 2015! (That’s last year’s box in the picture! All new kit coming for 2015, of course.)

If you’re new to Christmas in a Box, you can have a look at the 2014 box to get an idea of how much it includes: papers, stickers, embellishments, custom stamps (in fact, this year there are two sheets to the stamp set) all designed to be used throughout December, but also be versatile at other times of the year, so many of the papers will include a non-seasonal b-side, for example, and the stamps have a variety of holiday phrases and more general motifs for documenting life. This year’s box will contain a noticeable amount of the Christmas Magic collection, but will also include elements from a range of other releases that I’ve chosen to coordinate. The kit does not include an album, as Journal Your Christmas participants have long embraced a variety of different formats for their finished projects and I embrace that variety and creative freedom. (I will also say it does not include the paper chains die set. I’m really excited about those dies, but I don’t think everyone who usually orders the kit necessarily has a die cutter, and it would really reduce the amount of other fun stuff in the box!)

There are three reservation options: a box to a UK address, a box to an address anywhere else, and just the stamps.

If you’re in the UK, you can reserve a kit that will be packed on my very own hands and sent to your door. It’s a £5 deposit with a balance of £35 due at the time of shipping, with the shipping aim for these to arrive with you to be crafting on the first of November. (This is significantly earlier than 2014, and I’ve made sure some things are already in place to make sure everything moves promptly!) The total £40 price includes the postage. You can simply pay £5 now to guarantee your kit, then the £35 balance will be due when the kit is ready to ship to you. If you choose not to pay the remaining balance for your kit, the £5 will not be refunded and you will not receive the kit, but that’s all: no further action will be taken.

If you’re elsewhere in the world, I have a way for you to get the same kit that will ship from the US instead so we don’t just zig-zag boxes all over the world. Rather than clicking to pay to reserve your kit, I need you to send me an email with your name and your zip code (for the US) or your town and country (rest of the world), and I will reply to you directly with the rest of the info you will need to collect your deposit and balance.

For both of the above options, your kit will be reserved ten days from the first invoice to pay the balance. I’ll email at least two more reminders before the tenth day. On day eleven, I’m going to go ahead and list those boxes for sale at the full price. If there is some extenuating circumstance for you around the time of the balance being due, I’m hoping ten days is enough time for you to at least get in touch, and that way I don’t need to build my own Christmas tree out of unclaimed boxes or anything else a little crazy. If you don’t feel that time frame is fair, don’t reserve a kit. You can always make your own kit by shopping at your favourite retailer. I’m hoping that seems pretty sensible and fair.

If you just want the stamps, you don’t need to pay a deposit but you can reserve a set by sending me an email with your name and shipping address. (Please note, that is a different email address to the kit option above, so be sure to click the one you want.) This year’s stamps will be two 4×6 sheets of high quality, made in the UK clear material to be used on an acrylic block – the same manufacturing process as last year but with two sheets and all new designs. Last year these sold out far more quickly than I expected, so I’m adding this reservation now in hopes there will be more happiness at receiving your stamps than sadness at missing out. Plus they will ship faster with the addresses all ready to go. Yay!

Reservations for all three options will remain open until the 24th of September. There will also be a number of kits and stamps available for purchase without a reservation, but that number will be very small.

You don’t need to participate in Journal your Christmas to purchase the kit, and the kit is not required to participate in Journal your Christmas. It’s just for fun, and it can be a great way to treat yourself to a lovely mix of brand new products for Christmas crafting when the calendar is extra busy with holiday celebration leaving you little time to shop. In case it’s not obvious, Journal your Christmas will run again this year. It had a big refresh last year and will have a few smaller updates this year, and you can sign up at any time and have access to all the materials from previous years. (Rest assured, all previous participants are still welcome to join in at no extra cost.)

I think that’s everything! Any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I will email you a response.

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After what feels like an eternity of staying quiet about it, I’m delighted to shout from the rooftops about something I’ve been working on this year: a brand new paper craft collection for Christmas 2015! It’s called Christmas Magic and ships to retailers this month. This is my third collection with American Crafts, and I’m so excited to be using this along with some other favourite products for my 2015 Christmas journal and Journal your Christmas class videos (more about that at the end of this post) but for right now, I just want to share it with you and offer you a chance to win some of it for free while we’re at it!

There are three sets of Thickers: Fitzgerald in red glitter, Eclair in black foam, and a new design called Starlight that features the numbers 1 to 31 (plus some star accents) with gold foil detail on cream chipboard.

I’m so excited to put this to use all over the place this December: it’s a set of four dies that create paper chains to decorate your tree, your fireplace, your classroom, your office computer, your presents, your dog… whatever will sit still long enough is fair game, I think!

I wouldn’t blame you for sticking a tinsel bow on everything either. I probably need a whole extra pack just to stick on members of my family at various moments throughout the season. Of course.

Some tried and true embellishments: rub-ons that include quite a few small phrases perfect for small format albums, pocket pages, and Christmas cards as well as the finishing details for larger projects like 12×12 pages, wooden buttons with epoxy designs in the centre, and enamel ‘dots’ with holly leaves.

And no shortage of stickers, for sure. Choose from a 6×12 sheet of cork stickers with white, red, and green designs or the 4×8 sticker sheet with words and phrases on one side and an alphabet on the other, or…

…chipboard stickers in two styles – either with lots of dimension and layers of chipboard or just a teensy bit of dimension in a single layer of chipboard, both with foil details to finish.

And of course, there is paper. Pattern paper as we know it and some special papers too, including things like gold foil on vellum. Prefer to see the collection on video? Well I can help with that. I even broke out the gold glitter and navy blue French manicure! (I think I’m saving the red and gold for nearer to December. I don’t want to peak too early, after all.)

As mentioned in the video, this collection will of course play a part in something I do every December: Journal your Christmas. I’ll be using a mix of this collection and other elements in my own journal and in the Christmas in a Box kit, which you can reserve from tomorrow should you wish. We’ll talk all about that tomorrow, when I’ll also be sharing my first Christmas Magic process video! I hope you’ll stop by to take a look.

For now, if you leave a comment on both this post and this one on the American Crafts blog, you’ll be entered to win a Christmas Magic prize pack! Which piece do you hope to find by the time your Christmas tree is up this year?

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