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

Welcome back! Please say hello to guest artist Michelle Crela, who has created a work of art using cut files, embellishments, and photos to tell the story of who she is right now. Such an interesting topic to consider: what motifs would you put on the page to scrap your own personality at this moment in time? -Shimelle

Hi crafty friends! Sometimes it’s good to slow down a bit and allow yourself a moment of self-reflection. So I took a short creative time out and created a self-portrait. It shows me, in my little creative world, away from the hustle and bustle, away from Covid and everyday life. It shows me, in happy moments, inspired and creative. Because that’s me. Surrounded by loving people and incredibly many pens, colors and creative chaos. In thought already at the next book, the next trip, the next creative project. This layout shows you me as I am, as a creative free spirit, book lover and coffee junkie.

I designed this layout in my favorite colors. Although I usually like to work on a plain white background, I wanted a little more texture for the wall behind my back – it symbolizes my peg board where I pin creative ideas, notes to myself and also keep my pens, brushes, notebooks and more. To create the layout, I used different cut files. I just cut everything that suits me and inspires me without worrying too much about how it would all fit together. During the design, I then focused more on what is really important to me and found a way for it to fit together. It relaxes me immensely in my creative process to first have a large selection of options for my page.

I started with the cutfile of the girl with the book. I think that fits me perfectly. I backed the cutfile with the matching papers and took the artistic liberty to give my hair beautiful copper highlights, since I could not keep my hands off the shiny paper. In real my hair is also highlighted, but unfortunately not so beautifully shiny.

Then I backed more cut files with colorful papers: the tins with pens and brushes, paints, the books. My coffee and my camera must also be there in any case. As a title for my layout I designed a banner with a text that I want to keep in mind for my creative year 2022. To live a little more in the moment. Not only to plan for someday. To enjoy everyday life, regardless of whether it is sometimes a bit hectic and chaotic.

Before I subsequently arranged the individual elements on the paper, I added hand-sewn details in various places. Mainly because I find it relaxing to sew on my layouts and because it adds more texture to my layout. I like my layout to be full of details, textures, and colors.

Another thing that adds a little texture to my layout are the little balls on the garland, the real feather and the real fluffy ball. While I bought the charms as they are and sewed them on, the little paper balls are quite simple things I made myself. To do this, I punched out a circle 4 times with a paper punch. 3 circles I have then folded and glued together on the fourth circle. I framed my photos by punching out the frames with metal punches and then placed them next to my books on the shelf. After arranging and sticking the main elements on my layout, I then grabbed various stickers to complete my layout. Again, I made sure to surround my designed me, with things that I like.

Have you ever thought about taking a moment to reflect on where you are in your life? To appreciate what you have and just become aware of how many possibilities are open to you? Maybe you’d like to do the same and create a self-portrait that shows you. It is a very nice feeling to simply sketch yourself and enjoy the moment.

If it appeals to you, I would be incredibly happy if you want to share your self-portrait with me. If you post a moment-in-time page on Instagram, please tag me @Michelle_Crela so I can see!

Currently serving on the design team of Hip Kit Club, Michelle Crela has previously worked with My Creative Scrapbook, Scrapbook Werkstatt, and others. She enjoys trying new techniques and products and sharing her insights with other like-minded people. Find Michelle’s ideas for techniques, minibooks, and scrapbook pages on her Instagram, where she looks forward to meeting you.

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Oh bright and beautiful rainbow colour! Guest artist Sarah Millerhouse is here today to share her rainbow-infused take on scrapbooking mermaids and birthday celebrations. Sarah has included detailed notes on the supplies she used, so those have affiliate links for you if you see something you’d like to add to your cart. I hope you’re having a crafty and colourful day! -Shimelle

For me, creating is about connection. I started scrapbooking when I was in high school because I wanted to remember the details and how I felt about the world at that time in my life. My work back then looked very different, but the goal was the same. I wanted to leave something behind that told my story. When I create a page now, it is usually always focused on making sure my kids and my husband remember their story. I want them to know that they are so very loved and that I have cherished and relished in every minute we have spent together. Because I lost a parent at a very young age, I have a need to document my days. It is important to me that if I were gone tomorrow, my family would have a legacy of love and photos and words to look through that would leave no doubt in their mind how I felt. I also believe that, through my pages, they are able to see who I am. As cheesy as it sounds, my pages are a reflection of my soul. The colors and layers and textures reflect who I am. When I create, I work and work until my page feels like me. I have a connection to the photos I use and every fine detail in each and every project.

For this layout, I wanted to reflect how I felt about the day we celebrated my sweet girl turning two. It was a day full of fun, laughter, the people we love, and the colors of the ocean! I used Foundations mixed media paper and started with the background using a large format stencil to create mermaid scales.

I added Distress Oxide Inks with an ink blending tool to blend the colors on the paper in rainbow order. While the scale stencil was still on the page, I laid another stencil, by Tim Holtz, over the top of that to an additional layer of visual interest. I used the same ink blending tool, but I applied more pressure to get darker pigment through the top stencil.

Across the bottom third of the page, I layered on Distress Inks in the same colors as the oxides to mimic water and the reflection of a sunset on the water! Once those inks were dry, I added splatters of white acrylic paint. By adding this layer of color across the page, it provided a place for my photos and embellishments to rest on the page. On top of the distress inks, I added a few strips of patterned paper, from the All Girl collection by Echo Park, in descending lengths. I distressed the edges of each strip and glued them only at the top so that I could bend them up to add even more texture.

I added two sweet photos from Ruby Jane’s party! One is of her in her precious outfit, enjoying the sunshine! The other is with the beautiful mermaid that came to her party. She was mesmerized by her! I backed these photos with more patterned paper from the same collection and popped them up on foam to help them stand out on the page. I embellished all around the photos with an assemblage of pretty things! I started with the three mermaid chipboard stickers from Shimelle’s Head in the Clouds collection. I distressed them a little and added some glitter details. I added the rainbow chipboard piece from the same collection just under my photos. I distressed and added glitter to this piece as well. I added wooden buttons from Shimelle’s Never Grow Up collection and a few cardstock stickers from the All Girl collection. I also added and popped up a tiny butterfly from the Go the Scenic Route collection by Paige Evans.

Across the top I popped up the title in reverse rainbow order using eight different sets of Thickers. I thought the title “2 Beautiful” was a cute play on words and just perfect for the layout! I added Jewelz by Buttons Galore and More and enamel dots from the Never Grow Up collection around the page in tone-on-tone layers. As a final touch, I added a strip of journaling under the last layer of patterned paper across the bottom of the page. I matched my ink colors to the colors of the layout and tried to capture the joys of my first two years with my sweet girl!

Sarah Millerhouse is an elementary school principal, owns a catering business, is a wife and mother and still finds time to scrapbook! She’s been scrapbooking for almost twenty years and loves how her style evolves with time. Sarah lost her father at an early age and believes her need to document the detail of life comes from that loss. He loved to take photos and document memories, so she is grateful for what he captured and hopeful the future generations of her family will be able to treasure the legacy created through scrapbooks. You can see more of Sarah’s work on Instagram.

Hands up if you have a cutting machine like a Silhouette, Cricut, or ScanNCut. How often do you cut something delicate and light? Today’s guest artist Piroska is here with a scrapbooking idea for just that! -Shimelle

When I start making a layout, I often grab a cut file – it helps me to arrange the layout and I really love the special effect it gives to my pages. For today’s post I used the Stained Glass Rose digital cut file of CUT to YOU.

First, I cut the cut file from white cardstock and started to back them with some patterned papers of the Splendor collection of My Mind’s Eye. This collection is an older one, but I still love its beautiful florals and colours. By backing a cut file, I like to chose papers with smaller patterns, and the Splendor collection has beautiful B side papers.

The circle cut file inspired me to use more circles on my layout, so I cut several circles in different sizes with my Sizzix, using the 662229 Framelits by Tim Holtz for Sizzix.

Although the A side papers are also beautiful, I chose only B side papers for these. Then I arranged the cut file and the circles on a white cardstock and placed my photo. It looked too plain, so I decided to add a border on the upper side from the B side of the Remember paper.

My favourite part of creating is decorating the layout. I cut a pink embellishment with the Embroidery Frame die of Lora Bailora’s Abril collection. I added some floral chipboard elements from the Splendor collection and cut some floral elements from white cardstock with the help of the Flower Wreath, the Flowers Bouquet and the Spring Branches dies of Lora Bailora’s Abril collection.

I really love the white on effect of these embellishments. Finally, I added my title chipboard from the chipboard elements from the Splendor collection and my journaling – which is a line from the B side of the Remember patterned paper.

Piroska Czakó-Radványi lives with her husband and their 8.5 year old daughter in Budapest, Hungary. Piroska works as a teacher in a secondary grammar school teaching German language. She started scrapbooking in 2007, when she met her husband as she loved making handmade presents for him. She prefers to make 12”x12” layouts with lots of flowers, leaves, and/or butterflies. You can see more of Piroska’s work on Instagram, & Facebook .

Did you have an inspiring weekend for National Scrapbook Day? I hope so! But here’s some more: guest artist Sarah Wyles is here to share some beautiful embellishment work! -Shimelle

Hey everyone! I was so excited to be asked to be a part of this! And then I kind of freaked out cause I didn’t know what I was going to do. Just being honest. But a few days later I walked in to see my daughter playing on her floor with her ponies, dinos and cute little dino blanket on her head and snapped a few pics and thought this was perfect!

I scrapbook a lot of pictures and they always mean something to me, even if it doesn’t look like it to others. But this, this was a shot of my little girl, being completely herself and loving every minute of it. I want to make sure to collect all of these moments because she’s growing up and doing it fast and I don’t want to forget any of it. Now for putting my layout together….

I decided in the beginning how I wanted to have my photos clustered together, so I added some adhesive and stuck them together and figured I would figure out the rest as I went. I knew she was looking to the left in all three of them so I knew I wanted my pictures to be on the right side of the layout, then came the little bit of mixed media on the background. I pulled two of my Fun Stampers’ Journey liquid colours and splattered them around, hit it with my heat gun, cause I’m impatient and kept moving.

I pulled out my little bin where I keep all my scraps and partially used 6×6 paper pads and started pulling the colors I had decided to use. I have a love for the colors teal, pink, and yellow. I also threw in some black and white paper and small touches of gold. These are colors I love together but are also some of my daughters favorites so it works out great for me.

I started pulling papers and tucking them behind my pictures, not even caring that they were from different collections or manufacturers, they looked good together and that’s all that mattered to me. I love scrapping this way, it makes it easy for me. Once I had all the layers right where I wanted them, all stuck together, I added some foam adhesive to the back leaving a space to the upper left where I had decided to place a tag that slid down behind the pictures, a little note for my little miss when she gets older. I am not huge on journaling where it can be seen, I usually do it with a hidden journal spot or on the back of the layout, but I wanted to leave a little note for my daughter, something hidden for her, that let her know exactly how this moment made me feel and how I loved it.

After that, I pulled out my bin that holds a bunch of random ephemera pieces and chipboard pieces, pulled things in my color set and started tucking them here and there till I was happy. This always takes longer than I think it probably should, but I move things around so much.

I thought I was done at this point, I liked my layout and thought my daughter was front and center and pulled the focus, but I felt like my page was a but one sided, so I decided to grab some of my scrap paper strips and add them to the far left edge and a few little strips at the bottom. I went back and grabbed some of my Bella Blvd puffy stickers and My Mind’s Eye enamel dots, tucked them here and there and I was finally happy with my layout and called it done.

Sarah Wyles is a self confessed addict to paper crafting. She loves to scrapbook, whether that be traditional, mixed media and pretty much everything in between. Sarah has been scrapping since she was nine! She loves all the pretty things and says she never really worries if they come from the same collections so long as they come together and make something pretty. If you are interested in anymore inspiration from Sarah, feel free to check out her social media on Instagram and Facebook.

Happy International Scrapbook Day! I hope you’ve found something crafty to inspire you today! Here’s a quick round up of some special NSD offers around here.

1. Class Discounts! Three classes are available at a special price this week. These are all self-paced classes with permanent access. Registration can take up to 48 hours, but is usually much quicker.

Half & Half is all about page composition that starts with a background that is half one paper, half another paper. It also includes a mini class on quadrant page design. For NSD, this class is just $12 USD.

Start with a Sketch breaks down how sketches can be interpreted to create a variety of pages. For NSD this class is just $20 USD (it’s usually $30).

Most Magical Scrapbook shares fifty layouts from start to finish to follow my entire process in creating an album to document a trip. It’s a Disney trip, but you can decide to follow along with your own Disney photos or ignore the theme park element entirely and adapt it to any story you want to tell. For NSD, this class is just $20.

This offer ends next Saturday, the 14th of May 2022.

2. Words, words, words!
When I designed paper collections, I always started with lettering. A selection of words would fit together to set a theme and make everything make sense to me! In honour of NSD, I’m sharing words with all of you! I started taking requests during Friday Live yesterday and will finish taking them next Saturday, so I’ll be adding to the collection for a little over a week. All the words will be letter as transparent PNG files and will be free to download. Use them on any personal crafting projects you like: cut them on a cutting machine, overlay them on photos, print them on journaling boxes, whatever you fancy. Downloading a word is free; requesting a word is $2. To request a word, pop it in the box and click through to check out!

Requested Word:

This offer ends next Saturday, the 14th of May 2022.

If you would like to request a word but don’t want it shared with everyone else, that won’t be available this week. Once I have lettered all of these words, I’ll open those requests for a short time. Those words will be $6 during that time period. (During the rest of the year, this is something I offer on a contract basis for things like logo design, and it’s considerably more than $6.) I just want to make sure I finish this project before taking on those extras. Thanks!

3. 5% off at Scrapbook.com – including next month’s Best of Both Worlds kit!
Today only you can use code NSD2022 for 5% off your full order. (Heads up – affiliate links here!) You could order the June Best of Both Worlds kit and scrap along with me during all the livestreams next month. You could check out the Pops of Color special that’s a particularly excellent value. Or stock up on essentials or grab a new album! Whatever you fancy. Happy shopping!
This offer ends at the end of today, Arizona time.

Strangely enough, we’re starting the build on our kitchen here on National Scrapbook Day, so I’ll leave you to those special updates for now, and see you on Monday’s livestream at 1:30pm UK time!

Ready to get inky and sparkly? Guest artist Veronika is here to share how she used stencils, inks, glitter paste, and patterned paper to dress up a joyous birthday memory! As usual, supplies have affiliate links to make it easy for you to shop. Have an amazing and sparkly day! -Shimelle

Hello Scrappy friends, I have a birthday layout to share with you today. We love to celebrate our baby’s birthday with friends, so we really missed it back in 2020. But this year it was possible to have a party as we used to have, so we prepared everything and of course cake as well. And I really like this picture of my two girls, embellishing it. So I decided to scrap this for Zinka’s birthday instead of a classic birthday photo.

I wanted to use stencils, so I was looking for something in my stash that would match my photo. I liked this stencil with hearts. I tried to use it just with Distress Oxide Inks, but it was not fancy enough for the festive party look I imagined, so I went for glitter paste. There was still a bit of red Oxide color on the stencil and it created a beautiful dreamy effect together with paste.

Then I decided that I want have also cake cutfile on my layout, to use stencilled area as part of cake. So I went on etsy and found this beautiful one with peonies. (Here’s a similar floral cake cut file.) I colored the leaves of flowers with same Oxide as I used with stencil and paste.

As there are raspberries and blueberries in my photo, I was looking in my stash for papers with this fruits. I found two papers, one from Mintay papers and another one from the Vicki Boutin Fernwood collection. I detail cut fruits and flowers as well as a bird and butterfly, and then I adhered it around my cake cut file and my photo. I used glue and foam squares to create dimension. Then I went for the simple title “Happy Birthday Zinka” above my composition, and at the end I wrote my journaling. As a final touch I backed my cardstock with rest of patterned paper from Vicki that I used in layout.

Veronika Seňová lives in Slovakia, and is a mathematician, wife, and mother of two little girls. She loves to take pictures and scrap them to document family memories. Veronica started scrapbooking when her first baby was born and it has been her passion ever since. You can see more of Veronika’s work on Instagram.

Hello friends! Only a few days until International Scrapbook Day, so I hope you are having a fun and crafty week already. Today please welcome guest artist Becky Powell Reames, who loves Instagram and memory keeping! A reminder that affiliate links are used for products where possible. Thanks! -Shimelle

I love finding inspiration from the layouts that others post on Instagram. I follow over 800 different creators on IG because each of them has grabbed my attention at one time or another in some kind of way. Maybe I loved a photo they took, or a color scheme they used for a layout. Maybe their journaling was especially poignant or I loved a title they built for a page. Usually, it is because I like their scrapbooking style; it spoke to me, it made me want to scraplift their work or challenge myself in a new way.

One of the accounts I follow is Shimelle. I recently was looking through her feed and found a couple of her layouts that really jumped out at me. In the past, I have focused on double page spreads, but for the past couple of years I have been really into single page spreads, usually with only one photo. Shimelle is so good at adding more than one photo to a single page spread and making it look amazing. The layouts of hers that inspired me most recently were one where she used multiple photos on a single page spread and one where she used a bold pattern paper at the top of her layout. I LOVE a bold pattern print paper but sometimes struggle with how to combine it on my layouts. I fear overpowering my photo/s.

Seeing these two layouts of Shimelle’s in quick succession inspired me to try a scraplift of sorts. I decided to try a bold pattern paper at the top, and to add more than one photo to my single page layout. I chose to work with the Happy Blooms collection from Pinkfresh Studio for my page, because I love the bright greens in it and I felt like it had a good purple to go with my photos as well. I often choose product for a layout based on the colors in my photo/s. The photos on my layout are of my youngest daughter on the afternoon of her high school graduation where she is wearing a light purple dress under her graduation gown and is standing on the very green grass of late spring. I printed the main photo of my layout a little larger, as a 5×7 since the patterned paper at the top had such a bold print, and kept the bulk of my page to one side in order to allow for some white space for the eye to rest on the opposite side of the page. My journaling is somewhat hidden in a pocket and is printed on clear sticker paper. I then added the “special day” sticker at the bottom of my journaling and raised the “on this day” label on some foam tape at the top of the journaling.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing my layout and maybe found some inspiration for yourself! I would love to connect with you on Instagram where we can inspire each other, perhaps!

Becky Powell Reames is a single mom of two adult humans and two rescued cats, all of whom keep her on my toes and help her to keep a fresh outlook on life. A former elementary school teacher who now works in the world of philanthropy, she loves to spend her spare time working in mhery craft room on scrapbooking! She began scrapbooking in 1998 when she made a scrapbook of her now ex-husband and childhood and family photos to put out at her wedding. Becky loves to learn new techniques and try new things, and in the past couple of years has embraced stamping as an added element to her scrapbook pages. Becky records memories in 12×12 albums or Traveler’s Notebooks with the occasional odd sized album thrown in for seasonal projects. You can see her work on Instagram, where she would love to meet you.

Hands up if those hands are inky today! Guest artist Monique has a beautiful rainbow to share with you today – all made with Distress Inks in her favourite colours. And yep, I’ve added affiliate links to those Distress Inks in this post if you want to go shopping. And yep, it kinda feels silly that I have to disclose that at the beginning of every blog post, but I don’t like getting in trouble so I’m just here to follow those rules and scrapbook with rainbow colours. I’m sure you understand. And now over to Monique! -Shimelle

Rainbow colours bring me so much joy so I find myself naturally drawn to using all the colours when I create. As far as favourites go, a close second is making something beautiful, from scratch. It’s such a little thing but never fails to fill my creative cup to the brim. This layout captures both of these elements, along with a sweet memory, so it goes without saying, that I loved every minute of crafting this page.

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My layout comprises of two main layers, a sheet of patterned paper with a subtle black, grey and white print (with a heart shape cut out of the centre) and a white mixed media cardstock background, which I add a rainbow of colour to.

Beginning with the background, I started off by adding some stencilled little hearts using opaque white texture paste. Once dry, I chose a variety of mini Distress Ink Pads in my favourite rainbow colours and ‘swooshed’ each ink pad diagonally across the cardstock, working in rainbow sequence. The fun part about applying the ink pad directly to the background, is the lovely visual texture and sense of movement you can achieve by seeing the swoosh marks. This rainbow ‘swoosh’ technique is a really quick way of adding fun pops of colour to a page.

For some handmade floral embellishments, I repeated this same rainbow process on a new sheet of mixed media cardstock. I swooshed each colour in a vertical stripe down my page until I’d worked through all the colours. I then took my wet paintbrush and added dabs of water where each colour met, creating a lovely watercolour effect. I was careful not to completely paint over all the swoosh marks as I wanted to keep some of that visual texture too. This technique works well with both Distress Ink Pads and Distress Oxides as they react beautifully to water.

Once dry, I used a variety of Sizzix floral dies to cut flowers of various shapes and sizes. I then layered and glued different sized flowers, in similar colours together to create 3D floral ephemera. With my patterned paper heart frame stuck down in place, I added in my title and 3 photos and placed my florals within the heart, working tone on tone with the background.

Last but not least, a short and sweet story for my journaling to accompany precious pics with my twins, the night before they turned six. These cuddles felt extra precious because they are growing up so very fast and I just want to treasure these little moments forever. I have such a clear memory from my own childhood on the eve of my 6th birthday so I really wanted to document the same moment with own babies.

While I’ve used hearts and flowers for my layout, any shapes would be just as effective, and punches or hand cut shapes could easily be used instead of metal dies. Equally so, you could pick a more muted or alternative rainbow for your colour palette. If you have larger ink pads or prefer distress oxides, you could still use this technique but have slightly broader swooshes. For me, the main thing is to have fun with the process and see where it takes you. I’m never too certain how a layout will turn out as I tend to venture off, letting the process of creating lead the way. But, whatever route your creative journey takes you, I hope something I’ve shared today inspires you to create, document a memory or just have some fun playing with colour.

Originally from South Africa, Monique Lowe now lives in Scotland with her husband, twins, and two cocker spaniels. She is a part time school teacher and full time passionate crafter and chaos creator. She draws on sunshine and bright colours when creating and particularly loves playing with mixed media. . Find more from Monique on Instagram,Facebook and Youtube.