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

What girl doesn’t love her beauty supplies? And, if you could double their duty in your scrapbooking, wouldn’t that be cool?

Alissa Fast here and today I want to share a cool technique for using a popular beauty supply on your scrapbook projects. Here’s a look at my supplies I used. I think I added a few more in later in the process, but this is a good representation.

Do you spy the beauty supply I used? Nail varnish! I love it and why not use it with your scrap supplies? It is paint, after all, and don’t we all use paint in one form or another on our projects? YES!

Start with your base page and splatter some black mist on the diagonal to create some movement. Once the mist is dry, drop small and large droplets of the nail varnish in the same areas of the splattered mist. It will create a slightly different look than the mist, but will be so cool. I love the texture the nail varnish adds as it dries. I did not use a heat gun to allow it to dry. I was not sure how the varnish would react with the heat. I just left the page overnight for it to fully dry.

Try not to flick the nail varnish, unless you want the oblong result I got with the aqua varnish above. I personally prefer the more round droplets.
While your page is drying, you can work on the main photo ‘pack’. I like to call my layered photo stacks ‘packs’. I create the photo stack fully before adhering it to the main page.

Layer the glassine bag, (leftover from a Cocoa Daisy kit packaging) a few sheets of patterned paper and your photo until you have a little stack pleasing to your eye. Once you love your little ‘pack’, adhere the pieces together. I use my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher for this process, except for the photo. I use adhesive to adhere the photo.
Next you will want to adhere your photo stack to your background page and start adding all the fun stuff. Layer in a couple Project Life cards as an additional patterned paper and a journal spot.

Add a few more ‘sprinkles’ to your splattered mist and nail varnish areas.

Create a triangle of embellishments on the page with the flair and gold leaves. I stapled the leaves together to hold them in place before adhering them to the page with the flair using a dab of hot glue under the flair.

Finally, don’t forget your milestone journaling on the Project Life card. This page is all about reaching my 14th year at my job and, finally, promoting to a ‘big girl’ corporate job from Customer Service. IT was a milestone for me to just take the leap to apply and move out of my comfort zone.

Now, the next time you are in the nail varnish aisle at the drugstore, just think how all of those fun colors would work with your scrapbooking supplies.

Alissa has been scrapbooking for as long as she can remember. In the past, Alissa worked and taught classes in her local scrapbook store that, sadly, closed to allow the owner to have more time with her family. She is currently designing for Cocoa Daisy and Simple Stories, while working her full time job in Social Media for T-Mobile. When not taking photos for local friends or creating with paper, Alissa likes spending time with her hubby of 26 years and sweet little kitty (who happens to be a survivor of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans). They live in Northwestern Washington State, right near to Canada and the Pacific Ocean. You can see more of her work on her blog, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

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Whilst I’m taking some time away from ye olde internets on maternity leave, I’ve arranged for some friends to help keep the scrappiness going. That includes a weekly scrapbooking challenge from Relly Annett-Baker, and I hope you’ll join in!

Shimelle asked me to take the reigns for the weekly challenge on here while she takes some well-earned maternity leave. Each week I’ll be taking a project from the Shimelle.com archives as inspiration for a layout and setting a challenge with a new twist.

I was inspired by Shimelle’s use of a light patterned background and wanted to use something similar myself. I went looking for a 12×12 grid pattern, to suit my science theme, but I didn’t have any to hand that worked. Instead I used an opaque mist to create spots of interest on white cardstock, and used the stem of the mist bottle and a grey sketching pencil to draw the double circle. From there I worked to intersect the circle with my title and journaling, and placed the photo.

I knew I wanted to pick out the palette from the photo but to highlight the sparkle in the bell jar, and to echo the star pattern in my son’s sweater, I also picked out a pack of both gold glitter and kraft stars to sprinkle liberally, as well as more ink. The kraft stars also complement the title.

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I am not a neat scrapper, and I generally struggle with anything that requires precision application,like rub-ons. On a more artsy layout like this, I give myself permission to use the rub-ons I have lying about because it doesn’t matter if they go on a bit wonky and distressed! I layered several styles here and paired with vintage style stickers and washi tape. The cream flower was a late addition to bring the eye to the photo and journaling. It’s a quirky addition but I think I just about pull it off!

Your challenge this week is to create a layout with a subtly patterned background – whether it’s one in your stash or one you create yourself. We’ll be taking a look through them all and giving a lucky reader something we love to say thanks.

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There are those who say patterned paper is a great way to start any layout. I’m not one of them.
Hey guys – May Flaum here and while I don’t in fact dispute the awesomeness of patterned paper, I would like to argue that in fact skipping patterned paper altogether can be a fun, satisfying, and downright fantastic way to scrapbook as well. Today I will share with you my how-to for scrapbooking without a hint of patterned paper.

The first step is to identify the story you want to tell. When I look through photos searching for the next subject to scrapbook, I always lay them on a sheet of kraft cardstock. Sometimes I find another color, sometimes I stay with kraft. In this instance I like how the wood, stone, and dark blues in the photos look with kraft so I will keep it. Other light or neutral cardstock colors would also be good choices for this style of layout.

The next step is to gather embellishments that compliment my photos and that may prove useful to my layout. I am looking for things like washi tape, ribbon, buttons, and stickers. If I had a background stamp or ink I wished to use – this would be a good time to gather it near. The important thing to remember is that you are not yet committing to using these things, you’re just gathering some options.

I like to start with some bigger items – this would be a good time for background stamping, misting, and otherwise adding color or pattern to your layout base. Because my photos are quite busy I decided to use a few strategic strips of washi tape. Once I adhered the tape and my photos, I went on the hunt to select accents that would add color and texture to my page.

This included in my case wood stars, sequins, and glittery hearts. I can’t seem to help myself – I do so love sparkly things!

The final step was to add more contrast. For my page, there was a lot of gold and kraft and not a lot of color. I decided black thread for stitching would add a good pop of darkness, and still let my blue sequins shine brightly on my finished page.

Here is my finished page – and I must tell you I just love how it came out! Thanks to all the little details, the bold photos, and my washi tape I don’t even notice that patterned paper is missing. I really had fun creating this layout and making something that will fit into my Disneyland album without even a single themed embellishment.

While I relied on wood veneer accents, washi tape, stitching, and sequins for my layout you have lots of options! Here are a few of my favorites that I like to use on my (many) patterned paper free layouts:
Stamps, mist, ink, stickers, doilies, tags, brads, buttons and die cuts.

With so many fun items to choose from, I love the challenge of going without something that is usually a staple. I hope you’ve enjoyed my tutorial today – I wish you very happy crafting!

When it comes to crafting May Flaum has one rule: it’s gotta make her happy. She’s not afraid to get super grungy or work with bright colors, dabble in lace and doilies then make something more splattered and wild. If she’s not in her studio (aka ‘the bat cave’) then she’s probably out running around having fun with her family or cooking up a storm. May has been working in the Scrapbooking industry for a decade and currently blogs her crafty adventures, teaches online classes, and works with amazing companies sharing her projects and ideas. She just launched her own on-line craft class website where she’s hard at work on her next fun idea. If she has one piece of advice to share, it’s always to be true to your creative heart.

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Whilst I’m taking some time away from ye olde internets on maternity leave, I’ve arranged for some friends to help keep the scrappiness going. That includes a weekly challenge, and I hope you’ll join in! Every Monday for the next several weeks, Relly will take you through an idea for making your own scrapbook page, and you can share it with us. There are some small prizes to share too, but of course we mostly hope you’ll enjoy the challenges as a way to think of new and meaningful layouts for your albums! I think that covers everything – so take it away, Relly!

I’ve started this challenge adventure by looking through the shimelle.com archives and choosing some new twists on old challenges. It’s always fun to look through another scrapbooker’s album and I often feel super inspired to try stuff out that’s different from my own style, but also somewhat different from the layout I was inspired by too. I hope you’ll play along. I started with this layout from Shimelle’s backpacking album:

_{Page inspired by this sketch from the Sassafras blog.}

This week I wanted to revisit this post by Shimelle about journaling about places. I’m a big list writer, especially when I travel, but I wanted to create a layout to highlight a particular detail I remember from previous trips to Cape Town – the delphine blue sky and aqua seas.

I pulled out a couple of photos that captured this colour combination. I then went to my stash to find some card stock and lettering that echoed that deeper blue and patterned paper to echo and contrast the blue and aqua. Next, I cut a big piece of ledger paper and wrote my journalling to make sure I had enough space for what I wanted to say. I inked and layered the papers, finishing with some ink and embellishment and just a little touch of gold.

Your challenge for this week is to journal about a detail – of somewhere you have been, or a person, or an event, anything really! Be extravagant and dedicate a whole layout to a little something you love. In terms of design, you might take inspiration from these two pages with lots of layers and including ledger paper, or you might have another idea entirely!

Add the link to your layout below, and one lucky scrapbooker will win a little something we love to say thanks!

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_{Exclusive Best of Both Worlds flair for this month! Click to see the full kit and go shopping!}

Have to admit I am exhausted trying to finish up all my work and then go officially on maternity leave! Any day now we could have an actual extra person under our roof and that’s all a little much for my foggy brain to contemplate!

But things are, one by one, wrapping up to a point where I can hit the pause button for a little while and have nothing else on my plate so I can just focus on the important stuff. And take a million photographs and write a lot in my journal, of course. That counts as important stuff in this process.

However, it is the first of April and no fools from me – I wanted to share my product picks for this month, by way of the April 2014 Best of Both Worlds Kit. I will be really honest: although I am using up my January to March kits currently (file that under things I am trying to wrap up – we’re preparing things like that to keep some scrappiness going here even while I’m on a break), I don’t know if I will get to use the April kit. I want to! But I may need to skip one. I will have a special guest joining me to share what she does with the kit, just like the other months of 2014. And if I get the chance to use the April kit, I will certainly share what I make! I just wanted to be quite honest about that. I’m going to take it as it comes.

For the April kit, there are some brand new things and some sale favourites. There is a set of Project Life cards that I have no intention of using for the theme in the name (they are ‘mom’ themed and I am most definitely someone who says ‘mum’ in all instances) but after last week’s Glitter Girl Adventure, I wanted to try a set like this that would be perfect for cutting to pieces and making embellishments. Since they are on sale and have good shapes to cut apart, that seemed like the perfect combination. I hope it’s less scary to try at the bargain price!

In other things I’ve wrapped up today, I’ve recorded my last episode of the Paperclipping Roundtable until I’m ready to go back to work. It will be live later today at Paperclipping. I hope you enjoy!

Certainly, certainly hoping to finish more of all these big things so I can talk to you like a normal person who isn’t trying to just cling to any notion of sanity. Let’s see when that will be!

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One of my favourite techniques is using watercolours. I know they can be pretty scary for some so today I am going to show you how to create a watercolour effect without using watercolour but Stabilo 68 pens. I have loads of these at home as the kids use them for colouring projects. They can also be used as watercolours. Let me show you.

Pick a patterned paper, gesso and two or three colours of your choice that match your supplies.

Apply gesso to the background paper using an old card and leave it to dry. If you are impatient like me, you can use your heat gun. Be careful not to hold it too close to the gesso as it might start to form bubbles.

Once the gesso is dry, draw a couple of scribbles with the Stabilo pens.

Grab a waterbrush or a simple paint brush and dilute the colour. The colours will start to flow and create a watercolour paint effect.

Let the colour dry and add a second if you wish.

Add some detail with a stamp.

Put together the basic design of the layout. Take out an acrylic block (often used for stamping) and the colours used earlier on.

Draw a couple of lines onto the acrylic block.

Dilute the colour with some water.

Add the colour to some cut out paper embellishments or die cuts.

The finishing touch is adding any additional embellishments, a title and some journalling. I love how easy these pens are to use and if you want to venture into the world of watercolours this is a great way to start. Have fun colouring and happy scrapping.

Lilith.

Lilith Eeckels lives with her family in the south of Belgium. She is South African by heart and hopes to return to this amazing country where she grew up as child. By day she is an English and Dutch foreign language teacher in a high school as well as mother to 4 mischievous boys who keep her very busy. By night you’ll find her in her scrapbook nook playing with pretty papers and embellishments. Currently she a Design Team member of American Crafts, Esprit Scrapbooking, and Glitz Design. She shares her passion for scrapbooking on her blog, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Today I’m delighted to welcome our March guest artist who has been busily crafting away with the Best of Both Worlds scrapbooking kit: Paige Evans. She has five gorgeous layouts to share with you! And if you fancy a little shopping, much of the March 2014 kit is still in stock, but at a bargain price, as there is a huge storewide sale at Two Peas just through this weekend – 20% off all physical supplies (digital and workshops are not included) plus further discounts like 25% off all stamps and albums and extra discounts on items that were already on sale (so the stamps and tape in the kit are currently 50% off). No codes are needed for the storewide sale, and the shipping discount code is currently TQTBEX if you really feel like treating yourself! Anyway, enough blathering about that: behold! Paige has made pretty things! Enjoy.

The Girls
When I first looked through the March Best of Both Worlds kit I immediately fell in love with the soft colors, gold accents, and the pack of Styleboard by Maggie Holmes/Crate Paper die cuts! I wanted to create a ring of die cuts around a central photo to draw attention to it so I placed the pieces in a circle on the woodgrain paper background and stitched them in place. I topped the ring with a few of the wonderful embellishments like gold chipboard hearts, a couple badges, and gold typewriter sentiments. I love when pages come together quickly!

Mom & Me
I fell in love with the My Mind’s Eye stamp set and the frame stamp jumped out at me just begging to be used with all of the lovely patterned papers in the kit! I stamped a frame on the front and back of each paper, fussy cut them out, then stitched them on a robin’s egg blue cardstock layout. I filled each frame with a photo, embellishment, journaling, stamped image, letter stickers, etc. To finish it up I placed washi tape along the top and bottom edges.

Mr Fox
I started by die cutting a star background from white cardstock using my Silhouette. I wanted more bold colors of patterned paper for this boyish layout, so I made my own! Using the chevron stamp in the My Mind’s Eye set I used a tone-on-tone effect to create chevron patterned paper on a rainbow of colored cardstock. I backed the stars with my custom patterned paper as well as the papers included in the kit and a single photo. I adhered the star background on light grey cardstock then filled in a few of the stars with more elements like a title, “3” die cut (because that’s how old Fox is in the photo), a badge, three gold chipboard hearts that I turned over to the plain chipboard side to match the grey stars paper, journaling, sentiments cut out from Elle’s Studio die cuts, and more. I tied the layout together with some drops of dark grey spray mist.

First Top Knot
I wanted to use all-things pink on this layout! First I die cut an intricate rose background from vellum, painted a white circle on a pink cardstock layout, then adhered the rose background on top. I placed a bunch of pink die cuts over the painted circle then added my photos on top. On the bottom right corner I stamped the chevrons from the My Mind’s Eye set using pink ink then placed letter stickers and a gold typewriter sentiment on top. I stitched a couple gold hearts to accent and stitched over the title to make sure it stays in place permanently. I dropped pink spray mist across the layout to finish.

Two Best Friends
For my last layout I still had tons of supplies leftover! I love the torn paper look so I ripped a piece from the front and back side of each patterned paper in the kit and layered them down the top of a cream cardstock layout. I tucked two photos under the papers and added die cuts under the photos for a fun mat. I placed Thickers and mini alphabet stickers next to the photos for a title, stitched over them, then stamped a “#” before it. I journaled along the last paper following the curves. Between the photos I added a label die cut topped with a badge. I stapled a camera die cut on the top right corner then dropped India ink around the layout as a finishing touch.

As you can see this kit is very versatile! I was able to create both girl and boy-themed layouts based on colors and embellishments. And I still have lots of product leftover so you can create a whole bunch of layouts from this kit.

Paige Evans has been scrapbooking since she was 16 years old and worked at her first job at a local scrapbook store. The first time she put pictures and papers together it was a match made in heaven! She currently works from home for Northridge Publishing – the makers of Scrapbook Trends, CARDS, the Create series, Cricut Magazine, Cricut Idea Book, and Signature Series magazines. She is also the design team manager/blog hostess for American Crafts and is a Garden Girl at twopeasinabucket.com. While not scrapbooking she makes pacifier clips for her etsy shop. Paige is the mother of two adorable children – Fox age 3 and Jane age 1.5. She and her husband Chris have been married for 7.5 years and currently live in Grafenwoehr Germany where Chris is a dentist for the Army. You can check out more of her and her work on her blog, Instagram, Etsy shop, Pinterest, Twitter and 2Peas Gallery

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In today’s tutorial, I’m excited to share a present I made for my boyfriend – this scrappy little love letter. I used my Project Life supplies to create a 3×4 base and add a bit of embellishment to my typography and illustrations. It’s a fun little project that could easily be made into a mini album with photographs as well!

The first step is to draft the love letter. Decide on a prompt, such as, “I love you more than . . .” Next, use the recipient’s name as an acronym for different sentiments that complete the sentence.

Next, add your prompt and each letter of the acronym to blank journal cards (or 3×4 card stock). I printed mine right on the journal card using an inkjet printer, but this is also a great opportunity to use up some of those alphabets you already have in your stash. I also thought about using my Silhouette machine to make die cuts for each letter. Layered typefaces, like the one I use in this project, are so much fun to play around with and you can learn more about how to use them in die cutting projects on my blog here.

On the flip side of each card, print or hand write the corresponding sentiment for that letter. Here you can see, I also illustrated my cards with doodles, but again photos would be perfect too! Then I used small scale embellishments (epoxy stickers, cork die cuts, enamel dots, sequins, washi tape) to accent each card.

Above is a photo of the journal card with my my prompt and on the flip side of that card is a doodle of my boyfriend, Ray. I also added a “cover” that you can see peeking out from underneath my packaging. It’s nothing more than a gold foil journal card I received in my SC Project Life kit and just included as is. Finally, the whole thing is wrapped up in kraft paper, washi tape, some bakers twine, and then topped with a die cut monogrammed tag I crafted with my Silhouette machine.

This project is a lot of fun and super easy to do on the fly because you don’t need any special skills or materials—just use whatever you already have on hand to create this meaningful little present your loved one will be sure to appreciate. You see the finished product in action below as I flip through all the cards.

For those of you who are hybrid scrapbookers, I wanted to finish off this post with a couple tips. This first is Paper 53 an amazing iPad app that you can download for free. I use it to draw my doodles and I absolutely love it. In the past I’ve also scanned pencil illustrations and converted them into a Photoshop brush to use in my scrapbook layouts. For more details and to download the brushes for you own projects, you can check out my blog post . Lastly, here is a printing template for 3×4 cards -it’s a Photoshop document I use to lay out all of my artwork and I hope it helps to streamline your workflow too!

Thanks so much for taking a look at my project – I had so much fun making it and I hope it inspires you to create something personalized for that special someone in your life as well!!

Maria Lacuesta has loved paper for as long as she can remember. For her, cultivating a happy life means creating something everyday, often with the aid of Photoshop and some pretty paper. She started scrapbooking as a way to document the joys of everyday life and loves to incorporate graphic design and technology in different ways to create a more meaningful story. When she’s not happily crafting away in her tiny studio, or obsessively collecting design inspiration on Pinterest you can find Maria enjoying the city of Boston where she lives with her boyfriend Ray. For more information on her personal projects, and to view Maria’s layouts for various design teams, you can also visit her blog, Analog Paper.

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