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

This year, the first of December marks a very special occasion in my life. In 2003, on the first of December, I started writing in a notebook, determined to take back my Christmas and make it just as magical and rich as my childhood memories, when it had become tarnished by rules and expectations and the work of grown-up life. I spent a short part of every day with that notebook, sorting through my Christmas memories from long ago and making sure I took the time to live that Christmas season and write all that down too. That December went from a holiday season I had dreaded to something that gave me an entirely new perspective on Christmas, on life, on celebration.

I’ve told this story in detail many times before (if it’s new to you, this covers most everything), and the basics are that one year after keeping that life-changing journal for myself, I offered an online class called Journal your Christmas right here at shimelle.com. It starts every year on the first of December, and changes a bit every year just to keep up with the times, but the ethos at the heart of JYC is always the same: to take back your Christmas and help you celebrate all the good, no matter what your circumstance may be this year.

2013 marks the tenth year of Journal your Christmas, and whether it’s your first or tenth year of this adventure, I hope you will join us!

What is Journal your Christmas?
Journal your Christmas is an online scrapbooking class to celebrate the holiday season. It starts on the first of December and finishes on the sixth of January, with thirty-seven daily prompts sent by email.

Each prompt is a full-colour PDF file you can view on your screen (on your computer, iPad, smart phone or anything else that lets you view such files) or print onto paper. Each daily prompt follows a specific theme of the day, with the thirty-seven days covering all sorts of holiday aspects, from food and decorations to music and gifts. Every day there is something for you to consider and ideas to make the writing come easily. It is not merely a list of different topics in the style of today, write about a Christmas song, but a more detailed composition aiming to take you through a variety of thoughts before you settle on something you might write for the day. The topics can be applied to this year for documenting the current Christmas or you can get nostalgic with your Christmas memories – and most crafters write a bit about both.

The daily prompts are delivered to you at the same time each day by email, so you don’t have to spend any time logging into a website to download each day’s content. Should you have the time to chat with other participants or share your work, there is a private message board for class participants, and you can spend as much or as little time there chatting to other crafters enjoying the holiday season. Each prompt includes several examples of pages created by Journal your Christmas class participants, so you can see a range of crafting styles (including paper and digital pages) on the same theme. You can gather ideas from any of them or go in your own unique way entirely. There is zero pressure to make anything in the same style as any of the examples, including mine. Everyone and every style welcome!

How much time do I have to devote to this project? Is this a page every day at the busiest time of year?
You can devote as much or as little time as you like. Some participants create a entry or a page every day, and that’s a fab way to follow the class prompts. However it’s certainly not required, and it really wasn’t what I envisioned on day one. My original notebook was writing a little every day but not completing a full scrapbook page. That part came later. Since the class has permanent membership, I encourage scrappers who don’t have the time or the desire to create something every day to just choose the prompts that speak to you (or your schedule) most. You can make a few pages this year, a few pages next year and so on to fill a whole album. Or you can make a mini album every year. Or something that falls in between. You can blog your writing (either to the world or just to yourself) and choose later to add something crafty or not. You can take pictures and put together a photobook at the end of the project. We’ll cover many ways to make this work, and you can choose the options that work best for you.

What if I don’t scrapbook?
You are still very welcome to join us. Reading each day’s prompt, you might choose to respond in the form of a blog post or a plain written journal. My original book was nothing more than penned words and a tiny bit of colour here and there, so this can certainly be useful! Some participants follow the class from a photography angle, and use it as their inspiration to take a series of meaningful photos throughout the holidays. And still others read each day’s prompts just to be more mindful and aware of Christmas and use the class purely to keep them in the right mindset for enjoying the season for its real merits rather than letting commercial pressures and the stress of a busy calendar overtake their Christmas magic.
Truly, anyone is welcome.

Do I have to prepare things in advance?
No. In the archives, you’ll find some notes on preparation if that’s useful. Later this week, you’ll also find a round-up of notes on this topic right here on the blog. But I’ve done this project many times now and I actually find the more I prepare in advance, the less useful this project is to that key goal that motivated me from the beginning: to relish the magic of Christmas. That means some days I take more pictures, some days I write more words, and pretty much every day I am more aware and reflective about all the holiday goodness. When I prepared all my pages in advance, it was so much work for me to try to take the real life of it all and commit it to a page I had made on a completely other day in a completely other mood. So I experimented with just gathering some supplies and not preparing all that much ahead of time. This is what works so very well for me. However, I realise there are different personality types in this world and what I just described sounds like chaos to those who like to prepare in advance. So that’s why I’ll share some tips for preparing pages here later this week, but just know if you are reading this at any time, ‘but I didn’t make a book already’ is definitely not a reason to hold back. Grab a pen and jump in.

What is included in Journal your Christmas?
Journal your Christmas includes permanent membership – so you sign up once and can join in as many years as you would like at no additional cost. That also means once you sign up, you can access the prompts and extras from earlier years at any time, via the class forum. Those extras include printable accents, digital kits and photography challenges. New participants can also watch the videos from last year at any time, for example.

In 2012, all the daily writing prompts were completely refreshed. Everyone who signs up has access to all the original prompts as well as these topics, so if there is something that just doesn’t work for the way you celebrate the holidays, there are additional topics you can find in the archives and apply whenever you like.

For 2013, Journal your Christmas includes:
…thirty-seven daily PDF prompts for writing and crafting
…thirty-seven daily PDF prompts for holiday photography (like getting an online photography workshop as a bonus)
…new videos to support the PDFs (there is not a video every single day but there are several, and they cover a variety of things, including writing, crafting and taking pictures)
…exclusive digital and printable designs for your pages
…private forum to chat and share your work
…online chat to start the project (of course your attendance is optional)
…bonus offers from some of my favourite websites
…£1 donation to The Girls’ Fund via Plan, helping provide education and well-being to girls in difficult circumstances around the world. If you’ve joined us in the past, there is no charge to join us again. If you feel it’s possible for you to give a little to someone you don’t know this Christmas, I encourage you to make a donation to a local charity you love or to consider the work Plan is currently helping with in the Phillippines to spread a little extra love this Christmas.

And I’m happy to say the class is the same price as the last three years.

How do I join Journal your Christmas?
Easy! Just choose your currency and click the button below for your choice of UK pounds or US dollars. If neither of those is your currency, you can still join us! Choose either and the payment will convert automatically when you make your payment.

You can pay by credit/debit card or Paypal account. If you would like your prompts to come to a different email address than the one on your Paypal account, please be sure to leave a note in the message to seller section with the email address you would like to use. Orders can take up to 24 hours to process, though we are usually quicker. If you haven’t received your class registration after 24 hours, just email me and we’ll make sure your registration is completed and ready for you to get started!

Can I give Journal your Christmas as a gift?
Yes! Just click to pay above as normal, then leave the email address for the gift recipient in the notes section. If you miss the notes, email me. If you’d like me to send an email explaining that the class is a gift, I’m happy to do so – just let me know your preference of being named or anonymous!

Is there a deadline for signing up?
No. You can sign up any day of the year. The class starts on the first of December, so if you want to be in on day one, that can be part of the fun, but if you sign up later, you’ll still have access to all the materials, and you can do them in order or skip around – there is thought to the order but it’s not so regimented that you can’t change it up!

If you participated last year, you don’t need to do anything to join us again. This week you will receive an email with some updated info and reminders for you. The only thing you might need to do is update your email address if it has changed over the past year. You can do that by signing into the forum and going to the User Control Panel at the top left of the screen. It’s under Profile – Account Settings. If you don’t remember your username, it is most likely the first half of your email address!

Any more Christmas stuff I should know?
This week you’ll find daily Christmas posts as well as the usual guests here at shimelle.com. There is a mix of reading material and video on a variety of different things that all relate to Journal your Christmas in some way. So whether you’re an alum with a stack of completed books or someone new to my work this year, I hope you’ll stop by throughout the week for some festive scrapbooking fun!

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Two videos in two days? It’s a start, at any rate. If you’re not off watching Doctor Who, you can watch a bit of Sketch to Scrapbook Page craftiness! (It’s also acceptable to watch this after The Doctor saves all space and time yet again. I’ll allow it. Just the once.)

Sketch thirty-one is designed for a single landscape photo (most likely a 4×6 print, but other sizes could work easily) and has substantial space for writing too. The vertical border strips beneath the photo can be paper, tape, ribbon, die-cuts, fancied up with a border punch, or whatever you fancy really.

I know the calendar will argue with me, but the supplies for this page are from the August Best of Both Worlds kit. (I said it’s a start!) Everything is back in stock with the exception of the aqua star paperclips, should you fancy anything for your own crafting.

For a second look at this sketch, please welcome Laura Kate with her interpretation adapted to a page in her Project Life album.

To me, this sketch seemed like it would best fit in a single pocket rather than across a whole pre-divided page. Adapting a 12×12 square sketch to a 4×6 rectangular might seem weird, but I often have little square Instagram photos and the ways I add them in have gotten a bit samey. As you can see, I turned the sketch a bit to aid in the horizontal flow of the card and worked with the b/w theme already in my PL spread to document a fun event we attended that made up the bulk of this PL page (using a great shot of the drinks snapped by my husband!). It was a bit of a challenge to figure out how to make this sketch work, but I really love the end result!

Laura Kate is a teacher, crafter, ex-pat, erstwhile musician, kitchen dabbler & lover of Blythe dolls. A scrapbooker since 1993 – starting with an awesome Lisa Frank album – she writes about all her exploits on her blog, tries her hand at designing some products, and occasionally remembers to update her Etsy shop with her doll fashion creations. Laura Kate lives in London with her husband and 4 fancy goldfish.

Now it’s your turn. I’d love to see you you interpret this sketch with your own style and stories. As always, this sketch is just for fun and everyone is welcome.

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On the 22nd of every month, the Garden Girl design team from Two Peas in a Bucket does a quick blog hop to showcase what we’ve been making, what products we’re loving, and what ideas have been inspiring us in the Two Peas community. This month, we’re changing it up, and we’re answering 5 questions in 4 minutes. This is my stop in that little adventure!

You can also find the most recent Glitter Girl Adventure here. It’s number ninety-seven!!

I’m the last stop on this month’s Gardeners’ Digest Blog Hop, so you can go back to the beginning with Paige or stop by the Two Peas blog.

But before you do… I have one class pass for Wilna’s amazing new workshop, Art Class 2, to give away today! So leave a comment (with a valid email address) on this post to enter. Entries close on the last day of the month, and the winner will be contacted by email at the beginning of December! Good luck!

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As much as I like pattern paper and embellishments, there’s another must-have staple in my stash: vellum. I find myself reaching for it over and over again using it on almost everything I create. There are so many fun things to do with just a plain ol’ sheet of vellum, but then you add the fabulous designer patterns on the market, and oh my goodness! The possibilities are endless. Today I’m going to share five of my favourite ways to use vellum.

Vellum Titles
When I have an enlarged photo that I want to scrapbook, but I want to keep the layout very simple and focused on the photo, I’ll use a vellum title. I love to use vellum titles cut with my Silhouette, but vellum titles can be hand-cut too. You could also emboss, paint, or freehand a title onto the vellum, then cut it out.

Layers with Vellum
I have to say one of my favourite ways to use vellum is layers and frames. I love vellum frames all layered up with pattern papers and die cuts. It gives that added dimension without a lot of weight on a layout.

Journaling with Vellum
If you’re anything like me you’re not always a fan of your handwriting, so when it comes to journaling you’d rather type it than write it. Sometimes typing it isn’t an option but then again writing it isn’t either so what do you do? That was the case with the Basic Grey veneer bubbles. I knew ink would bleed into the wood and my journaling would look really bad so I decided to give the vellum a go and it worked out perfectly!
TIP: when adhering vellum, use a clear-drying adhesive like the Martha Stewart glue pen. After your journaling is adhered, it’s a simple step to done. I use vellum a lot for journaling on a page, not just when using veneer.

Vellum & Imperfect Photos
I learned this next tip the hard way, and I’m so glad I did. My printer has been giving me fits lately with lines in my photos and not the right quality print, so I have a small pile of prints I thought for sure would go into the trash. As I was scrapping, it hit me: I use the vellum to make backgrounds subtle, so why not try it like a filter on a photo? I did and I love it! Not only does it give me that cool Instagram-looking filter effect, it also turns out I don’t need to throw those photos away. Simply cut a scrap piece of vellum slightly larger than your photo, adhere with clear adhesive, and use on your layout. Imperfect to perfection.

A Subtle Background with Vellum
We’ve all had those pattern papers we love, but when it comes to using them the pattern is just too loud so it gets shoved out of sight. This has happened to me often until one night while working on an assignment where I had to use that loud pattern I had no other choice I softened it up by adding a sheet of vellum to the top. Adding the vellum gives you a subtle look while still keeping the same paper and it’s much easier to work with.

Mandy Koeppen is a thirty something mom of three who juggles many job titles in her everyday life from chauffeuring family accountant to zoo-keeping therapist. She lives a small town, country girl life in Michigan with her Mr. K, raising their three children Teagan, Mavrick, and Avery. When she has time, Mandy loves to get creative with paper, browse her local antique shops, raise autism awareness for sweet Mav, and have fun with family & friends. Mandy’s work has been published in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook Trends, Scrapbooks Etc, and Somerset Memories. Mandy currently designs for October Afternoon & Cocoa Daisy Kits. To see more of Mandy’s work or to get to know her better you can visit her blog or follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

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For my husband’s first father’s day this year, I wanted to create something more personal than a card. I was looking to create a mini-album of sorts, but one that looked more like a card with a thin binding, rather than just using a hole-punch & binder rings, or a pre-made chipboard album. I turned to my trusty search engine to help me find options for book bindings & I quickly discovered the beauty of the Japanese bookbinding method. We both ended up loving the finished album, and now this is my ‘go-to’ technique for creating a fast, simple mini.

What I love about this technique is that it is a) very easy, it only took me a few minutes to learn; b) I had everything on hand to achieve the method, especially loads of patterned paper and colorful bakers twine; and c) it looks beautiful and creates a thin, easy to store mini album.

Begin by choosing a selection of patterned paper. In this case, all of my paper was from a single kit, so I knew that it would coordinate, and made my selection process faster. Choosing patterns from a single manufacturer’s collection would also ensure a fast selection process. Make sure that you only use paper in which you like the front & the backsides, so that there is less bulk in the album base. My pages are all sized to 5”x7”.

This binding method is permanent, so it is important to know how many pages that are needed at the beginning. This binding is very secure, so you can include just a few or a lot of pages for your album. I printed my photos & attached them with removable adhesive so that I knew what order everything was going in and that I had the right number of pages.

Once all of that is sorted, use a scoring board to score along the edge that you will bind, ½” from the edge. This will make it easier to turn & fold the pages later on.

Next, mark your holes using a ruler and pencil. On my album, the top & bottom holes are 1” from the edge and the middle hole is centered along the length at 3½”.

Use a 1/8” hole punch to punch a hole where you have marked. My punch will not go through all of my pages at once, so I punched the first page, then used that one as a template for the remainder of the pages.

Once the pages are all punched, cut a piece of baker’s twine roughly three times the length of your album. Thread a #1 embroidery needle with your twine.

To save you looking at 20 photos for the actual binding method, I’ve put it all in a quick video for your viewing pleasure (my first ever!).

Once the album is bound, add journaling cards & photos to your foundation pages with permanent adhesive.

Now for the fun part— if you haven’t already had fun! Select a group of coordinating embellishments. I find that by limiting myself to a selection of embellishments from the start, the process moves a bit faster. Also, it’s important to stick to less-dimensional embellishments for the interior pages, as the mini album is not as bulky as most.

Once you’ve embellished your album, you’re finished! Not only do you have a completed mini album, but you’ve also learned a useful, new binding method for creating your own, custom mini albums.

Meghann Andrew is a former interior designer turned stay-at-home-mom to a thriving 9 month-old micro-preemie. When not spending time with her family, which also includes her English husband & English Golden Retriever, she enjoys cooking, baking, spinning (to burn off the calories from all of the cooking and baking) and creating beautiful things with paper. She currently designs for American Crafts & is on the contributing team for Elle’s Studio.

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I’m a digital project lifer. As of 2013 I have been recording my memories with journaling cards, Instagram photos and quotes. I take a lot of pictures and on average I have too many to fit into a double spread each week. I also found, after only a few weeks of doing Project Life that I wanted a fresh way to display my photos in each spread. I got bored of simply popping them in the assigned pocket. Instead I was keen to use the imperfect pictures, keen to tell the stories and keen to include as many photos as I could. I developed several techniques to achieve this and these are my five go to methods that seem to work every time. My techniques for using your photos in Project Life are digital but would be just as easy to apply to paper and ink.

The Imperfect Photo
I strongly believe that my project life shouldn’t be a collection of perfect moments and pictures. Life isn’t like that and nor are my photos! This is an easy way to incorporate an imperfect photo into your spread.
Stop thinking of that photo as a photo and instead think of it as a patterned canvas-an abstract rather than a still life. With these photos I run them through a simple blur in Photoshop (filter, Gaussian blur) and then add text, or a strong black and white filter. By making the photo the background to the story, the imperfection isn’t noticed or even important. This would be easy to achieve in paper. Write straight over your photo with a permanent pen or add some tracing paper or vellum to blur the photo slightly and then write over it.

Blow it Up
Some photos need to be emphasized. If I want to make a statement I merge several of the pockets together to allow for one large photo. This also gives you a bit more artistic license with the photo. As in this layout, the photo stretched across several pockets however I used one of the pockets to contain the journaling. If the photo is big you can get away with a relatively large journaling card.

Use a Photo as a ‘Filler’
This is a great technique for the imperfect photo or a photo that doesn’t really have a story. I use these photos to add quotes or shapes. They then become a filler in my layout. For instance I really liked this photo of Autumn leaves but didn’t feel there was a lot I could say about it. Instead I added a circle of transparency and then added one of my favourite quotes. The photo is still documented in my spread but it is part of showcasing the quote as well.

White Space
This technique needs thinking about before you have even started creating a page. Consider how you take photos. Consider how you crop them. I will often frame my subject at one side of the photo so that I will have a lot of white space in which to write in.

The photo of the burger bar in this spread is a good example. When taking the photo I made sure that I framed the name of the restaurant at the bottom of the picture. That black background made the picture pop but also gave me lots of space to write in. It becomes a journaling card and photo in one.

Make a Collage
There are some weeks when there are just too many photos! Consider making a collage. Many photos can fit in one pocket and if they are of a similar theme or event, the result can be dramatic. I chose to put some of my favourite photos of Autumn together into a circle. This is easy to achieve in Photoshop with a clipping mask but just as easy to achieve with paper. Select the photos you would like to include and print them relatively small. On a 6 × 4 card arrange your photos so that they overlap and no white shows through. Add another 6 × 4 card over the top of these with a circle cut out. Your collage of photos will appear in a beautiful circle shape!

Abi Beach is a student studying at Durham University. She used to be a paper scrapbooker but with the demands of a student life and budget she has turned to digital memory keeping. She loves documenting the everyday, rejoicing in the ordinary and trying out all sorts of crafts. She writes about this at Creating Paper Dreams. You can also find her on Instagram as @abibeach.

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I’ve loved envelopes since I was a child. My crafty boxes were full of mini envelopes with letters, tiny buttons, leaves or flowers! I was thinking they are perfect for gifts so I gave them to almost everyone and I was well known for this. Well, envelopes are always a great idea so lets make them today! So, today I decided to go back to my childhood memories and make some mini envelopes. I prepared a tutorial and a bonus project for you!

It’s great that you can use any leftovers from your patterned papers. There size is great!
All you need is a piece of cardstock: 3.5 × 3.5 inches.

Now it’s time to measure the body of envelope. It needs to be a rectangle 2.5 × 1.9 inches. The easiest way is to cut the rectangle from a white cardstock and then match it to your square!

Then you need to cut out all four small triangles to make four flaps of envelope.

Fold all of them and round all corners.

Now, glue two shorter flaps with a one bigger.

Your envelope is ready! I added a small sticker with 3D foam to make a clasp.

And here is my envelope!

Bonus Project

You can use it in every craft project you want to – on a layout, card, in your Project Life album or as a small gift. I incorporated two of them into my layout. Then I wrote two notes for inside as a journaling add to my layout.

I also made a card and glued down an opened envelope with a tag “Best Wishes” inside.

I hope you feel inspired to add tiny envelopes to your layouts or other paper projects. Thank you for joining me today!

Magda is 26 years old and lives in the most beautiful city in Poland. She has a great passion for all crafty things! Scrapbooking took stole her heart over two years ago and is still her beloved hobby. Magda is a young, natural light photographer who loves to capture beautiful moments in life. She can easily describe her style, both scrapbooking pages and her photographs are bright, fresh with pops of colurs here and there. You can see more of Magdas work over at her Scrapbook and Photography blog or on Facebook

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Purple is my favorite color. My mailbox is purple. Our bedroom is purple. Purple is a star in my wardrobe. But, when it comes to my scrapbooking… I have the hardest time incorporating purple into my pages. Worst yet, if a photo contains large amounts of this perplexing color, I tend to avoid scrapping it. So, it is time to conquer this, yes?

I’m not sure exactly why purple is so hard to work with. Perhaps it’s how dominant it is? Or perhaps it conjures up certain emotions or connotations? I really don’t know. But, what I do know is that with just a few simple strategies, I was scrapping with purple in no time and you will be too!

Use it in Small Doses
Perhaps the easiest way to “get your feet wet” with any supply or color that is out of your comfort zone… use just little bits of it. When combined with soft pinks and blues, the purple confetti and subtle layers work harmoniously without distracting from the photo, which incidentally, is one of those photos that had been set aside on my desk due to the large amount of purple. So good to have it scrapped!

Add lots of White
Almost anything becomes calmer and softer when paired with lots of white. Purple is no exception. I kept the other papers, patterns, and layers on the softer side as well to avoid a high contrast. A lovely way to showcase purple, I would say!

Ground it with Grey
Purple has several complimentary colors… green, pink, teal… but, my most favorite is grey. I love the softness that grey can add to this over-zealous color. In fact, it even allowed me to break into a never-before-used sheet of purple alphas. Paired with grey, all of the little purple touches shine in just the right way and lead the eye to the soft black and white photos.

Embellish with It
Here is another case of challenging photos I had set aside. The high contrast and deep jewel tones were leaving me with a conundrum. Once I decided to focus on softer colors for the background and layering and only use the bright purples in the embellishments, well… it all came together. This was also a good stash stretcher as I don’t normally have an abundance of purple embellies on hand, I simply put some scrap papers, ink and punches to good use!

Play with Ink
Speaking of ink, another fun way to infuse your pages with purple is to get inky and play. For this page, I grabbed some stencils, distress ink, embossing powders, and an oversized tag. I just went to town having fun with all of my purple goodies and ended up with a lovely tag to include within the layers of my page. The best part about this? There is no fear in “messing up” a page with a color you are not confident in. Play with it off the page and add it later. Perfection!

So, the next time you are perplexed by purple, be it in your supplies or in your photograph, I encourage you to put your fears aside. Don’t be afraid to try some of these strategies, play with ink, and put your scraps to use. Before you know it, you will have that purple on a page and in your album!

Thanks so much for joining me!

Ashli Oliver (aka soapHOUSEmama) is a recovering graphic designer, a homeschooling mother, wife, daughter, coffee addict, knitter and gardener with an extreme passion for mixed media paper crafting and memory keeping. Ashli finds great joy in both the creative process and the final piece. Most of her craft time is found in the wee hours of the evening when all of her kiddos are in dream land. Although, Ashli never misses an opportunity to grab a snippet of time during the day to shuffle some paper around. Ashli has been an artist her entire life. She followed her dreams and attended art college. While Ashli mostly wanted to play with paint and glue, she chose a more sensible major of Digital Multi-Media and Photography. After working in that industry on and off, Ashli put her computer and brushes aside to start her family. Never in a million years did she think that scrapbooking and the paper craft industry would re-awaken her inner artist that she had put away so many years ago. Thanks to a good friend who showed her the ropes just a little more than a year ago, Ashli has jumped into a pile of pretty paper and is never looking back!

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