If you open a box of new supplies and are filled with a small terror that there is no easy place to start, you are not alone. I often find I look at all those fresh paper sheets and I’m not sure exactly where to go from there – perhaps for fear of messing up a much-loved sheet of paper, but more likely for an overrun of ideas and the worry that if I cut into a sheet that could be perfect for a background, I’m not sure where I’ll go after that. Usually I just have to start something, anything, and then go from there, living with the consequences of whatever pieces are left from the papers after they are cut. And this starting point is just that sort of project.
Select one patterned paper as the background and keep it 12×12. Cut another to 8×8, and attach in one corner. Choose a paper with a design that can be cut into a horizontal strip to run across the bottom of the 8×8 block. Cut a block from another patterned paper in a size that will be slightly larger than your photo, and run that vertically, above your horizontal strip. Add a die-cut to the mix at the spot where those different paper elements join. Find the diagonal across your page design and add a few droplets of mist at the ends of that imaginary diagonal line. From here you can add anything you want: photos, title, writing, more embellishment… take it as you would like!
My finished version includes some of the die-cuts from the Sundrifter pack in the kit – which turns out to include stickers really. There was no mention of that on the packaging that I could see, so I was somewhat surprised. The mistable Thickers can be sprayed to any colour you would like, but I wanted to add a bit more white to lighten the top of the page, so I just used them as they were. I used three of the different sentiments from the stamp set, and the ‘all of us’ below the photo is a rub-on from the Instaframes pack.
This page is a great example of a warm-up. When I’ve taken a little break from scrapping (which in my world is often a couple days, but the same principle works for much longer breaks too), I need something that is simple, colourful, and lets me get all the important elements onto the page without a huge element of creative challenge. I think this is honestly a really important part of my creative process, and it really helps me scrapbook in the morning specifically, as I am not a morning person, but that’s often when my scrapping time is found. Your warm-up page design might be a very different look, but the same concept can apply if you find a design that you love and you could almost put together without looking. Just something to keep in mind. If you get that new paper paralysis, jump in somewhere and remember there is always more pretty paper in your world, so there’s no need to panic if you cut into a sheet that could have been a fabulous 12×12 background. There are plenty more fabulous 12×12 backgrounds, I promise.
A very happy Monday to you, and may the sun be shining at least a little bit in your part of the world! I have a variety of projects to share with you over the next few days with the May Best of Both Worlds kit, and thought we might start with a starting point! As good a place as any, right?
Today also marks the start of a six week scrapbooking project I’m leading at UKScrappers. You can find that project here, including the first prompt and a thread to introduce yourself. There’s no charge to join UKScrappers or to participate in the project. Though the site is certainly about scrapbooking for those in the UK, any scrapper is welcome to join and participate, regardless of where you live. Find all the details about Break It Down at UKS.
Welcome to June! To kick off the month, I’d love to share my product picks for a very summery edition of the Best of Both Worlds scrapbooking kit. You can jump right to the shopping list if you prefer, or carry on if you want to see the kit contents in video form or take a look at some of my shopping thoughts for this month.
Best of Both Worlds is a selection of supplies that can be used as a kit, announced here on the first of each month. It’s called the Best of Both Worlds because it has the ease of a monthly kit, with a set of supplies chosen to work well together, but there is no subscription, no minimum purchase, and you can customise the kit to work with your style by eliminating duplicates or items you won’t use, increasing papers you would use more than once or over a double page layout, and replacing things like swapping a 3×4 set of cards for 4×6, for example. I select the products for each month’s kit and post it here on the first of the month. Ordering is all done through Two Peas in a Bucket.
Need to bring the price down a bit?
The stamp set is the most expensive item in the kit, so if you don’t stamp, that’s your quickest savings straight away. If you do stamp, I will say these stamps are really high quality for that $6.99 price.
Another way to savings would be to choose just two of the four sticker sheets: if your style is quite colourful, keep the Simple Stories alphabet and the My Mind’s Eye accent sheet; if your style is more muted, keep the two from Glitz Design. Choose just two instead of all four sticker sheets will bring the kit down by just shy of six dollars.
The third option would be to make your savings in the embellishments, omitting the tape if you already have one or more that you’re happy to use with these colours, or the tin pins if you have other flair badges you need to use or you would like to make your own embellishments with a circle punch or die.
For those who love more embellishments, I’ve pulled together this list of all sorts of things that would coordinate well with the kit. I don’t have any plans to show you how I would use each of these things – that’s just too many ideas to think straight! But I thought it might help to narrow down from the whole store and let you see a list that is still quite extensive but would let you pick the things that appeal most to your style, be that brads or wood veneer or flowers or whatever! (Let me know if you find it useful and I’ll see if I can make this a normal thing.)
If you keep a Project Life album or use lots of divided page protectors, I would definitely suggest the cut-apart sheets from Echo Park Here & Now, available in 3×4 cards or 4×6 cards. There are also additional 3×4 and 4×6 tablets from Simple Stories (plus this specific summer tablet) that would help extend this kit to a full summer of Project Life documentation if you so desired!
Love washi tape and happy to spend a little more on a set of two rather than one on its own? The second option I showed in the video is this set, and both tapes are absolutely lovely.
A look at the b-sides of the patterned papers.
Curious about shipping prices and times?
For free US shipping on orders over $50, you will need to enter the discount code for this month found in the newsletter. That link also includes the fine print on how to qualify for the discount, for your reference.
If you are ordering just the items on the kit shopping list, the shipping cost would be $7.40 for US addresses, $13.28 to Canada, and $20.07 to many other countries, including the UK, Australia, Germany, and France. When you check out, international orders may quote high on the shipping (it quoted $26.08 for me here in the UK). If you open a ticket within thirty days, Two Peas will make sure you get the rest back. (I know I’ve been reporting for several months that Two Peas is working on improving this. They really are, and I will be thrilled to let you know when a change happens!)
I placed an order early this morning, and my order is scheduled to ship from the warehouse on Monday, so the turnaround time is pretty quick right now!
What about projects with the previous kits?
I have not forgotten! In fact, I have a big stack of projects to share with you – it’s the video editing and uploading that has smacked me in the face this month. My big project this weekend is to get as much of that posted as possible, but it may take Monday to get videos uploaded. While I love nearly everything about moving back to the flat we never wanted to leave, I have to be honest and say the internet here is rubbish for uploading videos! They take about a day and a half to upload here, while the same file will take fifteen or twenty minutes at the office on Monday. I will see how we go and do my best to get them all online as quickly as possible. If I can get them all edited this weekend, then I can upload them on Monday and have a little video explosion! But I’ll be posting some non-video inspiration from both the April and May kits here this weekend so I hope that’s a little helpful.
Just to clear up some confusion – the upcoming Scrapbook Concentration masterclass video on layering does not use the kits – you never need to pay to see the projects I make with the kits. But Scrapbook Concentration is to blame… that two hour video (and figuring out this new video-on-demand format) and the nearly-an-hour NSD video just took up a bit too much of my time this May and that’s why I’m behind. I’ll be all caught up with everything posted by the time your June kit arrives, and we can carry on from there, which I hope sounds like great news.
For those wondering on the release date for Scrapbook Concentration, we’ve fixed some technical things requested by the video hosts, and I’ve been given an estimated date of release for Monday! Oh goodness: Monday is starting to look like it’s going to keep me on my toes for sure. I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as they have released it for viewing! Thanks for your interest in that new project.
Are previous kits still available?
Well, yes and no. In order to get the best value for money in each kit, I tend to pick a few things that are on sale – and those tend to be items that won’t be restocked once they are sold out. But the full price items are often restocked and available, so that means the older kits are just missing a few things here and there, and they will have just disappeared off the list entirely. But you can still find them in the store: January, February, March, April, and May. And all the posts related to Best of Both Worlds in some way (shopping lists, finished pages, videos) can be found here. (That’s the same link that appears at the end of any Best of Both Worlds post after ‘filed under’, and it lets you navigate just one category of posts at a time.)
Any other questions?
As always, there is no subscription to this kit and everything is first come, first served. Items are not reserved in your shopping cart – if you decide to come back in a few days, they may be sold out, I’m afraid. But there is a good stock of all the items on the kit list right now as I post this, and we have increased the numbers from previous kits. (The items I suggested in the extras have varying inventory.) If the items still sell very quickly and it looks as though not everyone who wanted a kit could get everything in time, I will look into the possibility of having somewhere you could express an interest so we can get a more accurate number of how many of you would like to join in each month. Sound like a plan?
Anything else I haven’t answered, feel free to ask in the comments. Leave a valid email address and I’ll get an answer back to you wherever possible!
Thanks so much for your continued support and I hope you enjoy this month’s Best of Both Worlds product picks!
Today I’m excited to share a post from a little further afield than usual – talented scrapbooker Azumi Izuno from Japan is here to share her favourite ways to use washi tape! I hope you enjoy.
Do you own any rolls of fancy washi tape? Where I live, washi tapes are called masking tape, and the product is widely known as a tape for DIY projects, a helper for paintings, and a temporary adhesive. But over the last five years, washi tapes have become all the range for their new colourful designs and patterns, making them a great material for crafting with style.
Make it a Banner
Cut twine to the length for your banner, then place washi tape strips over the twine and fold them in half to create little flags, with no adhesive left to show. Cut the ends as you like – with pennant triangles, on an angle, or with pinked edges perhaps. As washi tapes are mostly pale you can create see-through effect.
Make an explosion of flower petals
Fold a strip of washi tape over on itself, adhering both sticky sides. This makes the washi tape like a piece of paper. You can easily cut with your scissors in the shape you would like – and flower petals were perfect for these photos with the trees in bloom. Unlike real paper it will give much softer image, particularly with tapes in pale pastel colours.
Layer with patterned paper
Washi tape takes on a new look when layered over patterned paper; its see-through-ness makes this special effect. The trick to this technique is a craft knife. Use a pencil and ruler (or a template like this mask) to draw your design, such as a starburst. Cover the desired spaces with washi tape: don’t overlap the tape on top of itself, place it side by side with no gaps between the seams. This will mean there is extra tape hanging over the edge of the pencilled design. Take your craft knife and your ruler and use a very light touch to cut through just the tape, leaving the patterned paper background intact. Then peel up the excess tape. Washi’s unique adhesive quality lets you remove it from your page without tearing the paper, so it’s useful for this technique and also helps if you make a mistake with washi on any page.
Punch out perfect circles
Gather a group of different washi tapes you like. Tear off strips and adhere them to a sheet of vellum, trying different angles and combinations of tape to create different patterns. If you don’t like how one tape looks, you can always remove it and try another. Then use a circle punch or die to cut perfect circles from all those layered tapes to make a great embellishment you can use to dress up a page.
Build a background
Instead of building your background with patterned paper, start with white cardstock and add plenty of strips of tape to the page. Then design your page just as you would had the background been made from patterned paper. You can also include your journaling on strips of washi tape: test out your pens on scrap paper first, but there are plenty of permanent pens that will write on the tapes.
Azumi Izuno lives in Yokohama, Japan with her two kids and loving husband.
She spends such fun-filled busy days but she finds it so relaxing when she takes pictures of her family.
Her favourite embellishments for scrapbooking includes those washi tapes and something that are made with translucent materials. Find more of Azumi’s work on her blog, Forever Blue.
I love to include confetti on my layouts and in my Project Life spreads. I think it adds a lot of fun and color to any project. Today I will show you how to create a confetti pocket to use as a background element for your layout.
First, start by punching out your confetti using a hole puncher. I love using the Swiss Cheese punch from EK success but you can use a regular hole punch or even a three hole punch if you have those available.
If you like, you could add wood veneer stars and/or some silver star confetti to your punched holes to create some sparkle and dimension in your confetti pocket.
Next, trim down a piece of cellophane or plastic packaging to the size of your liking. I like to use the plastic packaging from speciality papers or thickers for my confetti pockets. For my page, I knew I wanted my pocket to be the main focus on my 12 × 12 paper so I cut my piece of plastic packaging down to 7 × 7 inches.
Now, sew your packaging along three sides leaving one side open to add your confetti. I recommend using a stitch length of about 3.0-3.5. A smaller stitch length could possibly perforate the plastic, which would eventually end up tearing at your stitch line. If you don’t have a sewing machine, washi tape is a great substitute!
After three sides of your pocket are closed, add your confetti into your pocket and sew along the remaining open side. Then, just to be safe, sew around the entire pocket again to ensure your pocket is completely closed.
Finish off your layout with your paper layers and embellishments. Since I wanted to use this pink Dear Lizzy ruffled paper as my background, I decided to layer my confetti pocket onto a piece of white card stock framed with some patterned paper to help it pop off the page. I added two small photos layered onto a die cut tag, as well as a simple banner to complete my layout.
Stephanie lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children. She loves all things creative and has a slight obsession with paper and photography. She started out with memory keeping through Project Life in 2011 and has not looked back yet. Her style is simple, but classic with occasional fun pops of color. As of January this year, she has found a love of recording memories through traditional scrapbooking. Stephanie currently serves on the Design Teams for Glitz Design, Chic Tags, Color Combos Galore and Little Black Dress Kit club. She shares her adventures in scrapbooking and Project Life on her blog at stephanie makes and through Instagram
a fourth layout with supplies just from the April Best of Both Worlds kit. This was the last I could do with full sheets of paper, so the remaining projects will include some non-kit items too.
Happy Friday! My Friday has been a waiting game… waiting to share something new with you! If you’ve listened to the latest Paperclipping Roundtable podcast, you heard my first announcement of something new coming up around here. It’s called Scrapbook Concentration.
I love teaching full classes, and I have two in the works at the moment: one that will debut quite soon and a second booked for later in the summer. But full classes take a lot of time to develop and a long time to devote as a student playing along. For quite some time I’ve been looking for a way to have something in between: something that would give you some quality instruction – in-depth discussion of one specific topic – but still be something you could do on one day rather than devoting several weeks. I’ve figured it out, and the new things available in the realm of video have opened up some new opportunities. Scrapbook Concentration will be a series of scrapbooking masterclasses in a video format. Each one is about two hours, broken into six segments that are each about twenty minutes long. No PDFs, no list of assignments. Also no waiting for me to process your registration. For Scrapbook Concentration, you can just purchase the video and then you’ll have access to it straight away, and the purchase price includes online viewing as many times as you want and any time you want for a year. You can also download the video to have a copy you can watch offline – including on your iPad, phone, or whatever you fancy – and that won’t expire at the end of the year, so you can keep it forever at that same price. I know some of you have been unhappy about video content that was online-only in the past, because streaming video can be painful when you have a slow internet connection! I definitely feel your pain. This new option will eliminate that problem because you can just download it (overnight if needed) and then have a copy to watch any time without worrying about access to fast internet.
This is a little different for me because it means I’m hosting the video content through a different set-up than I’ve used before, and at the moment everything is submitted and waiting for their approval, and then it will go live! I’m not sure if that approval comes from a person or if it’s a machine – so I don’t know if things get approved over the weekend. It’s a mystery to me for this first run! But as soon as it is live, I will definitely let you know, and if you choose to sign up, then I hope you enjoy it!
While there are no PDFs for Scrapbook Concentration, I know many of you enjoy having the class forum to discuss your projects amongst yourselves! So I have a little compromise for this. If you have taken any shimelle.com online class in the last six or seven years, you will have an account on the class forum. All forum members will have access to a discussion board for each Scrapbook Concentration video. Basically, that means there is a forum for you to discuss this if you have taken at least one shimelle.com class. Of course you’re welcome to purchase the video without ever having taken a full class! It’s just that the system for giving you that instant access to Scrapbook Concentration is different to the method where I personally process your registration and account for any full class here, so that’s why the forum is a bit of a compromise. For those of you who already use the class forum, you’ll have the extra benefit of having a designated place to chat.
One further clarification – this is completely separate to the videos and layouts that come from the Best of Both Worlds kits. Those videos will always be free. I use a range of other supplies in the video, and I can see about putting a product list up in the forum if that’s something you think would be helpful. But it’s very much designed to be adapted to your own supplies rather than needing to find the exact same stuff. The idea behind all my classes is always to leave you able to take the lessons forward with your own work so you can create happily and confidently on your own! (Yes, that school teacher side of me is still here. She is very happy she doesn’t have to grade exam papers or stay late for detention in the scrapbooking world!)
So… until I get this magic message that says everything is ready, I have to wait! I can tell you that this first Scrapbook Concentration focuses on layering, and it breaks things down to several different styles and techniques of layering, discusses how it can be easier and more efficient on your supplies than you think, and includes tips for adapting the ideas to your own style. You can choose if you really want to spend two hours watching it straight through, or if you would prefer to watch segment by segment, in twenty minute blocks that each give you something specific to try.
I’m very excited to offer this new masterclass approach, and I hope you enjoy it! More details here as soon as it’s live!
I’ve been spending quite a bit of time at my desk preparing for something that should appear here on Friday (I mentioned it at the end of yesterday’s Paperclipping Roundtable episode) but wanted to take a quick break to join the Garden Girls for this month’s Gardeners’ Digest blog hop.
Since we last caught up with all things Garden Girl, Glitter Girl has been on a few adventures, including rather lovely fashions from the late twentieth century, a focus on the embellishment process, balancing the scrapbooking of new and old photos for your albums, making stuff with background stamps, and an extended episode on planning a new album. That extended episode is the first in a little mini-series of four adventures jokingly known around here as Glitter Girl’s Guide to Wedding Scrapbooks, but there should be plenty in each episode that will apply even if you don’t have wedding pictures to scrap. It was rather lovely of my sister-in-law to plan her wedding for just the right time for the mini-series! As always, you can find all my Glitter Girl pages and videos here.
I’ve really been thinking and taking notes on double page layouts recently, and this edition of In the Mood to Scrap by Kristina Nicolai-White really caught my eye. I love how this is a video where she shows you how she changed her plan part-way through the design and had to take the layout apart and put it back together again to make it work – but it definitely did work and no tears shed. I do love a bit of reckless abandon with paper! But actually Kristina made it look all rather calm and clear. The end result is beautiful, and a very different use of the two page design concept.
This month I have a class pass for Jen Gallacher’s new workshop, Tool School, to give away to one commenter. Just leave a comment on this post to enter, and entries close at the end of this month. Be sure to leave a valid email address so I can reach you if you win, and if you have a Two Peas username, that would be great too. Thanks!
After you leave a comment to enter the giveaway, click over to Melissa for the next stop or take a look at the Two Peas blog to catch the details.
I am often asked about my creative process, about the how and why of the things I do, about where my wild ideas come from. The funny thing is, I actually have a very simple, very story-centric process when it all gets broken down. I took the opportunity to sit down and really look at, make notes, and think about my process and I found that I actually do have a very specific set of step that I follow. That might sound funny considering how I’m known as this no-rules and carefree scrapbooker but it is true.
The steps are really more of guidelines, and what you might notice is that I put embellishing dead last. My perspective is that the pretty stuff is there to support the story and the photos, and so it has to work with my story. Often as I get started on a project I will have a creative idea, and sometimes I alter the scope of my layout to allow for it if needed. Oh but I could really rattle on all day about this! Here is a layout I created just for this article:
You probably wouldn’t guess to look at it, but this is actually a two page layout (other page not shown). I broke down the creative process as I went along for this page, and I share a few creative thoughts as well in this video. Things got a bit long – more than twenty minutes – but that’s normal here in Shimelle’s world, right? I hope you enjoy – and if you have any questions please feel free to let me know I’d be happy to clarify further.
I encourage you to explore your own past and present scrapbooking, and make some notes on your process, strengths, and weaknesses too. Where are you happy? What are you doing well? Often noting those things can help you elevate areas you aren’t as happy with or are struggling with. I wish you some very happy crafting – thanks for joining me today!
To celebrate May’s upcoming online class, we have a class pass to give away. This giveaway is open to Twitter users, and to enter, just send this tweet:
Hey @glittershim, I want to spend my summer scrapbooking with @mayf! http://ow.ly/ldOB1
Copy and paste that tweet and post on your Twitter account - the link at the end comes back to this post to share May's tutorial. (Feel free to try it so you can see we're not sending you anywhere else!)
May will select a winner next Monday, and class starts on the sixth of June!
A note about this Twitter giveaway: we realise not everyone has a Twitter account, but we just wanted to change it up a little to try something a little different to just leaving comments here. You're welcome to open an account, tweet just that message, and delete your account next week if you really want to enter but don't have a need for Twitter! No worries!
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 on-line classes, and works with amazing companies sharing her projects and ideas. If she has one piece of advice to share, it’s always to be true to your creative heart. May is currently finishing details on her newest on-line scrapbooking class Camp Scrap – where you can come and play, create, and enjoy more than a dozen videos and over fifty new exclusive projects as well. For more information or to register for Camp Scrap visit Big Picture classes here.
We all have some wood veneer in our stash. I think I have more than most people and when I was thinking of doing 5 things with one product, wood veneer shapes came to mind. Working smaller projects for this post, I found that I can pay more attention to details. In the end, I love the mood board that I created. This will also work wonderfully for a project life page.
My idea with creating this visual mood board is to focus in on little details. I wanted to treat each little wood veneer as the main attraction of the page. I will explain with every part, just how I did that.
In my stash, I found these whimsical little muslin drawstring bags. And I stamped it with the “handle with care” stamp using some big brush pens (You can see how I use those in this in the mood to scrap video on 2peas). The centre piece is a wood veneer butterfly that I embossed with gold. I literally (as with all the embossed wood veneers used in this project) pressed the butterfly into the versamark pad and sprinkled some embossing powder on and heat it up. The little embellishment is from the Maggie Holmes collection by crate Paper and it completed the little bag perfectly.
This little page is a perfect example of something you can add to project life, in a mini album or as a card. I layered my photo on some mint green paper (from Studio calico’s sundrifter collection) and added the wood veneers with my hot glue gun in a little row. I used a 7 gypsies stamp and black ink to stamp on the wood veneers and you can see the lovely texture it created. To add some softness to the card, I punched a hole at the top and bottom and threaded a organza ribbon through it.
This card consists of a Maya Road envelope and some tags I added at the top. I stamped the tags with the same 7 gypsies stamp and gold embossed the wood veneers to match the butterfly from the little bag. The feathers is embossed with pink and layered over an american craft sticker and some Maggie Holmes paper from her new collection. I love how pretty this piece turned out. It’s simple and complex all at the same time. This will make a beautiful feature on a scrapbook layout.
This card can be a mini album cover. I layered the wood veneer pieces (these hearts are from lawn fawn) between layers of tulle fabric that I stitched down on some Lucky charm paper. Sometimes less is definitely more. I love the splash of green that I cut with my silhouette cameo. The flair button is by Evalicious.
This card is simply layers. I layered stickers and a tag, some chipboard words and a chipboard hart. And on top i used a fern wood veneer that I painted white with gesso and a wood veneer frame that I embossed with a glitter pink. I finished it off with the same organza ribbon that I used on another card.
This tag is also one of my favourites. I used a wood grain big roller stamp (from Glitz) and embossed it in white on a tag. Then I added the flower wood veneer that I painted white and coloured with different colors gelatos. (you can see how I use gelatos in this video2 on 2peas) For a finishing touch I added the organza ribbon.
As you can see, there are so many ways to dress up the wood veneer pieces. I loved playing with them in such a whimsical way, thinking of creative ways to use them on each little layout. I hope this inspires you to look at your wood veneers in a new and different way.
Wilna Furstenberg is a South African Canadian that lives in Saskatchewan Canada with her husband of 22 years and 3 girls. She has been a designer in the scrapbooking industry for 8 years and have been on various Manufacturer Design teams and have been published in a various scrapbooking publications. At the moment she focuses on growing her Photography business and she is a garden girl at 2peas in a bucket. Her recent Artclass workshop on 2peas has been very popular and she is working on artclass 2 coming out in the fall. You can find her blog at: www.wilnaf.com and follow her on twitter and Instagram# .
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