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

_{Click here to see full page and more details.}

A little something new from the Garden Girls – on the twenty-second of the month, we bring you Gardeners’ Digest, a blog-hop style wrap up of our favourite projects and products at Two Peas in a Bucket. If you’ve just arrived from Shannon’s blog, then hello hello! (And if you’re just starting here, you can following it around, of course!)

First up, a look at what each of us is doing in the garden, and you may have noticed my slightly mysterious job there now! All I know is I’m the mild-mannered scrapbooker. This Glitter Girl person does seem to have some similarities, and I’m not quite sure if I can identify the voice known as the Adhesive Avenger. But I hope you are enjoying the Adventures of Glitter Girl each Wednesday, and if you have any topic you would like her to address in a video, please stop by the General Scrapbooking message board to grab her attention. She’s always on the look out for a good scrapping discussion!

_{Project by Lisa Truesdell.}

If you like scrapbooking videos, I also urge you to check out Memory Keeping Mondays, which now has three different scrapbook pages from start to finish, with a new one added tomorrow. I love that there are four different scrappers working on this series (Jen, Shannon, Nancy and Lisa) so you’ll see a variety of styles, techniques and page themes. And if you’re working on a year-long documenting project (like Project Life or Document:2012), then definitely check out 2012 Captured, a monthly update from Lisa Truesdell with all sorts of creative energy and ideas for keeping that project rolling.

Here’s a little peek into my latest order from Two Peas. We’re each sharing five products we love, so here are five I’ve just unpacked yesterday and I’m looking forward to finding them a home on a layout very soon.
Two stock-up items: the polaroid paper from Echo Park (now 50% off) and all things Sassafras. I’m still mourning the loss of Sassafras and I stocked up on papers, stickers and embellishments (including Foldies!) before they disappear for good. Then three things that are brand new to me: a set of tape from KI Memories, pink, white and red baker’s twine from Doodlebug and Go-themed die cut tags from Ormulu. See if you can spot any of these on projects in the next few weeks – and hassle me if you can’t!

Two things for you:
First, leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a $10 gift certificate to Two Peas. Easy! Enter before the end of Thursday and the winner will be posted on Friday.
Second, your next stop on the way is Wendy Sue. Go, go, go!

Gardeners’ Digest is a monthly update from the Garden Girls, the design team at Two Peas in a Bucket. To keep up with the Garden Girls throughout the month, check out the garden gallery, find us on Twitter or subscribe to all our blogs with just a couple clicks.

Comment [137]

This week one lucky commenter will win a hand crafted egg from Pinkworks. The expression will be a surprise, but it is sure to make you smile.

Angela likes to refer to her items as ‘Handmade Happinesses’. She explains, “I produce handmade contemporary textile items. These range from one of a kind monsters, sweet and unique rag dolls, contemporary teddy bears, and loveable food items, such as boiled eggs each with a unique, hand sewn facial expressions. The essence of Pinkworks combines humour and individuality. Angela’s inspiration is drawn from traditional English toy making, cute Japanese pop culture, her worldwide travels and her view of everyday life.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post describing how you take your eggs in the morning!

Entries close at midnight Thursday UK time and the winner will be posted Friday evening, so be sure to check back to see if it’s your lucky day!

Good luck!

---

The winner for last weeks giveaway from Skull and Cross Buns is


Congratulations to GLEE, who wins the cupcake and bunting stamp from Skull and Cross Buns.

Glee, please email me (shimelle at gmail dot com) with your address.

Have a great week!

xlovesx

Comment [39]

So what’s all this about? This is the January project for And Now for Something Completely Different, a year-long project I’m leading at UKScrappers. Prep notes are always posted on the tenth of the month and the project is always posted on the twentieth… at 10:20am… with twenty steps from start to finish, and a few new things to try along the way.

If you take on this project (feel free to make it your own) and upload your layout to the UKScrappers gallery by the end of the month, you’ll be in the running for some lovely surprises along the way! (I’ve added a share widget here too, but it will be projects uploaded to the UKS gallery that are eligible. Sharing here is just for fun.)

Anyone can join in – you do not need to be based in the UK to join the forum. Join in the discussion here. You’ll find my additional notes on the project there too, so worth a look before you give it a go.

I hope you enjoy this month’s twenty steps from start to finish!

xlovesx

Comment [10]

_{Class content ©twopeasinabucket.com.}

In this week’s adventure, Glitter Girl tackles creative block, an issue currently being discussed here on the General Scrapbooking message board at Two Peas. Her adventure takes her through the reasons why creative block occurs, how to find inspiration here at Two Peas and how scraplifting can become a useful step in the creative process.

To create the layout in this week’s video, Glitter Girl selected six layouts posted at Two Peas and took one piece of inspiration from each. The product choice of the Peachy Keen collection was inspired by Say Cheese by hyperstarre, the white cardstock and splash of ink was inspired by Hello Lazy Mornings by 4Shanna, the garland of buttons and mixed paper elements was inspired by Lookalike by Jen Chapin, the title came from BrianaJ’s Time Flies layout, Wilna inspired the photo strip with a mix of colour and black & white images with her page Ten and Chasing the Morning Sunshine by MaryGrace inspired the final touch of lace to complete the page.

_{Click here for supplies – and a bunch of them are on sale, by the way.}

I wouldn’t normally make such a prescriptive list of inspiration points, and would rather take just one element perhaps. But this was such a fun page to create and the more detailed challenge created by all those elements made it come together quickly. I love the look of the finished page and how it looks different than any of those original pages. Proof that creative block can be crushed when we need it to be!

This week Glitter Girl challenges you to take inspiration from something you have found at Two Peas in a Bucket. Create something to share with the Two Peas community and in your project description, tell us about how you found inspiration there. Be sure to click the challenge box when you upload a picture to the gallery. You can also leave a link here in the comments to share what you have made!

Onward, covered in glitter, my dear scrapbookers!

The Adventures of Glitter Girl is a weekly series on Two Peas in a Bucket, and goes live every Wednesday. I’ll share each adventure here shortly after that. I hope you enjoy her quests for crafting happiness, and if you ever have a scrapbooking dilemma yourself, you can always call her to action on the message board.

Comment [6]

All of the two trees thank you cards have been written, addressed and posted, so it’s time for something new with Saying Thanks. This time it’s not two trees but three hearts!

American Crafts sent me their new punch system to give it a try, and this project is the first thing I’ve created with it. You can see how these border punches work in the video, even if you want to skip the rest of the card. (But you know, it would be awesome if you watched the card too. Just sayin’.)

For these cards I used the Pebbles With Love papers, American Crafts thank you stamp and border punch system, Hero Arts woodgrain stamp, and white mist along with baker’s twine, rickrack, brads, and a heart punch.

Thank you for reading and watching. Always.

xlovesx

PS: New Glitter Girl video is on Two Peas now, and will be live here tomorrow.

Comment [10]

If I could only scrapbook with the supplies from one collection this year, it would be the Amy Tangerine collection. (Admittedly, I might cry first. Because I really, really like mixing collections. But since this is an imaginary restriction, I’m going to try to keep the tears and tantrums to a minimum.) I love the colours – rich turquoise, ripe raspberry pink, avocado green – and the motifs are inspiring without being sickly sweet. Cameras, maps, handwritten affirmations. All things that rate highly in my book.

So it is with great anticipation that I look forward to Amy’s new release for American Crafts: Sketchbook.

Think an updated, summery colour palette and a bit more freedom in the designs. With the tag line Splash some color on life (which you know I want to respell, but I’ll cope for today), this line promises an artsy twist, but still easy to craft with, no matter what your style, just like the American Crafts tradition. Sounds good to me. My intention is to use the two collections together, so I’m especially interested to see how they coordinate.

But really I don’t know all that much more than you do at this point! Today you can hop through ten different blogs to get a peek at the new Sketchbook collection, and my contribution is this canvas camera sticker. Yep, I think I can find a spot for that in my albums!

To continue on the journey, head over to Jennifer McGuire for the next look. Once you’ve made the full circle, be sure to visit the American Crafts blog, for the chance to win the full Sketchbook collection. A pretty fabulous reward for a bit of crafty blog reading!

---

By the way… I will be covering Winter CHA right here on the blog – that’s the big craft trade show where all the new collections (like this) debut. The show opens on the twenty-ninth of January, and I’ll be blogging one brand at a time, so you can come right onto the show floor with me, except you can stay on the sofa and avoid paying nine dollars for a cheese sandwich in a convention centre. Sound like a deal? Awesome.

xlovesx

Comment [109]

This weekend, one commenter will win two hand carved rubber stamps from Skull and Cross Buns. The fabulous bunting and the cute heart topped Cupcake stamp, each unique and beautiful.

Emily Fox is the designer and creator of “Skull and Cross Buns” Stamps. Residing in idyllic Devon she is inspired by her love of Skulls and cakes. “I come from a really creative family too, my mum is a fantastic textile artist and cake maker and my aunt makes jewellery and greeting cards. My two children love to stamp too, I’m always being pestered to carve them something new, which is great but my sofa is starting to look like a stamp brochure – Ooops!”

You can see more of Emily on her blog and in her Etsy and Folksy

To enter, just leave a comment on this post describing what you love about the uniqueness of handmade.

Entries close at midnight Thursday UK time and the winner will be posted Friday evening, so be sure to check back to see if it’s your lucky day!

Good luck!

---

The winner for last Friday’s giveaway of a place on Lain’s Layout a Day class is Jane! Jane please email me (shimelle at gmail dot com) with your details.

Have a fabulous weekend!

xlovesx

Comment [101]

Welcome to the very first day of Saying Thanks, my personal mission to make, write and send a great deal of thank you cards to start the year! This first tutorial is for a very simple card, and I’ll be honest: I like many of my cards very simple! I think it takes a certain kind of recipient to really appreciate a card that takes a very long time to create, and most people appreciate something that is simple yet handmade. And there is absolutely no reason why simple can’t be beautiful, as most of good design reminds us in branding, stationery and all other sorts of things. So I’m starting simple.

I’m also starting with an idea of not being wasteful. Not collecting stamps without using them. I ordered some Christmas stamps that didn’t arrive until a few days after Christmas, so they won’t be useful for Christmas cards until next year. But they can still be useful for scrapbooking Christmas photos, of course, and I believe they are appropriate for thank you cards sent regarding Christmas things, like saying thank you for a Christmas gift or to the hostess of a Christmas party. So I’m going with it, even though it’s January. Christmas stamps, you will not sit in my drawer uninked for a year! You will start stamping now!

For these cards I used this Hero Arts stamp (currently on sale), this Technique Tuesday sentiments stamp set, this Hero Arts background stamp (not sure where that one might still be in stock), Jenni Bowlin for Ranger inks, American Crafts pigment ink (in brown sugar on kraft cardstock for a very subtle pattern) and a bit of Distress Ink too. The star stickers are by Studio Calico.

Plus, with a simple card you can always dress it up. Add stickers. Add pop-dots for dimension. ADD GLITTER.

You know you want to. (I just used a glue pen and dotted it about the stars, then sprinkled the glitter over the top. Seriously an under-sixty-seconds technique for all that sparkle.)

Do you have a big stamp like this that could work for a simple thank you card? If you make something similar, please share – we would love to see what you make! And thank you for stopping by!

(Why yes, that does mean there are more thank you card videos on the way! I hope you enjoy.)

Thank you for reading and watching. Always.

xlovesx

Comment [7]