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

I’m loving this party so far – so many fab handmade cards and scrapbook pages from so many guest artists. I loved that the projects I made for this class were so much fun to create and never felt like work for even a second. Two days in and there are already so many projects posted in the class gallery. I love it when something good comes together!

So just in case you’re wondering, it’s never too late to join the party. You can sign up for Pretty Paper Party at any time and have full, permanent access to all the materials. Twenty-five printable prompts, a whole series of videos and all things you won’t see elsewhere – all the projects was made just for this class, just for those at the party!

It’s a party – that means you can be fashionably late! We’ll still welcome you and cheer you on with our celebration of all things paper.

Orders can take up to twenty-four hours to process (though usually it’s much quicker). If you want your prompts sent to an address other than the address on your paypal account, please leave that in the notes or send me an email if you miss that. Thanks!

And if you’re thinking a bigger kind of party, True Scrap starts this Thursday, with classes from seventeen different teachers!

Whatever your party style, I hope you’re feeling crafty and happy this week!

xlovesx

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Congratulations to Clare, who wins a $25 gift certificate from Chic Tags.

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

There’s a new giveaway every Friday night, so check back next week for another chance to win just by leaving a comment.

Have a great week!

xlovesx

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Now I’m curious if anyone guessed this particular page topic when I posted yesterday’s starting point with all that pink and yellow! This new little face is the daughter of a certain scrapbooker so I’m quite convinced her first words will be things like patterned paper and border punch. But seriously, she is super lovely and didn’t make a single peep while we spent an afternoon taking all sorts of lovely newborn pictures of her. If only she would always be such a willing model! We’ll see how that works out, Miss Abigail!

Most things on this page are Studio Calico, including the new chipboard butterflies. I’m now convinced I will need multiple packages of those! There are a couple letter stickers from October Afternoon, some MME pearl brads and pearl strips, then I added pink paint with a border stamp from Jenni Bowlin – but everything else is Calico goodness!

If you create something from this week’s starting point, do leave a link at the end of this post so we can see all the different end results from the same start.

Here are four of my favourites from last week’s starting point. Clockwise from top left, they are one, two, three and four. Have a click and see more detail and more posts from each scrapper!

And you know what starts tomorrow, right? It’s Pretty Paper Party time! And it’s not too late to join in – so sign up and join us for four weeks with hundreds of ideas for using that stash of paper you have collected!

Have a great rest-of-Sunday!

xlovesx

PS: The missing post is no longer broken! Find last week’s round-up and finished page here.

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Oh hello there Saturday! You make me want to jump up and down and glue pretty paper to other pretty paper and possibly bake chocolate chip cookies. Will let you know how that goes. But here’s the beginning of the pasting of pretty paper, and this week it’s all paper from Studio Calico and all things on a wonky angle. Dare to give the wonkiness a try? Embrace the wonkicity, I say! (I really do say because wonkicity is a beautiful word if ever I invented one.)

The large box in pink is 9×10 inches, the strip of white grid paper is 2 by just shy of 11 and the grey box is roughly 3×8, but that bottom edge ends up cut at an angle where it goes off the edge of the page.

So that’s your starting point this week! If you’re new to Scrapbook Starting Points, the idea is really easy: you take this placement of papers and replicate it using papers from your own stash. Then you finish the layout in your own style with however many photos in whatever sizes and however much writing and embellishing you want to add. Then upload your page to your blog or a scrapbook page gallery and leave a link here so we can see all the variations made from this same starting point! I’ll post some of my favourites a week from tomorrow.

PS: I only realised this morning that last Sunday’s starting point post isn’t showing? I must have broken something. Will get it fixed asap! And I’ll try my darnedest not to break anything for tomorrow’s post of this finished page! I mean, there’s wonkicity and then there’s just… broken. Broken is way less fun!

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This weekend, one commenter will win a $25 gift certificate from Chic Tags

Veronica is excited to introduce to you her new shop Chic Tags, (formerly known as Shabby Chic Crafts.) They design delightful vintage inspired paper tags for all your crafty needs. They have a large selection to choose from, all different shapes, sizes and styles! If you’re starting early on your Christmas projects, you must check out their site. They have new holiday journaling tags, and embellishment perfect for all your holiday crafts! Please don’t forget to check out the CT blog Veronica will be working on her third annual holiday workshop next month. There will be many handmade gift ideas and crafts to be seen and admired

To enter, just leave a comment letting us into a secret, ‘if you could only be one, would you be shabby or chic?’ – for me, I’d want to be chic, but I’m actually pretty shabby, if I tell the truth! And if there is any doubt, I would show you my hair which currently is freshly coloured, but tied in the biggest knot of all time. Win some, lose some.

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

Good luck!

xlovesx

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Remember this layout from the other day and the mixing of ye olde 2006 patterned papers with things that I’m using throughout my current album? Well, this page sits opposite that one in my album. So although they are not a double page layout, they do have a few things in common and I wanted them to be linked in some way, so I started this page with the leftover supplies from the first page… then added more to make it a completely different mix. It’s something that really makes me love the album process… and I think I might share some more thoughts on that with you very soon. But for now: the sketch!

This sketch has quite a bit of flexibility and a bit of a 1-2-3 methodology: one square of paper, two photos and three circles. The sketch looks overly simple, but you start there and can then add as much embellishment to each of the circles as suits your style. The circles can be moved about a bit to accommodate portrait or landscape pictures, and the square of paper can be made from more than one sheet if you want to use up some scraps. I ended up using two papers because nothing I had chosen was big enough to make the square on its own. As you can see here…

(And an extra little thank you to everyone who as subscribed to the videos over at YouTube. I appreciate it so much!)

As always, the weekly sketch is no-stress and just for fun! If you use it, I’d love to see, so please leave a link if you post your page online.

The last sketch was actually two weeks ago so the extra time meant even more pages submitted – and so many fun designs. I love the energy on these pages that comes from the strips of patterned paper.

Click the corresponding link to see any of these layouts in more detail and get to know the scrappers behind the pages.
Top Row, L to R: one, two, three.
Middle Row, L to R: four, five, six.
Bottom row, L to R: seven, eight and nine.

Now… are you up for some sketchy scrapping this week? Choose two pictures and grab a few papers to start. Give it a go and share it with us!

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_{©twopeasinabucket.com. Click here for supplies and further details.}
Hands up if you own stamps that have never been used in any way. Even if it’s just one stamp in a set. I’m guessing there are very few of us out there who have honestly put ink to every single stamp we own – especially if we count the letters of the alphabet! And interestingly enough, that’s what the new series A to Z of Stamping aims to do – encourage you to put those stamps to use with a variety of projects and techniques highlighted each day… one day for each letter of the alphabet.

_{©twopeasinabucket.com. Click here for supplies and further details.}
I drew the letter A out of the hat, so I had to be brave and go first of all the Garden Girls. I made two projects – a card and a scrapbook page – with a focus on layering stamps by American Crafts. Simple, quick and easy but still definitely homemade. Other projects for A included alcohol inks and art journals, with plenty of examples and a video to demonstrate. Then the next day showcased stamps from BasicGrey, buttons and background stamps. Today we’re up to C for Copic markers, Colorbox and charms. And so forth to come throughout the alphabet!

Each day also includes a themed sale and a challenge with a prize winner. Just a bit of bonus, that.

You can find the daily updates for the A to Z of Stamping here throughout the next twenty-three or days or so!

Now… what stamp have you not used? Grab it and get it inky, won’t you?

xlovesx

PS: Sketch of the week is definitely ON for this today and there’s a video! Huzzah.

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For the American Crafts blog, I was challenged to find a clever use for Patchems, the embellishments that are just like merit badges only designed to coordinate with paper collections. My answer is remarkably simple: make cards. But cards for certain people.

Each of these cards will be going to someone I know will remove the patch and stitch it to her camp blanket or backpack. Then the patch gets to do double-duty – cute card, but also something to keep! (Why yes, I did often get excited by birthday cards that included that ‘it’s my birthday’ badge when I was a child. And by ‘when I was a child’, I clearly mean ‘for every birthday in my life’.)

The three patches on these cards all come in the same set from the Amy Tangerine collection, and the cards use other elements from the same, including lots of paper scraps. And aside from the stitching, I made these outside in a lovely day in the park. So the leaf on the Hello Autumn card may have just fallen off the tree onto my project and suddenly found itself attacked with adhesive and included on the card. Seems fair enough: fall on my head while I’m crafting and I will just glue you to something.

So if you had a pack of Patchems, what clever thing would you do with them?

xlovesx

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