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

Serious show of hands: when you make a page, does it go in a stack with other pages or in an album? Because I really want to talk albums. Like honest truth about albums.

I’ve talked about my personal album process before – for a long time, my pages were in quite a mess. Some in albums, some not. Some in order, some not. I’ll be honest: when I was creating more than half my pages for books and magazines, it was hard to figure out how to keep pages organised because I wasn’t particularly amazing at keeping an inventory of what I had made and sent away to the publishers, so I had no accurate idea of my page inventory, so to speak. At that point, if you had asked to see an album, I would have gone straight to a Christmas journal, because those albums are made in order and kept in order and no matter which day marks the end of the project, there is always some sort of finished feel to that journal. It’s real and it’s readable from start to finish and I love how it’s cohesive without being repetitive.

But that was then. Now the majority of my pages are photographed here rather than sent away, so I don’t need a complicated spread sheet to remember the pages I’ve created. I set up an album system, I moved my albums to a place where they would be easy to reach every day, and truly if you walked into my flat and asked to see an album, I would point you to the shelf and let you pick any book that’s there. Because I am truly happy with each of them in their current state. Aside from annual Christmas journals, none of them are in an officially ‘complete’ state. As far as I can tell, they never will be. I like that I can go back and add more at any time, but I also like that there’s nothing that works out as a project that can’t be seen because it’s unfinished. You know those projects? I have minibooks like that – the pages all covered, and then only the first half completed – that sort of thing. But in my 12×12 albums, you wouldn’t really know there was a gap – you just wouldn’t be able to read what happened between page a and page b, because I haven’t added anything there yet.

Truly the system I use for my albums is totally beside the point – I don’t mean you have to follow the same system I use in order to be happy with your albums. You don’t. Not in the slightest. But the last few times I’ve written about albums, several people have come out of hiding to say they have scrapbooked for years and don’t actually have a single album. Their pages live in stacks or in drawers or in boxes, and once they are completed, they don’t really see the light of day again. And not in an I’m meaning to put them in albums when I get a minute way, but in an I don’t really feel any need to ever look at them again way.

If I’m being honest, I read those comments and my face dropped.

Yes, making a scrapbook page is this creative, enjoyable experience in and of itself. I love that our craft is one that can offer real results in a short amount of time. I don’t think I would enjoy scrapbooking quite as much if it took weeks or months to make one single page. (This is why I have never knit a pair of socks, for I am convinced I would give up before I turned the heel.) So yes, I love that we make pages and enjoy making them. But albums are this whole other level, just waiting to be discovered. Once you come up with the way you want to organise your pages in albums, looking through an album gives you a new plane of creativity. A new way to write, when you keep the longer format in mind. A new way to embellish, when you consider what pages you have already created on related topics. A new way to get the most from your supplies by looking at a range of pages rather than a single page.

If you really don’t have any desire to look back at your pages in an album, then I respect that. It doesn’t work for me. If you mean to put pages in an album but just keep putting it off, I really recommend taking a couple days and just making it happen. It doesn’t need to be perfect and it doesn’t need to be complex and calculated. Just find a way to let your pages be enjoyed after you make them, that’s all.

I don’t love this instead of making each page at a time. I love this as an addition. Like creative step one: make a page. Creative step two: look at how that page affects the album. Sometimes the album itself inspires my next page. Sometimes the next page comes completely on its own and making it a smooth transition in the album becomes its own creative challenge. That may sound a bit esoteric, but what I really mean is albums now make me more excited about scrapbooking than I have ever been.

And here’s a big bonus: if someone who doesn’t understand scrapbooking asks to see what I mean, I can show them an album that will make sense without needing to know about the crafty stuff. The story makes sense as you flip from page to page. I can still make every page as embellished as I want, with products I like and in whatever style makes me happy. Every time I finish a page, I love seeing how the album itself is coming together and it makes me relive the memories and think of more things I want to write in my very own words with my very own pen in my very own hand.

So in short, to me, albums are good. Looking at pages again and again is good. Enjoying both the single page process and the long game of curating all these individual moments into the full autobiography is definitely, definitely good. This month marks my thirteenth year of scrapbooking and I’ve never been happier to call myself a scrapbooker.

But if the short version isn’t enough, I’m teaching a workshop on this very principle of making albums take on that whole new level. It’s called Go with the Flow and it’s part of True Scrap 2. My class is live tomorrow (Thursday) at 7pm UK time/2pm Eastern time. But at True Scrap, there are also sixteen more workshops from instructors like Nichol Magouirk, Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, Noell Hyman, May Flaum, Kelli Crowe and on and on. We’ve all selected topics on our very own scrapbooking passion, so everyone is sharing something they truly love.

True Scrap works like this: you sign up and have access to the whole event – both live and recorded. So if you can make the live sessions Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then you can ask questions of any instructor and chat with everyone. If you can’t make the live sessions (or you can only make some of them), that’s okay too because you get access to the recordings and you can watch them (and rewatch them!) in your own time. Each class is presented by video and followed by a Q&A session where you can type in your questions for the instructor and she’ll be there live to answer.

The classes include a mix of techniques and philosophies – some things you can actually make right along with the video, others encourage you to think and process an idea and then make it work for you over the long run.

So yes, it starts tomorrow, but you can still sign up. You can find all the details here. If you do sign up, I hope to see you tomorrow night when we’ll be talking albums! And it’s concrete album discussion. Things you can follow and use, less of the idealistic I! Love! Albums!, I promise.

And if True Scrap is not for you, I’m sorry to miss you – but we can still discuss how fabulous this hobby is. Any time. I’m going to stop gushing now and close this post, but some days I am just extra, extra happy to make things and glue things and write things. Today is one of those days.

Sending much happiness to you and your scrapbooks!

xlovesx

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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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