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

I spent yesterday at the wedding of a lovely scrapbooking friend, Leanne and her main man, Kevin. Just wanted to share this little jump for joy and send then many, many congratulations and much happiness for their newly married life!

Enjoy your getaway and see you when you’re back!

xlovesx

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When I posted the Starting Point challenge last weekend, I had no idea just how popular it would be! I mean seriously, as I write this there are more than 130 layouts entered! Which is fabulous.

And it also means we should have a starting point challenge every week, right? On Saturdays. Saturday Starting Points. It has a ring to it.

So here’s a new Starting Point challenge for you. Above is where I started with the design for this layout:

_{©twopeasinabucket.com. Click here for supplies and details.}

If you use this starting point to create a layout of your own, share it with us by linking at the end of this post. Next week I’ll post some of my favourites with the new Starting Point page.

Now… I don’t have a prize lined up for this regular Starting Point challenge just yet – but if you click here, this layout is the weekly challenge at Two Peas. It’s a take your pick challenge – you can enter by creating a page with either paint, hidden writing or trying this grey/turquoise/yellow/black colour scheme. And there you can win a prize. So consider the starting point a little kickstart toward that challenge perhaps!

And don’t forget, there ARE still plenty of challenges with prizes open for entries! Most of them close tomorrow night (Sunday) at midnight. You can find the full list here and pick whatever you fancy!

Have a beautiful and creative weekend!

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This weekend, one commenter will win a Tealight Lantern from Cat’s Ceramics.

Cat’s Ceramics is a beautiful shop full of hand crafted items in clay, ranging from jewellery to little ceramic snails, all finished with complementing glazes.

Cat started working with clay purely by chance when an American clay sculptor asked Cat to be her apprentice. “She trained me up and taught me the techniques, and I helped in the studio with her sculptures. It was one of the luckiest of adventures, not only for the experience, but there and then I found out what I was meant to do.” You can read more about Cat and her Ceramics on her blog.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post describing to us where you would put this beautiful lantern.

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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Two things that came out loud and clear from the comments at the weekend? A bunch of you love the sketches. (Yay!) But you wish there was a way to go straight to all of them. (Oh.) Well, actually there is! All the sketches are right here, and there’s a link at the bottom of each individual sketch post to take you there, but maybe that’s not very clear… so I’ll get a button added like the 4×6 Photo Love button and that will make things easier.

And if you have two landscape 4×6 photos, that will make participating in this week’s sketch challenge easier. Plus this week there is both a video and a prize! Oh, it’s just happy crazy scrap land here, I tell you.

The printable camera I used is from a kit called Picturebox and you get thirteen printable camera images for £1.50 (about $2.45 in US dollars). Then you can print them at any size, on any paper and use them on as many pages as you like. (Digi scrappers, you can also paste them into your pages, of course.)

As part of the week of giveaways, this week’s sketch is sponsored by Little Musings and one participant will win a collection of free goodies! Please like them on Facebook here to keep up to date and thank them for supporting this week of scrapbooking fun!

To enter the challenge, create your page based on the sketch and upload it to your blog or a scrapbook page gallery. Copy the URL for your entry and paste it into the linking box below! The deadline for this challenge is the end of next Tuesday – the 23rd of August 2011 – at midnight, UK time.

Since the last sketch is still open for a prize until this Sunday night, I’ll wait to share my favourites from that and next Wednesday I’ll share both lots together for double the fun!

xlovesx

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Oooh, I do love a little hot pink. It can brighten up the greyest of days, and once someone said something that really stuck with me: ‘I think the reason I always think you look younger is because you wear hot pink’. Ladies, someone only has to say that to you once to make you a believer, right? Hot pink it is. Also, I just really like the word ‘hoopla’ because it is fun to say and I will find any reason to throw it into a conversation. Sometimes that’s the only reason you need.

Today’s bit of hoopla in hot pink includes the chance to win a prize pack of Cosmo Cricket scrapbooking supplies! And I tried to meet a challenge from SJ, who suggested I try to scrap in a 7×7 square on the 12×12 page. Find out how well I stuck to that rule! Watch the video to see this page come together.

To enter the challenge, you need to create a project somehow inspired by this scrapbook page. It can be very similar or quite different, as you could use the entire layout as inspiration or you could pick just one thing – a hot pink background, using the Upcycle collection, starting with a 7×7 square, misting the background, scrapping that one photo that doesn’t go with anything else… or anything else that caught your attention!

Create your page and upload it to your blog or a scrapbook page gallery like Two Peas or UKScrappers. Then leave a link to that page (not your main blog address) in the box below. One entry will be chosen to win a prize pack of Cosmo Cricket scrapbooking supplies! (Please follow Cosmo on Facebook or Twitter to help say thanks!) Entries close this Sunday (21st August 2011) at midnight UK time.

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Although the scrapbooking challenges from this past weekend are still open until Sunday, there were a few prizes to be won just by leaving a comment and one extra-special prize for someone who really made the most of the weekend. A drumroll please – here are those winners!

Ali is the winner of the Proud to Scrapbook giveaway.

Inga is the winner of the Saturday wake-up call giveaway.

Wendy is the winner of the Sunday wake-up call giveaway.

Congratulations to each of you! I’ll send you an email with the details needed so I can send you your prizes.

And then there’s that other prize… a $100 shopping spree to Two Peas in a Bucket to spend on whatever scrapbooking supplies you might like. It was so difficult to choose. I’ve loved looking at all the layouts posted and reading your comments and seeing so many fabulous mentions of being proud to scrapbook on message boards, Twitter and Facebook. After much deliberation, I think this lady deserves a big round of applause. Sabine has posted pages for eleven challenges so far and joined in the discussion on pretty much every post and just been so enthusiastic and positive all weekend! I’m so happy to send you $100 to take shopping, Sabine! I hope you find something lovely!

The scrapbooking challenges don’t close until Sunday so you still have time to enter and there is a new challenge (with a video tutorial!) each day this week, so there is even more to keep you creating. There are prize packs to win from all those fabulous companies who have helped with this weekend: Jenni Bowlin Studio, American Crafts, BasicGrey, Pink Paislee, Studio Calico, Pebbles, Lily Bee Design, CosmoCricket, Simple Stories, Little Musings and Two Peas in a Bucket. I couldn’t make everything so shiny and fun without them. And I really couldn’t do this without all of you. Thank you so much for being proud to scrapbook and happy to create things by hand! You make this the most awesome job in the world, I do believe.

xlovesx

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As promised, a little something special to continue throughout this week, and I hope the video fans will enjoy! Each day this week, stop by to see a new video with a layout tutorial, then enter for a chance to win a prize pack of goodies from some of your favourite manufacturers. Today’s video features products by Jenni Bowlin Studio and I have a JBS prize pack to send to one lovely scrapbooker!

To enter the challenge, all you have to do is create something inspired by the video. It can be very similar to the page if you like, or you can take inspiration from any element you like – the colours, the photo placement, any technique – whatever takes your fancy. Then upload your project to your blog or a page gallery like Two Peas or UKScrappers and leave a link to the post (not your blog’s main page) in the box below.

Deadline is next Sunday (21st August 2011) at midnight UK time!

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And with that, Sunday is quickly drawing to a close on this side of the world, so I want to pause and draw up a handy list of links to all the challenges so far, but also tell you a bit about what to expect in the week ahead.

These challenges are open now until the end of next Sunday, the 21st of August:
Sketch of the Week
Printable Challenge
Stickery Challenge
Starting Point Challenge
Chop your Paper Challenge
Add to the Story Challenge
Grid it Up Challenge
Colour Story Challenge
From the Heart Challenge
Go Retro Challenge
3 is a Magic Number Challenge
Half Page Challenge
Signature Accent Challenge
PLUS these challenges added throughout the week:
Butterflies & Bingo Cards
Hot Pink Hoopla
Scrapbooking Sketch of the Week (This one is open until Tuesday.)

So there is certainly plenty to create and many chances to win! But wait – there’s more to come. There always needs to be a surprise, right?

This week on the blog, you’ll find four scrapbooking tutorial posts, with videos and a chance to win prizes from Jenni Bowlin Studio, Cosmo Cricket, Simple Stories and Little Musings. And the details (and a kit option) for the 2011 run of Learn Something New. So while I promise not to stand here issuing you challenges every few hours for the entire week, I do promise to keep the creative fun rolling with some very special things in store. I really hope you’ll stop by each day to see what’s new!

Thank you very much for all your fabulous creativity and I am so very happy to have met so many lovely ladies who are proud to scrapbook! While the crop was going on this weekend, I ended up in a conversation with one of those people who dismisses scrapbooking as less than cool, and it was pretty fabulous to know there are plenty of us who are happy to set her straight!

US readers, you have a few hours left to use the code SHIPSL for free shipping on a $35 order at Two Peas so go get some goodies in your bucket as a special treat!

Okay happy, scrappy friends — I’ll catch you tomorrow!

xlovesx

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