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

This weekend’s winner is Helen who wins PRIZE from Miss Fluff Leather Jewellery.
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

Comment [5]

I’ve been drafting a little list in my notebook. Journaling myths or something like that. Literally, that’s what I wrote at the top of the page because it seemed like there should be a catchier way to say ‘journaling myths’ but so far it hasn’t come to me. Journaling myths it is, unless one of you has the better name. But obviously the things on the list are more important than the title anyway – all things that are hang-ups and road blocks to writing about life’s adventure. One of those myths is It’s only real writing if I can write a lot.

Of course that’s not true at all – it’s just something we tell ourselves from time to time.

Sure, sometimes writing at length is great. It can tell a story in detail. It can develop an intricate plot. It can help get a whole bunch of stuff out of your thoughts on onto paper so you can evaluate and move forward. But it’s not length that makes writing real or meaningful, and it’s certainly possible to overdo it. We’ve all read or listened to a retelling that just went on so long that it was hard to find the point in all those words.

And therein lies the key: writing is about sifting. Taking all the possible tangents and all the possible perspectives and all the possible details then shaking them up and sifting through to collect the shiniest or the smoothest or the most colourful of the bunch. Depending on the circumstance. Sift, sift, sift and the end result might be pretty short.

Sometimes when I write straight into a journal I don’t sift at all and just try to remember everything and write it down… but it takes ages and can sometimes be quite frustrating, especially since I like to keep things in order but my memories might not stay that way. So on this trip I am sifting, and what was actually a really packed day came down to a little bullet pointed list. For now.

I’ll stop there before I end up on an entirely different myth on the list!

Are there writing roadblocks that keep you from getting words on paper (or screen)? Just curious if your list matches up with mine! I’ll sift through some of my thoughts on the rest of the list another day!

Have a beautiful week.

xlovesx

Comment [36]

This weekend, one commenter will win this truly unique and beautiful hand cut statement necklace designed by the very talented Sare Green who runs Miss Fluff. I asked Sare to tell us a bit about her shop and this is what she had to say:
“Hi there! My name is Sare. Miss Fluff is simply me, designing and handmaking intricate and unique leather jewellery. I studied at the London College of Fashion after I had my beautiful daughter and did a Foundation Degree in Accessories specialising in leather. I love working with leather. It’s so tactile and I find it only improves with age. Everything I produce is designed and handmade from start to finish by me!”

To see more of Sare’s amazing work, log onto her Etsy store. I just LOVE this gorgeous white feather necklace. It is so beautiful don’t you think?

To enter, just leave a comment on this post sharing with us where you would wear this special necklace.

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

Comment [45]

Late Thursday is the new Wednesday? Something like that. My apologies for the delay and I hope you’re still up for a sketch this week! It’s a page from almost nothing – a single photo (landscape 4×6), a few strips or scraps of patterned paper and a handful of mismatched die-cuts. Easy on the stash and pretty quick to put together too!

Here’s the sketch brought back to basics, and you can keep it simple with just a few circles or you can layer as many embellishments as you’d like in that same space. This week’s video is pretty quick (just under eight minutes) so you can see how I got from A to B.

By the way, those three mists that I used really quickly at the beginning of the video are Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in sand, Tattered Angels Chalkboard Mist in chalk (slightly opaque white with shimmer) and Studio Calico Mister Huey in Calico White (opaque white with no shimmer). I don’t always use both whites together but wanted to show them both so you can see the difference in the opaque quality. I love both but they are definitely not the same – one soft and shimmery, the other bold and matte.

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 in the comments.

I am pretty much giddy about the response to the big photo sketch last week. I thought for sure that many of you would take a week off because the big photo would be a pain to print perhaps… and instead more of you joined in than ever, I think! See the links at the end of this post for three dozen pages to inspire you to scrap your giant-sized prints! Totally love it. So I picked just a small group of favourites because it was pretty much impossible and I wanted to include them all. Click the corresponding link to see the page in more detail and say hello to the scrapper behind the page.
Top row, L to R: one, two, three, four.
Bottom row, L to R: five, six, seven and eight.

xlovesx

Comment [24]

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

I just wanted to share this page with you. It’s one of my most favourite photos of our entire journey and it was captured entirely by accident. I promise I didn’t follow monks around all day trying to catch them at the most photogenic moments of their day. No, I was taking pictures of a boy who happens to climb steep and wobbly staircases far, far quicker than I do and he just happened to be oblivious to the next few pedestrians on those stairs. When I had told him to go ahead he thought I was ridiculous, but this picture made me very thankful to have stayed at ground level just a few minutes longer.

You can see the full layout here, in the garden.

A few other things:
…The Garden Girls are hosting a special event called Snap and Scrap your Summer – it’s totally free and fun. There’s an interview with me here, and I got to talk about favourite summertime photo opportunities, things I’ve made and projects by other crafters that are currently inspiring me. I also got to post a challenge, and it’s all about capturing the details of summer in day to day. It’s open until next Monday and there’s a Two Peas prize for one lucky participant.
…Or there’s the new challenge for the UKS Scrap Factor contest – and it’s to find an old layout and return to those photos or that event and scrap it again in your current style. The Play Along side of the contest is open to anyone and there are prizes given each week for one page each in paper, hybrid and digital. That challenge is open until the third of July.
…Today is the last day to post a link to your page for the current sketch and perhaps be featured in tomorrow’s post. Which doesn’t include a giant photo, interestingly enough!

So you know… don’t let anyone say there aren’t enough scrapbooking challenges to keep you busy! (Kidding. Scrap as you love to scrap. Always.)

xlovesx

Comment [23]

This weekend’s winner is Imperfectionist who wins a name print from Clarkie Designs.
Lady Veronica, 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

Comment [2]

I’m heading out tomorrow for a little adventure. Small scale this time – just two stops and two weeks. Since I am checking a bag, I can take scissors. Scissors and a little travel journal to scrapbook a bit about each day for the next fortnight. (And thus, my desk is currently a total wreck.)

The only things that are actually created are the cover and the title page – both very simple. The book is 6×6 with wooden covers and two binder rings. Everything on the cover is held in place with diamond glaze, so that should keep it from falling apart. In theory. Most of the inside pages have page protectors (I’m using the 6×6 page protectors by American Crafts).

All the remaining pages have things just waiting. It’s a little bit like a mini kit each day instead of all those same supplies mixed up in one big batch. But nothing is stuck down yet so if the colours seem wrong for that day, it should be easy to switch for something better.

I’m planning to fill the pages with memorabilia and writing, plus Instax photos and maybe some other images here and there. Here and there I’ve added black chipboard pages from 7gypsies, to make into little feature collages as I go. I try to add something like that to each of my travel journals if possible. (You can see some of those in this book.)

Since this little book is just for fun, I decided to allocate some older supplies that needed a purpose, including some kits. The wooden album covers and a few other bits came from a class kit that has been on my shelf more than three years. A bunch of the papers, die cuts and rub-ons came from a Creating Keepsakes travel journal kit that I ordered with great intentions but never used. When I opened it, I even found memorabilia I had stashed there from a trip in 2009, so I think I lugged the entire kit around for the whole trip and never actually used it. I wanted to include plenty of journaling papers so I went through a big stack of all those spiral-bound journaling pads and tore out about two dozen different designs and added some embellishments that matched too. Then I added just a couple newer things to jazz it up a bit: a Jenni Bowlin Hodge Podge minibook kit (separated and used throughout the scrapbook instead of as the book itself) and a few different letter stickers. But behold: no butterflies. We shall see if I give in and borrow my grandmother’s Martha punch to stave off butterfly withdrawal.

The CK album fit inside this tin, but it would take up the entire space. With the 6×6 book inside the tin, I have room for the essentials, including scissors, adhesive, pens and ink pad. This is my entire box o’ craft for my suitcase! Though not to worry, as I’ve been working on lots of projects of the 12×12 variety to share with you here, so I’m not disappearing from blogland in the slightest.

Have a lovely week!

xlovesx

Comment [25]

This weekend, one commenter will win a name print (with the name of your choice) from Clarkie Designs.

Clarkie Designs is the art studio of Emma Rogerson, who loves creating unique and affordable wall art for children and babies. She started Clarkie Designs when she couldn’t find any wall art she loved for her own children’s bedrooms. So she designed and made her own, first for her son and two years later for her daughter. It was only as they started to grow up and notice their surroundings that Emma realised how stimulating and exciting wall art can be for children. Emma reports, “My little boy loved to point out his pictures and as he grew bigger he tried to say the words. He still likes to comment on my designs!”

All Emma’s pictures are either hand cut collages or fun, original prints. Included in the range are personalised names and initials as well as mini framed prints ideal to hang on bedroom doors. They all make great presents, both for children’s birthdays, christenings and new arrivals. Click here to visit Clarkie Designs and have a look for yourself.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. If you could have any name, what would you call yourself?

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

Comment [53]