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

This Friday, please welcome the delightful May Flaum with a new five ideas post! I hope she encourages your creativity with a little something just right for something Valentiney!

When February rolls around each year, my thoughts turn to three things: love, chocolate, and hearts. Beyond Valentine’s Day, I believe the heart is a wonderful symbol to include in papercrafting as much as I possibly can. It symbolizes love of all forms, and since I generally craft from a happy place in my heart it suits me wonderfully.

From stamps to punches, hand cut to pre-designed, paper to embellishments love using all colors, shapes, and sizes of hearts! Today I am very excited to share five different projects that all share a common theme: hearts!

Valentine treat bag
First up, I can’t talk about hearts in February and not mention Valentine’s Day! For me, I celebrate all forms of love and enjoy sending treats to friends and family with notes of love and happiness inside. Here is a treat bag I created for this year! It was very simple to make with a small bag decorated with two die cut hearts at the center of my embellishing on the front.

I used a Tim Holtz die cut, Rock Candy & Spun Sugar stickles, and Worn Lipstick distress ink (both by Ranger), Girls’ Paperie papers and stickers from the Paper Girl collection, KaiserCraft lace trim, foam squares, Ranger UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) in clear, plus a doily and bag from the party supplies section of a general crafting store.

For the tie I folded the bag over (onto the back) and opened it up so that I could punch a hole in the back but not the front of the bag. I wanted the front to be solid, without the lace tie running through. I just love how this turned out – and I hope my dear friend enjoys her treats!

Frame a loved one
I love that Tim Holtz heart die cut so much – it cuts three pieces/hearts that I can either layer together or use individually as I have here on this photo frame. This project was so simple – just a few pieces layered together and put onto a glittery frame just waiting for the right photo.

Supplies include Pink Paislee tickets, Lily Bee chipboard button, Girls’ Paperie patterned paper, Tim Holtz die cut, Smooch Ink and a frame.

Lovey-dovey art tag
Making tags is something I love for warming up my creative muscles! I love to use stamps, glimmer mists, and glossy accents (to create a pattern that the inks and mists won’t ‘stick’ to) paired with a few details to get me going. This tag was created with Stampers Anonymous diamond and angel stamps, CatsLife Press heart stamp; Tim Holtz distress inks in worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, and tumbled glass, Tattered Angels glimmer mists in Dazzling Diamonds and Sugar Maple, Ranger Glossy Accents plus a bit of lace, a blank shipping tag and a heart charm

Scrapbook someone you love
That CatsLife Press heart stamp is a favorite of mine – it tends to show up on projects all year-round. Like this recent layout about my daughter and some of her fashion loves. So many hearts here! I had a blast. I love both hand-cutting and using punches to create masks and stencils for spraying glimmer mists. There’s just something about sparkle + hearts that makes me so happy!

Here’s a look at my layout after it had been misted (but before assembled).

To create this page, I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists in Pink Taffy and carribean blue, CatsLife Press stamp, Smooch Inks, Distress Stickles in Scattered Straw, Girls’ Paperie chipboard letters, Pink Paislee border sticker, Webster’s Pages sparklers, Fiskars scallop heart punch (L) plus thread, buttons and a pen.

Painted canvas
Finally, I put that CatsLife Press stamp to work one more time in the center of a 8” x 8” canvas. Oh how much fun I had with this one! It was easy too – I made a double die cut (Tim Holtz reindeer die) that I adhered with PPA at the bottom of a golden crackle paint heart. Then I layered on the glimmer mist, glossy accents, and stickles as well as some glimmer glam until I was happy with the results.

Supplies include Tim Holtz Tarnished Brass Distress Crackle paint, distress stickles in Worn Lipstick and Walnut Stain, and deer die cut, Tattered Angels glimmer glam in Lipstick Pink and Chandelier, glimmer mist in dazzling diamond, vintage pink, and blue skies; Ranger glossy accents, CatsLife Press stamp, PPA by USArtQuest, plus my canvas and some yardstick.

A project like this is easier than you might think – just keep adding a bit of color, a touch of mist, and let dry. Use glossy accents to add dimension and shine (or to create a resist!) and don’t be afraid to use a rag to rub mists and such around. I applied my stickles around the edge of the heart while things were very wet and I love the result!

The photos hardly do all the glimmery, love filled, goodness justice!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my five projects featuring hearts, and that you’re inspired to get out there and spread some crafty love yourself. Whether you scrapbook about a personal love, make a card for a loved one, or just enjoy the goodness of hearts I wish you happy crafting.

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May Flaum is a lifelong crafter who has a deep love of many things including cupcakes, vintage inspired goodies, romance novels, sparkly things, and crafting. She is a long-time instructor, author, and designer within the scrapbook industry and currently is teaching a Creative Retreat class for Big Picture Classes. When not getting her hands all covered in shimmery goodness she can be found in Northern California raising her two daughters and living a love filled life with her husband. For more about May visit her blog at mayflaum.com.

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Sorry for the delay while we got acclimated to Australia! I’m back online now, in the brilliant sunshine of Sydney! G’day, or something.

So here’s another sketch for you, and a little shift from the 4×6 photos to include three 2×3 pictures. Though you could easily substitute one or two standard size prints if you prefer! And of course, more patterned paper love: I used four different patterns for this page, plus the dotted cardstock for the background.

This title mixes a preprinted accent sheet for the first few words with Thickers glitter letter stickers to finish the phrase. Just a little heads up in case thinking that way helps you breathe a little life into some title strips in your own collection.

You can use die-cut papers to trace the label shape onto any paper you like, or you can use a rectangle (with squared or rounded corners) instead, so there’s a bit of variety even without moving things around the page.

And here are eighteen different interpretations of last week’s sketch. So much fun to see all the different patterns and photos you chose! See more about each page on their respective posts:
Top row, L to R: one, two, three, four, five, six.
Middle row, L to R: seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.
Bottom row, L to R: thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen.

As always, these sketch challenges are for you to use any time – don’t stress about deadlines or changing them to work for you! There is no stress in scrapbooking! Just have fun. If you do happen to create a page from this sketch, I’d love to see it (and maybe feature it in a future post!) so please leave a link in the comments!

xlovesx

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Congratulations to LisaE, who wins a selection of goodies from the Je T’Adore collection by Making Memories! Lisa, email me (shimelle at gmail dot com) with your mailing address pretty please.

Thanks for all your entries! I am a total softie for going ‘awww’ at all the lovely things you listed that have your heart!

New giveaway next weekend so there’s another chance to win – don’t forget!

xlovesx

PS: this week’s sketch will be posted a little late as we’re heading to a new destination today and we need to find an Australian power adaptor! But it will be up as soon as possible. Thanks!

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Do you love 4×6 prints? They are still my favourite for scrapping, and this year I’ll presenting a year-long free class all about just that! Each month we’ll add one more photo, so in January it’s all about one 4×6 photo, in February it will be two and right up to a dozen pictures in December! Each month includes a video, PDF and chat thread at Two Peas in a Bucket, plus two chances to win! One chance at Two Peas and another here at shimelle.com!

This class is free and open to paper and digital scrappers with any style. You can use your own supplies and adapt things to make everything work for you, as always!

Click here for this month’s pages and PDF and here for the message board chat.

If you would like a monthly reminder about this class, you can find those details here. I will be sending this month’s reminder message by tomorrow. The class goes live on the 30th of each month, except for February which will be the 28th.

Now… how you can win. Make your page inspired by this month’s class and upload it to the gallery at Two Peas and check the box for this class in step four of the uploading process. That gets you entered to win a Two Peas prize! Leave a link to it in the comments on this post on my blog and that gets you entered to win a second prize – a $25 gift card to shop for scrapping supplies! Both of these have a deadline of the 27th of February 2011 for this month.

I hope you enjoy and can join me for a year of scrapping those 4×6 prints!

xlovesx

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This weekend, one commenter will win a selection of scrapbooking goodies from the Making Memories Je T’Adore collection.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post saying something or someone you love! What could be easier?

Entries close at midnight Sunday UK time and the winner will be posted Monday.

Good luck!

xlovesx

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This Friday, please join me in welcoming a new face with five ideas – this time for diecut label papers. It’s Connie Mercer, and I think you’ll love her pages!

Hi everyone. I’m so happy to be a guest blogger for Shimelle and hope to make many new friends through this venture. The girl is so busy she deserves a break. I was inspired to create five layouts, five different ways, all with die cut paper! This would be no problem for me. I love die cut paper and since all I had was Jenni Bowlin Studio papers (the Play Date collection), I thought Shimelle will love this.

She did. Ready or not girls, here we go….

Cut photos to fit the diecut paper’s shape
The first layout, “The Boyz Sharing”, uses the diecut paper whole. By cutting my photos the shape of the die cut paper I kept the paper shape intact. The first thing you will see in the layout, by doing it this way, is the shape. I love that! Most all of the embellishments are from Jenni Bowlin Studios. The lettering is from American Crafts and Making Memories. Finish it off with some buttons and a car shaped piece of chipboard.

Use the entire diecut paper as a background layer
The second layout, “Picture Perfect”, is again using the diecut paper whole. I printed out three images of the same photo and put them across the diecut paper, letting them trail off the edge. I placed the layout on the paper cutter and removed the overhang . I love this look! It reminds me of the old film strip photo booth type pictures. To add a little yellow color to the layout, I put some pattern paper behind the diecut. Once again, with the exception of a few buttons, trim and vintage photocorners, all product is from Jenni Bowlin Studios.

Slice and invert the diecut paper
The third layout, “Stinker Boy”, uses all of the diecut paper, but it is cut and reversed. Cutting about a quarter of the diecut paper off and adding it to the bottom of the layout created a new shape. This then gave me a great space for my photos. I chose four 2 1/2” x 6” photos and matted them on Bazzill cardstock. Lettering is by Making Memories and American Crafts. Finishing off the layout were Kaiser pearls, baker’s twine and buttons. I don’t think I can do a layout without adding buttons, an all time favorite of mine – right up there with JBS.

Use just half the diecut sheet
The fourth layout, “XOXO’s from Mama-Nell”, uses the diecut paper cut in half, leaving two pieces. I used one piece for this layout, saving the other side for layout five. I added some pattern paper and pop-dotted my focal photo. The 2” x 3” photos were placed in a strip and together they more than cover the full 12” background from side to side. Then I just used my paper cutter to trim off the overhang. The embellishments are by JBS with the exception of a few buttons and trim. The trim is from Creative Imaginations, and the yellow lettering is by American Crafts.

Turn the other half on its side
The fifth layout, “Grow, Play & have Fun”, uses the other half of the diecut paper from layout four. Now how cool is that ~ two layouts using one diecut paper. I love getting that value from a special sheet of paper! On this scrapbook page, I machine sewed the pattern paper on the kraft cardstock, leaving the threads to dangle. I double matted the photos and used the “vintage” black corners. Anyone remember those? The embellishments are mostly JB Studios except for the play ticket by Tim Holtz. The lettering is by American Crafts and Making Memories.

If by now you still want even more, I have two more examples on my blog and I’d love for you to stop by and say hi. I had a great time!! Thank you, Shimelle!

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Connie Mercer is a wife, mom and a “nini” to five beautiful “grands”. She has been paper crafting for over ten years. She lives in Texas, on a ranch, with her husband, cows, deer, and armadillos ~ just to name a few. Living on a ranch enables her to capture unique photos and share them through her art. If you would like to see more of her art, please check out her blog, Crafty Goodies.

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_{layout ©twopeasinabucket.com. Click here for supply list.}

Ready for a new sketch? And are you getting the message that I just might like patterned paper more than is probably healthy? This week’s layout has two 4×6 photos and five different patterned papers, though you could substitute solid colours for any of those blocks if you prefer.

The trick with this type of page design is to start by building a background (including your photos) that is quite blocky – everything fits together, everything has straight edges and ninety degree angles. Then layer the fun stuff on top! A lot or a little… and you can extend the journaling box all across the page if you have more to write. Can’t wait to see what you make!

And I love the layouts from last week’s sketch. Here’s a sample of different interpretations!
Top row: one, two, three, four, five, six.
Middle row: seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven-, twelve.
Bottom row: thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen.

I hope you like this sketch too – happy scrapping!

xlovesx

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Congratulations to Amy Lynne, who wins a selection of goodies from the Tim Holtz collection of crafting and scrapbooking supplies! Amy, email me (shimelle at gmail dot com) with your mailing address pretty please.

Thanks for all your entries! I just have two pairs of shoes with me for our trip (one pair of black sandals and a pair of red chucks) so I loved the vicarious shoe love from your comments. A million different kinds and no credit card bill or sore toes = a total win.

New giveaway next weekend so there’s another chance to win – don’t forget!

xlovesx

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