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

Today, the first of November, is the first day of the year that I allow myself to jump into the Christmas season. And that’s because it’s the day every year when I get out all my Christmas journals and finish my masterplan for this year’s book. A book that starts one month from today, on the first of December. Not just any book: a Christmas journal.

Journal your Christmas was a little something I started many Christmases ago. The first year it was just something I did on my own as I used my notebook and pen to get through the end of a rough year, determined to take back my Christmas and enjoy the holiday magic once more. And you know what? It worked. It worked so well that others asked what I had done to make the holidays so happy and I told them. They asked to be part of it. The next Christmas, a small group of us completed the very first Journal your Christmas online class. Every year since, Journal your Christmas has grown and I’ve loved meeting so many new friends and learning about Christmas traditions around the world as a result.

This year, consider yourself invited to join the fun.

Every year, Journal your Christmas includes daily prompts from the 1st of December to the 6th of January, the twelfth day of Christmas. The 37 illustrated PDF files are delivered straight to your inbox so you can read them over your first cup of coffee and mull over each topic for a full day. There’s also an archive of the class materials online in case you can’t get to your email or in case something dreadful happens to your computer. And like every year, you can go it alone or be as social as you like, with a private discussion forum where you’ll find other Christmas journallers who will cheer you on and share your excitement, but if you prefer to stick to the prompts only, that’s completely fine too. And like every year, if you’re participated once, you can join us every Christmas for as long as you like at no extra cost.

In addition to ideas for writing topics and styles and notes on photos not to miss, the 37 prompts include more than 300 scrapbook pages to inspire your crafting creativity.

Every year, I change it up a little to make sure there is something new for those of you who keep coming back. This year, those goodies include:
…By request, the return of the photography focus. 37 talented photographers share their tips and examples for taking your best photos throughout the holiday season.
…A brand new digital kit, including 50 papers, 5 full alphabets, 20 square and 20 rectangular page templates, 20 square and 20 rectangular quick pages and more than 100 embellishments. We’re talking crazy amounts of stuff to download from the forum. If you’re a paper scrapbooker, much of this kit is suitable for printing out and adding to your book.
…A selection of step-by-step crafting tutorials for Christmas projects and journal embellishments.
…An online chat party to get things started at the beginning of December.

For those who are joining us again, the class outline remains the same but the prompts are refreshed with new examples and additional content, including tips for how to revisit a prompt you have written about in a previous year.

Like all online scrapbooking classes at shimelle.com, Journal your Christmas includes
…permanent access to all class materials
…private forum for discussion and sharing your work
…prompts delivered straight to your inbox
…ongoing membership — pay just once and participate as many years as you would like at no additional cost.

Because membership is permanent, that means if you sign up this year, you also get access to everything from years past, which includes last year’s digital kits, printable accents and workbook, along with last year’s prompts. All of those things are ready and waiting for you on the forum when you sign up, so if you want to get started before the first of December, all you have to do is click to download and you’ll have everything at your fingertips!

Journal your Christmas is suitable for daily creativity if you like or it can be followed on your own schedule. Originally, the idea was to create as many journal entries as you liked in the first year, then come back the next Christmas and add a few more, and on and on for as long as you wished. Many have opted for daily entries as a way of keeping track during a busy season and maintaining just enough time for reflection and creativity even when there’s plenty to do. Everyone is equally welcome, whether you plan to make one page or thirty-seven. Or somewhere in between!

You don’t need any special supplies to participate in Journal your Christmas. You’ll be encouraged to use what you have and love – there is no set style you ‘must’ follow, and in fact you’ll see a wide variety of styles represented in each day’s prompts. There are guidelines included to help you gather what you will need so you can have your supplies together throughout the project, even if you need to pack up your crafting gear to make way for holiday guests or Christmas decorations. But you certainly don’t need to use a certain album, papers or anything else. New or old or a mix – whatever supplies you would like to use, they are perfect.

You can pay by credit/debit card or Paypal account. If you would like your prompts to come to a different email address than the one on your Paypal account, please be sure to leave a note in the message to seller section with the email address you would like to use. Orders can take up to 24 hours to process, though we are usually quicker. If you haven’t received your class registration after 24 hours, just email me and we’ll make sure your registration is completed and ready for you to get started!

If you participated last year, you don’t need to do anything to join us again. In about a week you will receive an email with some updated info and reminders for you.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share a few more sneaky looks at what you can expect this year, so keep your eyes open throughout November. You can also see some examples from past participants here. I really did pull out all my supplies and complete my masterplan today, and that means tomorrow I have a special post with notes on the supplies I am using for my album this year. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments and I’ll get right back to you with an answer! I can’t wait to get into the holiday spirit with new faces and alumni in this year’s class!

xlovesx

Comment [210]

If you find yourself needing something to dress up a last-minute Halloween party at home or school, you may want to grab this printable. Just bake some quick cakes, print the PDF pages and use double-sided tape to attach the cupcake flags to toothpicks and you’re all set! (The kit includes printable Halloween cards and posters to match too, with orange, pink and blue all included.)

That said, I should go get my pumpkin cupcakes out of the oven right about now! Happy almost-Halloween!

xlovesx

Comment [3]

Here’s another little glimpse at True Stories, the online class that starts on Monday. The supply list for this class is just paper and pen. You are welcome to type instead, but for various reasons, I encourage you to pick up a pen for your notes as we spend three weeks telling stories in dozens of different ways.

I love what technology has done to benefit out society, but I think we have to make sure that happens on our terms. For me, those terms include days where I’m allowed to step away from the internet and switch off my phone. Knowing when news needs to get somewhere quickly, by phone or email, or whether it can wait a bit longer for something with a tiny bit of handcrafting, like a letter. And having my own personal guidelines for things I do and do not share online with a world filled with people I do and do not know. I love that technology means I can do my grocery shopping on a website and it’s delivered to my kitchen (which is extra helpful in life without a car) but at the same time I go to our local farmers’ market every week on my own two feet. We all need a balance, right?

In the True Stories workshop, we will be picking up a pen and restoring some balance. Writing about things we want to remember and telling them in ways that make writing creative and fun and simple.

I would love for you to join us.

xlovesx

Comment [21]

Just a quick little heads up to let you know I have two pages up on the blog over in Jenni Bowlin land. I hope you’ll hop over to check out lots of red and black birthday scrapping.

Today I’m working on a little special something that is part of True Stories — I’ll share as soon as it’s done! And don’t miss all the giveaways from the special guests – leaving a comment on their blogs could make you the lucky winner!

xlovesx

Comment [2]

Less than a week now until the new online scrapbooking class, True Stories, starts and I love the week before a new project. So excited as the finishing touches all come together! Today I want to share one little part of that — some of the special guest stars making an appearance in the class. Each of these talented ladies have contributed to a True Stories lesson with their own take on the writing topics and of course their fabulous creative style to get you crafting too!

Let’s have a drum roll for these fifteen inspiring scrapping stars, in alphabetical order, since we’re on a bit of a literary and library kick!

Laura Buckingham makes me fall back in love with label stickers with pretty much every page, adores donkeys and llamas and believes in writing real letters.

SJ Dowsett writes beautiful heartfelt notes about her son that make me well up every time, throws the most amazing summer birthday tea parties and promises to put your postcards on her wall.

Danielle Flanders creates gorgeously detailed projects that make me want to rethink everything I ever believed about my crafting supplies, writes journaling with such great description that sometimes I’m sure I was really there and makes me smile when I see thread, like her blogheader.

Wilna Furstenberg creates pages that make you automatically click to view large so you can read her amazing words, has the teacher look down pat and made me never want to throw away another paper coffee cup without making it into a minibook.

Alissa Fast scrapbooks the every day in themed albums that make me wish I had thought of that, writes blog posts that make me want to wander around the Pacific Northwest for approximately a million days and has so much energy I wonder what her secret truly is.

Jennifer Gallacher has never, ever made a layout I didn’t love, tells beautiful stories about her family and photographs her pages with such cute backdrops that I’m convinced she has a second house just filled with props.

Jen Geigley has a daughter with a name I absolutely adore, dares you to scrap with pure emotion (like she does) and believes in the power of Converse All-Stars.

Kelly Goree has mad skills with patterned paper, is one of the most soothing personalities I have ever met in scrapbooking, and just blogged the sweetest thing about wanting to get back to telling the important stories for her family. It made my heart ache with happiness.

Jen Jockisch makes fabulous pages that balance superfun design with supermeaningful storytelling, has tiny little one and a not as tiny little one in her family and has a turquoise-coloured wall in her house that I love so much there I would agree to live there without ever seeing the rest of her home.

Nichol Magouirk is an absolutely genius with die-cutters and gadgets you can use to scrapbook, has a supersweet smile and giggle in real life and always gets bonus points for being a Kansas girl, like me!

Kelly Purkey will create a page that makes my jaw drop and then say shyly that she wishes it was a lot better, blogs about food so amazing it makes me want to get on a plane just to go to lunch and has a love of always going somewhere, even though she loves her NYC base.

Doris Sander makes layouts with paint and stitches that make me want to just play with craft supplies, keeps a blog that tells the sweet stories of her family’s adventures and is unabashedly addicted to Coca-Cola Classic.

Liz Tamanaha creates the most delicate and lush digital scrapbook pages ever, tells lots of stories that are worth a thousand words because her photos carry such meaning and sent me the cutest note about loving scrapbooking that made me so very excited for this class.

Dina Wakley travels all over the world to teach people how to create art and get their feelings on paper, can seriously work paint like nobody’s business and actually took some of my very first classes I ever taught online, which makes me a bit giddy.

Kerry Lynn Yeary writes sensory blog posts that always inspire me with something new, has a vintage-meets-modern crafting style that I love and sent Halloween party invitations with (non-actual) eyeballs in actual jars. Gotta love it.

Now… it pays to be nice to these ladies – or at least to comment on their blogs! They all have a class pass for True Stories to give away! They are all in different time zones so the give aways may be posted at various times, so just keep an eye out to make sure you don’t miss out! (And by the way, there is no risk in signing up if you’re entering — if you win, I will happily send you a refund of your class fee or you can invite a friend if you prefer!)

So very excited — class starts Monday and I hope you’ll join all of us there!

xlovesx

Comment [10]

For a long time, scrapbooking (and even the odd scrapbooking class) was something I did in my spare time, not my every day. The spare time when I was not in my more traditional classroom, teaching English to teenagers. The spare time I needed to kick back after being my most energetic and my most creative in finding ways to get those very teenagers to embrace things like reading and writing as useful and enjoyable rather than just required.

Now that scrapbooking is my every day, there is part of me that misses that very core of my curriculum and the excitement at seeing someone realise that perhaps writing has an unwarranted bad rap. Discovering that really, putting pen to paper can be an exercise in being in complete control of your world and saying things exactly how you want to say them and better yet – saying them in a way that anyone else could pick them up and understand you completely.

I’ve said it many times: to me, scrapbooking is pretty paper and true stories. I’ve taught plenty of classes about the pretty paper. This time, we’re going to focus on True Stories.

True Stories is an online class that starts on the 25th of October, but it can be completed at any time. It lasts three weeks, with fifteen full-colour PDF prompts delivered straight to your inbox, Mondays through Fridays. From the beginning, there is absolutely no way to ‘fall behind’ or ‘not finish’ because it’s not that kind of class. You can follow along by working on a prompt each day if you would like, but you can also keep the prompts as a reference for when they come in useful for your own scrapbooking, blogging or other story-telling needs.

True Stories covers fifteen different ways to approach your story and commit it to paper. You can use these prompts as a scrapbooker and see your journaling evolve to something that will be a treasure to read. You can use the prompts as a blogger to make your entries feel like honest, unique and compelling tales. Or you can just use them in general as a collection of ways to add a bit more excitement to your writing if you’re feeling like you’re in a rut of writing the same way on every project.

True Stories is a natural complement to all the classes I offer here at shimelle.com. If you loved Something from Almost Nothing, you’ll love that the prompts include scrapbook pages you can create with the supplies you already have on hand. If you loved Blogging for Scrapbookers, these topics will push your writing another step, and we all know that a successful blog can be just as much about the way something is said rather than just what is mentioned. If you love Journal your Christmas but would like to expand your written memories of the season, this will do just that. And if you have been working on scrapping your own story with a class like You Think You Know Me or My Freedom, then there is a lot of content here that would be a happy match to writing from your own memory (though it’s not a requirement of True Stories to just write about yourself). This natural complement is why it doesn’t matter when you take this class or if you use it in the order the prompts are delivered or instead choose to keep it all as one reference and dip into the materials whenever they are most useful for you.

True Stories includes my own notes, scrapbook pages and writing exercises in each prompt, but there are also many special guests. On the crafty side of things, a different scrapbooking star (or two!) will join us in each prompt to share their spin on storytelling — they will share a new layout with you as well as their thoughts on writing. On the writing side, I’ll be joined by Relly Annett-Baker (twitter | bio), who travels around the world teaching corporations and designers how to get the most from words. And she’s a scrapbooker! So she’s the perfect balance — she’s a technical expert with a love of this same hobby we all share. She’ll be sharing her own tips and exercises to bring it all together – and Relly has a wicked sense of humour too! I can’t wait to show you what all these great contributors have helped me build for you, and I just love the variety of backgrounds that we’ve all come from while coming together to share one love: scrapbooks that tell beautiful stories.

True Stories also includes a private forum for class participants to discuss and share their work, including a section for getting feedback on your writing if you would like to share your journaling with others, or the option to submit your writing for feedback privately if you would rather just have some tips from the course leaders rather than share with everyone in the class. Like all shimelle.com classes, True Stories includes permanent access to all the class materials so you can return to the prompts and discussions at absolutely any time.

Ready to sign up? You can sign up at any time and you can choose to pay in UK Pounds or US Dollars. If neither of those is your currency, you can choose whichever you prefer – you don’t need to do anything special to change the currency from your account.

You can pay by credit/debit card (click on the left of the payment screen) or Paypal account (log in on the right of the payment screen). The email address on your Paypal account is where your class materials will be sent by default, so please be sure this is a valid email address. If you would like your prompts sent to a different email address, you can enter this email in the ‘notes to seller’ field or you can send me an email (shimelle at gmail dot com) and let me know if you miss that step.

Class starts on the 25th of October but you can sign up at any time (even if you are reading this later than the 25th). Please be aware that your class registration is processed by an actual person (me!) and that means there will be a short wait before you receive your information. It’s never more than a day and usually much, much less, but I do try to make a habit of sleeping once per day, in general.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me or ask in the comments on this post.

I’m so excited to write with all of you — especially since you’ll never have homework deadlines which means I’ll never give any detentions!

xlovesx

Comment [718]

_{©twopeasinabucket.com}

All through October, Two Peas is hosting a SpookCRAFTular Halloween event, filled with projects, special guests and prizes. Today it’s my turn to share a project and start a challenge that is open to anyone who would like to participate.

This Halloween shadowbox is made with the Maya Road Trinket Box and a digital kit by Rhonna Farrer that is available for download at Two Peas. I also used buttons and pins by Jenni Bowlin and pleated ribbon by Pink Paislee. You can find all the details about this project here, including a full supply list and a PDF instruction sheet to download. Or if you prefer to watch rather than read instructions, you can watch a full video of the project from start to finish.

Your challenge is to create any Halloween-themed project that includes at least one Two Peas digital kit. There are plenty of Halloween kits available so you can find something right up your street. Print something out and make a scrapbook page, card, decor project, cupcake topper, tag or anything else — as long as it’s Halloween-themed and you’ve included something printed from a Two Peas digi kit, then you’re in. Upload your project to the gallery at Two Peas and remember to check the box for this challenge in step 4 of the upload process so you’ll be entered for a chance to win a prize!

In other news…
…The brand new online class will make its first appearance on the blog later tonight and you’ll be able to sign up any time from then! ETA:The class details are now here and registration is open!

…The last of the prizes from the last online crop (and some Banana Frog giveaways) will all be sent this week – the last of the boxes will hit the post on Friday and several others have already been posted this week. So if you have been waiting, I promise it will be with you very soon.

…If you fancy a bit of a scrappy bargain, there are some great Halloween deals here, tons of BasicGrey is marked down and today only, the Greenhouse collection is 50% off — it’s one of my favourites, filled with hot pinks and mod flower illustrations.

…I’m interested to know what you think about videos shot like this rather than from overhead. Does it just depend on the project, or would you in general like to see everything from one vantage point? And would you want to see longer videos like this regularly or better to stick to things that are short and sweet? Just curious as to what you would find most useful!

Have a lovely Wednesday!

xlovesx

Comment [9]

_{Includes Paper Girl collection from The Girls’ Paperie, Craft Fair collection from American Crafts, canvas flowers from Jillibean Soup, Dear Lizzy flair from American Crafts and vellum butterfly from Jenni Bowlin Studio.}

So where were we? You’ve printed or ordered your photos by now, right? Which means we’re ready to move on in our quest to get caught up with Document:2010. I certainly am, anyway!

The next step you can actually do without your photos to hand, so if you’re still waiting for them, you can go ahead and join in. This step focuses on the evidence pages – one page per month that includes an envelope or pocket to hold all the bits and pieces from life that month.

_{Includes Cherry Delicious collection by Sassafras, Wander collection by BasicGrey, scallop circle punch by EK Success, butterfly punch by Martha Stewart Crafts.}

I followed a similar plan for each of the five evidence pages I needed to create, but I think they look sufficiently different so it won’t necessarily be obvious that I made them all in one scrapping session. For each page I selected two patterned papers to be my primary focus, then built around that to create the page.

The trick at this stage isn’t to create finished layouts, but a near-finished state that can be easily completed with a photo or two, the evidence in your envelope and then maybe a bit of further embellishment if you fancy – or leave it just as it is.

_{Includes Seaside Retreat collection from Webster’s Pages, Amy Butler collection from K&Company, calendar die-cut from Jenni Bowlin Studio.}

Every evidence page needs an envelope or pocket that will hold ticket stubs, receipts, printed emails and anything else that might wind up at the bottom of your handbag. I kept it simple with an envelope from my stationery drawer on each page. August’s is the smallest, but I’m okay with folding papers to fit if they are too big (and I checked and I don’t have tons of things to keep from August).

_{Includes papers from Scenic Route and Anna Griffin, Thickers from American Crafts, Handmade collection by K&Company and an Artbox envelope.}

For May, June and July, I cut the titles with the Silhouette die-cutter. For August and September, I used letter stickers. Perhaps I should have mixed that up a bit, but I’m okay with it like this.

At the end of this process, I’ll come back to each of these monthly pages to finish them off and make each set of monthly pages have a feeling that they fit together, so I didn’t even tidy the offcuts away yet — I’ll want the papers I used for May’s evidence page handy as I put together the highlights of everything that month.

_{Includes papers from American Crafts and Love, Elsie by KI Memories, calendar die-cut from Jenni Bowlin Studio and die-cut cardstock by Bazzill Basics.}

I do have to admit I was quite tempted to go ahead and make pages for October, November and December as I was working on these, because it’s easy to just keep going once you have a system sorted. I didn’t in the end, but if you feel like that might help you keep up for the rest of the year, I would go for it!

If you’re catching up with me, feel free to use these pages as a basic sketch for your evidence pages – or to ignore them completely and create your own designs, of course.

---

_{Includes border stamps and birdcage stamps by Banana Frog, Letterbox collection from American Crafts, Nutmeg collection from Cosmo Crickets, digital photo frame by Rhonna Farrer.}

And just as a little extra, here’s a page I made for Banana Frog last week with some bits and pieces left on my desk + two lovely sets of Banana Frog stamps!

xlovesx

Comment [10]