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

With all of my online classes, I encourage you to use what you have and love — I never say there is one album you need or a collection of papers that are required. It’s all about embracing your own personal style and making things that are unique to you (even if it helps you to make pages similar to those you see in the class materials). This is definitely the case for Journal your Christmas and the participants have used pretty much every size and shape of album you can find or make. There are some things that work and some things that definitely don’t, so first some suggestions for specific albums if you want to look for something new, and then some notes on what to choose or make from what you have on hand.

Starting with some different choices for albums, clockwise from the top left in the image above…
Canvas albums from Prima, available in 6×12, 4×6 and 8×8.5: I like these both for the variety of sizes and because the canvas pages offer something a bit unique. The 4×6 album has a lot of potential for a hybrid project, like making each day’s entry a photo with some journaling over the top perhaps? But also, there is a real shortage of 6×12 albums right now (sad that American Crafts have discontinued this size!) and it has been quite popular with the Christmas Journal crowd over the last two years. So that’s an option. Ali Edwards made her 2009 December Daily with the 8×8.5 canvas album, which gives you an idea of the cool things you can do with this base.

Cottage Christmas 8×8 album by Imaginisce: This is a good choice if you like a cover with a happy pattern. You don’t need to do anything to the cover at all and can just get started with your pages. You will want to add some additional page protectors, most likely. I am pretty sure most brands will fit this album – usually page protectors tend to be pretty universal these days.

Vintage Book Covers by 7gypsies: This would be perfect for keeping things in a small format and they are so much less expensive than a more traditional album – the red cover set is just $1.50. But this isn’t an album when you purchase it – it is literally the front and back cover. You’ll need to make your pages, punch holes and add rings or ribbon to bind it together. I used these for my Why I Scrapbook project earlier this year and I love the way they look even after they have been worn a bit by reading. If you add rings, get large rings — more on that in a bit.

8×8 Modern Album by American Crafts:. I’ve used the Modern Album for three of my Christmas journals over the years, including an 8×8 in blush pink last year. I love American Crafts albums and it’s what I use for all my 12×12 pages. Last year I had a two page spread for each day (one side was a full page photo – not two whole pages of scrapping, I promise!) so I filled the album with forty page protectors and even with bulky pages and being packed in a suitcase multiple times over the past year, it is still completely intact. This is a great choice and you can choose from several colours. If you want to cover the chipboard section with paper, I highly suggest spray adhesive. I covered mine with wallpaper last year and the spray adhesive worked like a charm. (It’s great for anything with chipboard and also perfect for adhering transparencies.)

And a drumroll… this is the album I will be using this year. It’s the Parisian Anthology Portfolio Album by Pink Paislee and it’s 8.5×11 with a canvas cover and a 3-ring binder. I love the cover but I will admit it’s the page protectors that sold me – a mix of sizes and styles. Some 8.5×11 plain, some 5×7 plain, but then some with a few pockets and some with lots of pockets. It comes with 20 page protectors and I bought a second pack of just the varied page protectors in case I need more. This album is thinner than the AC Modern Album, but it’s still a good size and I’m quite excited about having a different format for my book this year rather than a square page every day. I ordered it from Two Peas and it’s here now so I’m starting to work on it… but I’ll share some in-progress pages another day. If you haven’t chosen an album yet and want to try something new, this has your name all over it.

Another option worth noting is the Noel 8×8 mixed media album by Making Memories. They’ve made several of these types of albums in different collections. I don’t have this one, but I used one from another collection on this travel journal and I have another couple sitting on my shelf waiting for the right project. I love the mix of pages – you get 10 8×8 pages in a variety of formats – papers, die-cut sheets and transparencies. You would need to add additional pages if you wanted more than twenty entries, but you could cut them from any paper you liked and just punch holes in the right spot.

If you prefer to choose something from your stash or make your own album, that’s perfect! There are a few things you’ll want to decide and keep in mind as you choose or make your album.

If you intend on making daily entries, you will want something that will allow enough pages. That means 25 if you stop at Christmas day, 37 if you stop at the end of the twelfth day of Christmas or even more if you want to start on a different day (several JYC participants start their albums on the day after Thanksgiving because that is their first real day of the Christmas season, for example). That’s a great deal of pages. And remember there’s a difference between just a stack of paper and a stack of scrapbook pages. If you create pages with dimension – even just Thickers or the odd pop dot – the stack of pages will be pretty deep! Keep this in mind and don’t choose something that will limit you. If you opt for book rings, get the biggest book rings you can find. If you’re thinking you’ll bind your book with a spiral wire, you may want to wait until the end of the project rather than binding it at the beginning. If you’re looking at existing albums on your shelf, see how happy they would be if you put a stack of twenty-five to forty scrapbook pages inside. Every year there’s a discussion of oh no, my album is overstuffed! on our forum, so it’s best to keep it in mind when you’re choosing. Opt for something that will give you too much room – you can always find something to fill it later if that truly turns out to be the case.

If you intend to just make a few entries per year and keep the album going over several Christmas seasons, then you may want to choose a more traditional format like a 12×12 album. Just keep in mind if you want to add to it each year, you’ll want room for more than one year’s entries, so the notes above still apply.

As far as page size goes, it is a personal preference of course. I have used 6×6, 8×8, 9×9 and a 12×12 with a mix of sizes in that album. 8×8 and 9×9 are my favourites – 9×9 albums aren’t as easy to find as the 8×8. I find those sizes to be so lovely because they still give you room and freedom with your photos and journaling, but they are also a size that is easy for someone to hold and read. These books are great to put out with your Christmas decorations and your family and friends will love taking a look, so unless you purposely want this to be a for-your-eyes-only project, it’s worth keeping in mind that this album will be held and read. 6×6 is the most efficient size for supplies, as you can get four pages from one sheet of 12×12 cardstock, but I found it too small for this type of project if you are going to include photos. When I used a 6×6 book it was almost entirely words and just a picture here and there. The whole point of this album is to tell the story so don’t forget you will need space to write! 12×12 I enjoyed it but it was a little too much for me to take on for a daily entry. I found my pages were sparser than I would have liked because I only had a certain amount of time per page. That extra space took time to fill! But if you have plenty of time or are a speedy scrapbooker, then you may really love the 12×12 option. If so, go for it!

Once you’ve chosen your album, the biggest time saver you can do right now is to prepare your cardstock. Choose the colours, cut it to size, even ink the edges now if you know that’s something you will want on each page. Then choose which is easiest for your set up: mocking up the album by putting the cardstock in the page protectors or punching holes for rings or stacking up the papers in order so your album will grow as you complete pages throughout December. Either works just fine – it may depend on whether you can leave your crafting supplies out during the season or if you need to condense to a small and portable solution.

Tomorrow I’ll share part two of the supply talk, including different options for papers and embellishments plus some tricks for making it simple and efficient to create daily entries in an album. See you then!

Journal your Christmas is an online class that starts on the 1st of December. I’d love for you to join us!

xlovesx

PS: The giveaway below closes on Friday, so be sure to enter!

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Jenni Bowlin Studio just released a new collection (and opened a brand new message board) and today a lucky commenter will win the brand new release. If you’ve just popped by on the Jenni Bowlin blog hop, welcome! I hope you’ll have a look around! And of course, enter for a chance to win some brand new Jenni goodness!

Here’s what’s new in November from JBS:

Red and black patterned paper collection… these come in 12×12, plus the six square papers also come in a set of 4×4 sheets – that’s what I used in the layout.

Matching red and black journaling cards – one of each design in a pack.

A new shaped journaling card that comes in a notepad. There are three sets in this shape – this is the vintage set, then there is a calendar collection and my favourite: polka-dots. Be still my heart. I’ve already used about five of the polka dot pages in the last three days!

Three new sets of mini bingo cards: calendars in multi-colours and black plus a Thanksgiving/autumn gratitude set.

And something I have been loving and just can’t wait for it to hit stores: the new Jenni Bowlin for Ranger collection. You can already find them at JBS Mercantile. The collection includes paint dabbers, ink pads and reinkers in Jenni’s signature colours. I love that they truly are a perfect match. I’ve been using all three in the same colour on a layout to make everything coordinate. Very, very cool! The pink is my absolute favourite.

On to the giveaway! You can win:
…a set of the new Red/Black Extension III, including 12×12 papers, die cut paper, mini paper and journaling cards
…one new diecut journaling part (vintage, polka dot or calendar, chosen at random)
…one new mini bingo card set (calendar multi, calendar black or Thanksgiving, chosen at random)
Pretty cool! The prize pack will be dispatched from Jenni Bowlin Studio straight to the winner. Entries are welcome from anywhere in the world!

To enter, leave a comment on this thread suggesting something you think others should read or watch. Easy! (By the way, the comment form works best if you click the preview button first.)

Entries close midday UK time this Friday and I’ll announce the winner by Saturday. Good luck!

For all the stops on the blog hop, visit the Jenni Bowlin Studio Inspiration Blog so you can see all the participants — they all have a set of goodies to give away.

xlovesx

PS: The post with all the supply ideas for Journal your Christmas? It will go up in the middle of the day Wednesday! One slight hiccup – want to make sure something is actually available before I say it’s the bee’s knees. Useful, I suppose! I promise it’s headed your way very shortly. Cheers.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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