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

Watching today’s livestream and want to jump straight in? These are the classes coming up!

The Old 1-2 Punch – Starts next week

January Stories featuring Old Stash

The Write It Down designs for 2010 are each just 99 cents and they include files for both digital and paper scrappers. If you scrap with paper, you just print out a PDF onto a sheet of white cardstock or any other paper you want to use. If you scrap digitally, the same elements are included in PNG format so you can paste them straight onto your pages and give your journaling the perfect spot. I just wanted to take a minute to show you ten different looks with just one of these kits — Top Ten Lists — courtesy of the always creative Baker’s Dozen design team! This kit includes four different journaling cards that are perfect for writing lists on your pages. Choose from red, blue, pink or green or print in black and white. Digital scrappers will also know some tricks for changing the colours!

click any layout to see larger.

And it’s about time I welcomed our newest team member here! SJ joined us last month when we had an opening and she has been creating gorgeous pages! (She also gives away a free digital download every Friday on her blog, so be sure to check it out!) I love how she made the numbers the size of the full page for a striking look.

Two more — I love this puppy page by Sheri and the last page is from me!

Click here to get Top Ten Lists for just 99 cents! (You can find today’s brand new release, Cute Circles there too!)

xlovesx

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So they created in January, you voted in February and now that it’s March, it’s time for to announce the winners!

Please create a drumroll on your table for our top six finalists, in alphabetical order:
Alissa, Christina, Iara, Mabel, Mel and Nikki!

They each receive a shimelle.com class pass to be used for any future class they choose (including the new class and others coming up later this year!) and a digital kit of their choice from the Shimelle Digitals Shop!

And the winner of the grand prize of a $100 shopping spree at Two Peas in a Bucket...
The project that received the most votes from all of you throughout February…

…is Iara! Her project received votes from all over the world and finished at the top of the crowd! Congratulations!

Thank you so much to all our entrants: I have a small gift for each of you that I will be sending you this week.

No matter if you made your project already or if it’s something you’re thinking you might make in the future, thank you so much for your interest in the This is Why adventure. I hope you’ll join me for more creative fun soon!

xlovesx

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The winner of the Pencil Lines Sketch Book giveaway is

Claire Williams Says:
23 February 2010, 16:13
I love to scrap holiday photos, it brings back all the happy memories!

Congratulations! Claire, email me your mailing address so I can get your brand new book in the post!

Thanks everyone who entered! Check out Pencil Lines for sketches, inspiring pages and order their new book!

xlovesx

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Sometimes I am not so sure how I amassed quite so much scrapbooking stuff. When did I go from A few buttons would be useful to I can never have too many? When did the singular ribbon jar become the plural ribbon jars, sorted by colours of the rainbow? And patterned paper? Just possibly, I have quite a bit of that indeed.

The truth is that having a great deal of supplies isn’t something to get me down. Having them and not using them is an entirely different matter. So I invite you to join me for an online class in March: Something from Almost Nothing.

Throughout this class we’ll be focusing on getting more from the stash we have already acquired, no matter what your personal product of choice may be. We’ll go through a range of products you already have on hand and put them to use in new ways. We’ll step away from just gluing or stitching on a button and build something new. Plus it’s not just buttons we’ll be moving from stash to completed pages; we’ll also put stickers, ribbons, transparencies, papers, page protectors, chipboard and other supplies to work too. You won’t need to have specific supplies to follow along: we’ll focus on what you do have and offer plenty of alternatives along the way.

During the three weeks of class prompts, you’re invited to follow along and build an album entitled Celebrate Life. You can create this book in any page size you like with supplies you have on hand, and each prompt includes a page sketch and technique to help build the page as well as photography and journaling pointers to help with the complete album. But the class doesn’t end with just this album: each prompt includes a range of other techniques to try and projects to make. You can take inspiration from these at any time, just like a book or magazine.

I’m very excited that more than a dozen of my favourite scrapbookers will be joining me as guest artists for this class, and I’ll tell you a little more about them as we get closer to the first day of class.

Something from Almost Nothing includes:
…more than 60 pages of full-colour class materials, including work from guest artists and illustrated steps for more complex techniques
…3 video tutorials
…a live chat session
…printable accents for album project (purchased separately, these come to $9.90)
…bonus journaling and photography prompts for your Celebrate Life album.

Like all online scrapbooking classes at shimelle.com, this class includes
…permanent access to all class materials
…private forum for discussion and sharing your work
…prompts delivered straight to your inbox.

Class begins Wednesday, the 10th of March, with prompts delivered by email on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of the month. You can sign up at any time. Registration may take up to 24 hours – usually much less.

To sign up, just click! You can pay by in your choice of currency: £10 pounds sterling or $15 US dollars.

You’ll find additional class information and sneak peeks posted here on shimelle.com between now and the 10th of March, so don’t be a stranger!

I hope to see you in class!

xlovesx

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You probably already know Pencil Lines is a sketch challenge blog that delivers beautiful layouts every week to keep you scrapping and inspired. Now they have a lovely new book with 40 new sketches and layouts to match. It’s hardbacked and spiral-bound so it lays flat on your scrapping table too. You can find more details here.

I was honoured to be featured in their book and even more fun, I have a copy to give away!

To enter, just a leave a comment on this post answering this question:
What is your favourite topic to scrapbook?

Comments will close at the end of this Friday, UK time.
Entries are now closed. Winner will be posted Saturday evening!

Good luck!

xlovesx

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This week I’m hosting the photography challenge at Two Peas and the challenge is Cloudy with a chance of…. Just point your camera toward the sky and see what magic you can find. It’s a challenge that’s easy to participate (well, as long as it’s not chucking it down with rain at your place like it has been here today!) but there’s plenty of room to get creative too. And one lucky sky-snapper will win a prize too!

You can check out the challenge here and be sure to tick the box for this week’s photo challenge when you upload your images to the gallery so you can be entered to win!

In other news, I’ve set up a Q&A page here and I’ll have a giveaway here tomorrow, so be sure to check back!

Have an amazing week!

xlovesx

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For the past week, this scene has been pretty constant around here. Lots to get done, not as many hours in the day as I would like and of course there seems to be more to life than work too! But I can’t complain as it has all been very exciting work and it’s probably a bit difficult to pull me away from it right now. Let’s see if I can do a bit better with posting now that the pages are in from the call (I’ll start sending those happy emails later today).

One little bit of excitement has been a big change over at Two Peas. There used to be two major places to go to see layouts there — the gallery (open to all members) and the garden (just the design team). Now the two have merged and the Garden Girls’ layouts are right there in the gallery — they just have a little frame around them so you can spot them quickly. Which means for the first time, you can leave comments on these pages and tell us what you like or ask us questions when you want to know more. Our pages will also be spread throughout the month so there is something new every single day rather than just lots of stuff on two set days each month. (By the way, if you go to the gallery and look over at the options on the left side of the screen, you can click Designer Projects and find all the Garden Girls’ projects with just one click.)

My first page in this new system went live yesterday, and it features a quick tutorial on making a fabric flower from the Studio Calico FabRips, which are a bit like border stickers but made with fabric instead of paper. You can check it out here!

I also posted this card on the Banana Frog blog. Check out this post for all the details on making a quick and cute rocket ship card! (And to find out if you won last week’s Banana Frog giveaway!)

By the way, all my Banana Frog stamps are in stock here if you are looking for them. I need to get thinking about some new designs actually!

In addition to those projects, I’ve obviously been working on the books and also preparing for upcoming workshops in London, Southampton and Germany... but what if I said I was also working on a new online class? And sign-ups would start next week? Would that be a good thing, perhaps?

xlovesx

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