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

_{Supplies: Starburst Solids and Starburst Mini Kit plus Rhonna’s swirls, Mary Ann’s frames, Carina’s tags and cards and word art by Paislee Press/Audacious Designs.}

Super exciting news here tomorrow in the form of a brand new online class, but some digi goodness for today. The page above and this one that I posted the other day are both made with kits released today. Digital and hybrid girls, I hope you’ll check them out! Here they are:

Just click to see in full. And how about something else digital and newsworthy?

There’s enough stuff in my digi shop now that I need a few people to help me out! I’m looking for designers who create digital scrapbook pages and/or hybrid projects and would like to use my digital designs in their projects, of course!

Creative Team members will be required to create and post a minimum of two projects per calendar month. Projects should be posted on your blog, the Two Peas digital gallery and at least one other digital gallery of your choice. In exchange, you’ll receive every release from my digi line free for team and personal use.

Creative Team members can be members of other teams too – it’s not an exclusive team. Applicants from anywhere in the world are most welcome.

To be considered for the team, send me an email including:
—->a link to your blog
—->a link to a gallery of your pages
—->a brief introduction letting me know why you would like to be on the team
—->a little something made with one or more elements from this free download. Mix it up with your favourite digi or paper products.

(Those of you who sent links a while back when I asked more subtly — if you would be up for a longer-term commitment, just let me know!)

Call ends Tuesday 3rd November — two weeks from today.
Any questions, just let me know! Thanks!

xlovesx

Comment [5]

Just back from a lovely weekend with these ladies, copious amounts of scrapping supplies, and a polaroid camera.

Still putting my stuff away and tidying up, but wanted to post the winner from the weekend’s comment contest…

And our winner is:

Stefanie Says: 17 October 2009, 06:49 Beautiful. I love pencil lines too.

She wins a bunch of goodies including a brand new online class that will be announced here this Wednesday — so don’t miss that!

Stefanie, email me so I can send over your winnings!

Have a great week!

xlovesx

Comment [2]

All this weekend there’s a birthday party going on at the Pencil Lines sketch blog. At some point you’ll find a challenge from yours truly, so check their site so you don’t miss it! If you complete the challenge, you might win a little something! But even if you don’t win, there’s a little something for you!

Just click to download this free .psd layered page template if you would like to complete the challenge digitally!

Happy Saturday!

xlovesx

Comment [9]

The Pencil Lines scrappers have been posting sketches and brilliant scrapbook pages for the past three years – so this weekend they are partying it up! The page above is inspired by sketch 155, which means there is an absolutely crazy amount of sketches to see there! I was delighted to be their special guest for sketch 61 and it’s lovely to be back for this weekend’s festivities! Happy birthday!

Now how about we give the birthday present to one of you? Comment on this post for a chance at a shimelle.com prize package that includes online classes and digital elements! You can enter until the end of this Sunday, cutting off at midnight UK time. The winner will be posted here on Monday!

If you’ve just stopped by from the birthday bloghop, welcome! Have a look around and come back soon! If you just stumbled upon the bloghop now, join on in! The next stop on the blog hop takes us over to Germany…say hello to Christiane!

xlovesx

PS: Check back here tomorrow afternoon for a freebie!

Comment [106]

_{Click to download layered .psd template.}

Every month, Scrapbook Inspirations includes a sketch and six corresponding scrapbook pages, but how about a little bit more? Karen Cole contributed the sketch in our October issue, and it’s here today for you to download as a digital template or use as a starting point for a paper page.

_{Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Earth Love patterned papers, My Little Shoebox Mini Alpha Stickers, Bazzill Basics Dotted Swiss cardstock, and letters from American Crafts and Basic Grey.}

Here’s my paper page derived from the sketch — with some Cosmo love, which I do believe has developed into a requirement for every page lately! Quite happily, I might add. Their papers always look so lovely.

_{Supplies: papers by Meredith Fenwick, Holly McCaig and The Queen of Quirk Worn Frames by Mary Ann Wise Hand-stamped alpha by Meredith Fenwick plus title alpha & flowers from Paislee Press/Audacious Designs collab kit and spatter brush set by Rhonna Farrer.}

And a little something digital from the layered template — photos from the Japan Festival held in East London a few weeks back. Crowded but delicious fun.

(By the way, does anyone else suffer from a Juno-induced problem with Benihana? I can’t walk by the place or hear it referenced without saying…either to myself or aloud..that the plan is to go to Benihana, then the prom, then Vijay’s parents’ cabin. Seriously, it’s a problem. Thankfully I am easily distracted back again by Japanese food. Otherwise I will get really angry about Katrina Devorte, perhaps. And no one wants to see that. Wait. It’s just me, isn’t it? Rubbish. Back to scrapbooking now.)

You can also catch Karen’s original layout and Rachel Ward’s layout for more inspiration.

We’re always looking for layouts that our readers create when they’ve been inspired by something in the magazine, like the sketch. If you tell us about them, you might even find your page on the SI blog or on the pages of the magazine. So it’s your turn now: let’s see what you do with this sketch. If you upload your page online, make sure to leave a link in the comments so we can find your page!

xlovesx

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It is autumn and there are pumpkins and in short, this means I could quite happily just stay in my kitchen and bake and bake and occasionally move to the dining table to eat. Somehow I have managed to prevent that level of obsession, but I have already made these twice this season and I am sure there will be a few more times when they seem highly appropriate.

Here’s the recipe so you can share my pumpkin obsession.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
(makes apx 24 standard sized cakes)

115g / 1 US stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g / 1 cup dark brown sugar
60g / 1/3 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g / 2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate (baking) soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of salt
120mL / 1/2 cup milk
270g / 1.5 cups pumpkin puree (fresh or tinned)

To make fresh pumpkin puree, start with a small pumpkin. Cut a few vents into the top and place on a foil-lined roasting tray. Roast the entire pumpkin for an hour or two (depending on the size of the pumpkin) at a low to medium heat — no more than 120C/250F. Let cool until it is easy to touch. Cut a hole in the top to make a lid, like a jack-o-lantern. Remove the guts and seeds. With those insides gone, you are left with the wall or flesh of the pumpkin — you want the wall but no skin. Many recipes will tell you to shred the flesh, but roasting it first makes shredding unnecessary — just make sure the skin is gone then puree in a blender, food processor, mixer or with a potato ricer.

Preheat the oven to 180C/360F. Line a cupcake tray with paper liners.

In a mixing bowl, mix the butter at a high speed until creamy and without any lumps. Add sugars and beat until fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix at a slower speed until the consistency is even.

Add the dry ingredients and the milk in alternation until all incorporated. Add pumpkin and mix until even and relatively light.

Fill cupcake cases halfway for flat-topped cupcakes, two-thirds full for domed cupcakes. Bake for 18 – 22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove immediately from the pan and cool on a wire rack for best results.

When cool, ice with cinnamon cream cheese icing and finish with more cinnamon on top.

Because it’s autumn, and that means there is rarely such a thing as too much cinnamon.

xlovesx

PS: If you share my disdain that there is no such thing as a pumpkin spice latte from the UK coffee chains, know that this is the stuff you need to make them at home. It may be habit-forming. I may be evidence of this. Just so you know.

Comment [18]

I’m working on a little project at the moment and have come to the point where I need to hear from some people. Think you can manage to leave me a comment today? I would love to be able to take your answers on board.

The question is…what are your photography wishes?

What kind of photos do you wish you could take?
What do you wish you understood about your camera or photography?
What problems do you wish you could eliminate?
What do you wish you could learn?

It doesn’t have to be something you would necessarily want to learn from me—pretend you could have any teacher in the world if that helps.

It can be hifi technology or old school toy cameras, technical tricks or how to get people to make nicer faces instead of bunny ears. I would seriously love to hear as many things on your list that you would do if a photography fairy godmother arrived on your doorstep.

Thanks so much for your help! Have a lovely Friday!

xlovesx

Comment [51]

I am Jamie Waters and I love this picture because it’s a rare moment where my daughter isn’t moving or talking. I was able to catch her lost in thought, looking so serious. I love her little sundress, her haircut, her belly and her perfectly straight legs.

Jamie Waters lives in California with her husband and 4 children. She spends her days scrapbooking, finding recipes, drinking coffee and having tea parties with her toddler. She is a wedding photographer on the weekends and her kid’s number one fan at each of their sporting events. Visit Jamie’s blog here and the JAC photography website here. Jamie’s photo by Jonathan Canlas.

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Check back later today for a little something—I have a big question for you!

I love this photo… was a special week-long series of posts during A Month of Colour, but so many of you said such nice things about it that I’ve decided to make it a weekly post. From now on, we’ll have a special guest share their favourite photo most every Friday. I hope you enjoy!

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