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

Im excited to share with you my current go to mixed media product and techniques. I find I am turning to Gelatos for my layouts and Project Life spreads to add color and texture over and over again. Here are a three projects I have previously done on Gelatos. Project Life, Photo Bomb and Hello-Hansens.

I gathered an assortment of Gelatos and a water pen, or you can use a paintbrush and a cup of water. I use a non-stick mat to write a few marks to get started, but you can use wax paper as well.

Because I wanted a paler color red and a darker color peach, I mixed the two colors together to create a soft blush color. Then while squeezing the water brush slightly, I paint quickly across the background paper. My paper did warp because I used a good amount of water to get the Gelatos to spread. The warping doesn’t bother me. But you can try to use less water and/or put something heavy on your pages overnight to flatten.

I switch colors often and find using a baby wipe works well to give me a clean brush.

I want to build layers on my background before I start placing the photos and frames, so next I squeeze a generous amount of water to mix the dark brown and then flick my water brush across my background for little splatters.

I’m ready to add more color. Using both the negative and positive feather die cuts, I use a larger brush and a stippling motion of my water brush to stencil and mask on the background.

I have several wood veneers that would work for the theme of my layout, but decide to use a few as a mask to continue creating my background.

I added an arrow stamp and randomly stamped an asterisk stamp on the background for more color and texture. To stamp with the Gelatos, I use the same water brush, but I suggest experimenting with stamps as some will not stamp a clean image, and the amount of water will effect it as well.

I want to include the positive feather die cuts, so using the Faber Castell sponge tool, I rub the Gelato into the cardstock. I like the soft, airbrush look this gives to the feathers.

After I brush on the light and dark brown Gelatos onto the wood frames, I am ready to put the frames, photos, and embellishments onto the background now.

My layout came out artsy because of the layers I created on the background. But Gelatos work with any style or any scrapbook mood. Use any combination of the five ways I’ve shared to create completely different looks each time such as, painting and creating splatters with water brush, masking and stenciling, using a dry sponge, painting wood veneers, and/or stamping. Instead of stamping with them, try coloring in the stamped image. For a clean and simple look, pick only one technique, such as painting only the wood veneer accents. I hope you try one of these techniques and see which one fits your style.

Patricia Roebuck lives in Mandeville, LA, about 30-45 minutes from New Orleans. Patricia lives with her husband of almost 23 years, her five-year daughter, and her eighteen year-old cat. She discovered her addiction to scrapbooking while waiting to adopt her daughter from China. Patricia has been published in Scrapbook Trends, Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook & Cards Today, Scrapbooks, Etc., Scrapwerk, and Paperhaus. She is currently designing for Lily Bee Design, American Crafts, and Scraptastic Kit Club. She blogs at Patricia Roebuck. She is frequently on Instagram and Facebook to connect with friends and family.

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My sparkly friend and I are very excited to introduce you to something new: Glitter Girl’s Scrapbooking Survival Guide, a self-paced workshop available now at Two Peas in a Bucket. It includes five chapters and ten videos covering some of the biggest questions that come up on the scrapbooking message board!

I’ll be back with more details, but I wanted to let you know that it is now available, AND that if you purchase the class between now and next Monday using this link, you will also qualify for a free bonus video that can’t be purchased any other way.

Go ahead and check it out, or wait for my longer post with more details, but just be aware, the only way to get that extra video is to click here, then make your purchase. Save your email receipt – you will need it to claim the video. The next post will include instructions for that simple process.

Back soon!

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Welcome to the September Gardeners’ Digest, with updates from the Garden Girls! So far this September, Glitter Girl has been on several new adventures, covering creating page designs with elements that feel they connect, mixing old papers with new embellishments, and a special episode designed for those who have taken a break from scrapping or are suffering from scrapper’s block.

Here’s that most recent episode, which you can follow step by step, but still create a layout that is very much unique, thanks to a bit of help from the beauty of Pinterest.

This project from Garden Girl Jen Kinkade is one of my favourites so far this September. I have plenty of tags sitting in my collection of supplies – time for me to take her advice, I do believe!

As far as shopping inspiration this month, you have a great choice of brand new or on sale, and in a few instances, even the brand new is on sale! Here’s a quick summary of what’s in the store today:
30% off all Teresa Collins products
25% off the Studio Calico Here and There collection, including Mister Huey sprays
25% off BasicGrey’s Carte Postale collection, which I’ve been using so much lately
25% off over a hundred Echo Park products
50% off selected Freckled Fawn products, including wood veneer frame and many washi tape designs
Plus brand new collections include Amy Tangerine Cut & Paste, Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party, lots from Bella Blvd, autumn and heritage collections from Echo Park, both everyday and Halloween collections from Pebbles, baby and travel collections from Studio Calico, Close Knit and Maggie Holmes Flea Market collections from Crate Paper, autumn and chalkboard themed releases from We R Memory Keepers, and a serious amount of gorgeous paper and embellishments from Webster’s Pages.

So yes… should you fancy some nice new pretty paper, I think you’re all set there! If your order qualifies, ZWPKWA is the shipping discount code for September 2013.

I’m the last stop on the hop today, so you can jump to Jen to find the beginning and follow right on through to see what the Garden Girls have to share with you! Enjoy! And you can find the full list of links on the Two Peas blog.

Now… there’s no giveaway today, because we have some big, sparkly news tomorrow, and that will come with a giveaway, so I’m going to hold out till then, but you will need to check back Monday to see the news! Thanks for stopping by the hop today!

Gardeners’ Digest is a monthly update from the Garden Girls, the design team at Two Peas in a Bucket. To keep up with the Garden Girls throughout the month, check out the garden gallery any time!

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Hello, I can’t wait to share 5 fun ideas to use clothespins! Clothespins are such a fun way to hold items in place, hold things together, or just fun to add to any project.

So for my first project I created a fun chore chart for my kids. I love how this turned out. I hot glued the clothespins to the side of the frame and then attached the string like a clothes line. I then cut out tags and hung them with more clothespins. I scored this cute little clothespins for .25 cents (for the whole pack).

The second project I created was a layout. I LOVE adding clothespins to my photos or just to hold my papers together. These clothespins are from the American Crafts Polka Dot Party line.

Another great thing about clothespins is they hold things together. For this project I printed out daily menu cards and used a clothespin to hold them together. The base of this project is a simple little frame I had in closet. The glitter clothespin is also from American Crafts Polka Dot Party line.

Another easy project to make is a card. I simply added layers and held them together with a clothespin.

And my last project is a wall hanging I made for my daughter. I took a canvas and added some pattern papers. I added a wooden frame and a clothespin you would use to hang up clothes. I painted the clothespin a cream color before I glued it down. I made this décor for my daughter to hang her blankie up when she is done with it at night.

I hope I have inspired you to create something using clothespins. There are so many different size and colors, have fun!!

Angie Gutshall is a stay at home mom for four children. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Brian. She lives in the country in the central part of Pennsylvania. Scrapbooking is where she captures her everyday moments on paper so her children will have something to treasure when they get older. She also loves taking pictures, baking, watching movies with her kids, and created craft projects for gifts. She shares more inspiration on her blog .

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I am so excited to be sharing a technique with you that I accidentally stumbled upon but really, really love. It all started because of the activity captured in the photos – my youngest daughter playing with shaving cream during Splash Day at her preschool. She had a blast covering herself from head to toe in it. I like to experiment with different art mediums so as I was looking through photos, I thought why not try mixing shaving cream with mists to see what I end up with and well, that’s what I’m going to show you today.

Let’s dive right on in and I’ll show you how to create a cool faux watercolor background or embellishments for your next paper crafting project. Warning, this can get a little messy but that just makes it all the more fun!

First, collect all your supplies. You’ll need shaving cream, 2 pieces of cardstock, mists in whatever colors you prefer, paper towels and a scraping tool, such as an old credit card. I also suggest you use a craft mat or a surface that doesn’t stain.

Take one piece of cardstock and apply shaving cream liberally over it.

Grab your mists and spray it over the shaving cream. I wanted to use multiple colors to coordinate with the colors in my photo and the colors of the other papers and embellishments I was planning to use. You could do this with a single color or multiple, it’s your choice. As I was spraying my mists, I allowed each color to overlap the other a bit.

Mix the shaving cream and the mists together, allowing even more overlap of the colors so you avoid getting a solid line at the end of this process, unless of course, that’s the effect you want.

Now, grab your second sheet of cardstock and press it down over the shaving cream mixture. I tried not to let it slip around too much and I let it ooze out the sides to ensure it covered all the edges.

Slowly pull the top sheet of cardstock away from the other and set it flatly on your table surface. Isn’t this pretty?!

If you haven’t made a mess yet, you probably will now. Grab your scraping tool and pull the shaving cream mixture off the page.

Set the page aside to dry while you collect your photos and supplies to complete the page.

You can choose to use the final result as a background like I did or cut it to make embellishments, such as tags, flowers, journaling spots or whatever your heart desires.

Next, layered more paper, embellishments, photos and circle stickers to complete the page. I chose to reuse some of the circles that I cut out by adhering them to the page as well as the base for title. I chose white foam Thickers for my title since they remind me of shaving cream. The journaling is hidden on one of the paper layers behind the photos.

I challenge you to raid the bathroom cabinets or add shaving cream to your shopping list and try this technique out. There are so many variations to this that you can try. Here are more ideas: Swirl the mixture into a cool design using a toothpick to get a more marble effect, create different patterns with the shaving cream as you apply the mists and mix them together, such as diagonal stripes, chevrons, ombre… Mix the colors separately in a bowl and then paint them on to the paper, press a stencil into the mixture or paint the mixture onto a stencil and then apply to a page. Paint the mixture onto paper, a tag or other embellishment and then wipe off. Apply the mixture to a stamp but I suggest avoiding intricate designs – the ideas are limitless!

Heather blogs at The Spotted Leopard. She lives in Cypress, TX with her husband, two daughters, a bonus son and 2 rescue dogs. Her strong desire to capture the everyday stories for her children is what drives her creativity. Heather is currently the design team leader for Lily Bee Design and is on the Design Teams/Creative Teams for American Crafts, Little Yellow Bicycle, Gossamer Blue kit club and Scrapbook Circle kit club. Heather’s work has been published in Scrapbook Trends, Creating Keepsakes magazines and Creating Keepsakes Special Edition publications. She posts regularly to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter .

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I know I’m dreadfully behind at keeping up with Glitter Girl’s adventures here. She has eighty-seven episodes now! She has never missed a week since starting her Wednesday videos at Two Peas and YouTube at the beginning of 2012. Now, I definitely have plans to get that Glitter Girl archive up to date here soon, but I’ve also had some requests for a sort of quick guide that would allow you to jump right to the project you need. With that many videos, it’s easy to get them muddled in my mind, and I have to help that Glitter Girl person film and edit them every week! They display at Two Peas and YouTube with a sneak peek thumbnail and the titles are a little less than straight forward sometimes, so it’s time for a simple guide that includes the full layouts and a description of each episode.

You can find exactly that now on Glitter Girl’s pin board over at Pinterest. Each week’s adventure will be added, so you’re welcome to follow the board for updates if you like. Or just bookmark if it you tend to get stuck looking for an old adventure you remember but can’t quite identify from titles and thumbnails. If you’re more interested in catching the new videos each week rather than going through the archives, it may be best to subscribe to either my YouTube channel or the Two Peas channel. Glitter Girl’s videos are hosted on the Two Peas channel, but they are also featured in a playlist on my channel, so both channels give subscribers a reminder link when the video is up each Wednesday!

I hope you find the pin board helpful, and Glitter Girl asked me to thank you for your ongoing support for the series!

xlovesx

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I love the look of stamped background on a scrapbook page. Stamping is such an easy way to customize your background as you’re able to choose your own color and image from your stamp collection.

Today I’m sharing how I created the subtle and splotchy stamped background using Big Brush Pens. It looks pretty much like one tone watercolor stamping.

I gathered a few things I thought would use on my layout. In this case, I have my patterned papers, slide frames, stamp set and a few colors of Big Brush Pens.

My favorite thing to do currently is to cut my papers into sections. This was done randomly, without measurement. Then I lay them onto my background patterned paper like so, to make sure I have space for each of them.

I chose the stamps and inked them with Big Brush Pens, in different colors. I’m going with green and yellow this time. After inking your stamps, breathe on them to moisten them up before you stamp onto your patterned paper. I find that solid stamps just like the ones I used produce best images. I tried this using outline stamps and you can’t really see the abstract splotchy effect.

Here’s a closer look of the stamped image. I also stamped green leaves on the top left and bottom right sections of the layout to create a ‘path’ for the eyes to move when looking at the finished piece.

I rearrange my sections back and stitch them onto the background patterned paper with white and gold thread for added interest. I love adding a little shine to my pages and plan to add silver thread to my collection soon.

I play around with my layout, until I’m happy with how it looks, then I typed out my journaling with my typewriter. This is another of my favorite. I love journaling with my typewriter, it’s just easier than trying to run a piece of stamped and stitched patterned paper through the printer.

And here’s my completed layout. I used the leaves stamps but the possibilities are really endless. Think hearts, triangles, circles and even solid ampersands. I really love the look of this simple technique and I hope you will give it a try!

Sasha lives 10 minutes walk from one of the beaches in Singapore with her supportive husband of 14 years and her two girls who are growing up too fast for her liking. She started this crazy wonderful, amazing, beautiful hobby in September 2006 and has since been swallowed whole. You can say she jumped in with both feet and not a day of regret ever since. She blogs at sashafarina.com and posts daily photos on Instagram at sashafarina. She is currently a design team member for Studio Calico and Crate Paper. Besides scrapbooking, she loves to travel with her family, with that comes photography and good food. She scrapbooks for her self-enjoyment. The memory recording part is a bonus.

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Often in the scrapbooking world, papers turn to browns and oranges and other autumnal colours from the first of September. It’s the first of September here and it still feels like summer, and indeed it is still technically summer till the 22nd of September in this hemisphere, so instead of switching to all things autumn, I wanted to put together one bright blast of colour to end the summer. Sound like a plan? With a bit of luck, I won’t have autumn photos to scrap until October anyway!

Unfortunately I left it a little too late to make up my mind on all the goodies for this month since the new stuff started to arrive in the store, and that means my box is still on its way here. I can’t make a video sharing these products together just yet! But I love all the colour plus black and white accents, and I hope you’ll enjoy scrapping with this set of supplies too.

Click here to shop the September 2013 Best of Both Worlds Scrapbooking Kit.

There are bright, colourful new papers from My Mind’s Eye, Bella Blvd, and Glitz, plus some colourful enamel dots. Then the accents are in black and white from Teresa Collins, Skipping5, Rhonna Farrer’s latest My Mind’s Eye collection, Glitz washi tape, and a new flair badge made in-house at Two Peas. But there are a few things to take note before you check out your cart…

…There are no letter stickers listed in this month’s kit! Shock! Horror! That’s because this month I want to focus on using black letter stickers. If you have plenty of black letter stickers in your collection, you’re all set and you can use September’s kit to encourage yourself to use them! If you’re lacking in black letter stickers, then pick a pack! There are plenty in the store, and you can find just the right set for your style and budget.

…If you feel some of the die-cut cards are too swoony in the wording for your liking, you can either swap for others you like better, or keep these and know you’ll be working with them for the colour and pattern rather than the words, so you’ll cover up those words if they don’t fit your page. Easy!

…The stamp set I added to the list this month is one I’ve had for several months, but I want to make sure I use more. You could elect to choose your own set of stamps from your own collection with that same ethos – have a flip through and see if there is a set you meant to use many times but haven’t really used all that much. Or if you want something new and want to grab a bargain, there are some great stamp sets that aren’t very old at all that are 50% off in the store right now, so take a gander here to see if something catches your eye while it’s a great bargain. My plan is lots of stamping in black ink to work with that bright colours + black and white accents approach.

…The images in this post are not to scale!

…Adhesives are currently 25% to 50% off. Great time to stock up on pop dots of course.

As always, all the projects I’ll make with my September kit (once it arrives) will be shown here on the blog totally free of charge. These will always be free, though not amazingly timely, as those of you who read here will know I have lots of August kit projects that need to appear here on the blog! (Yes, they will shortly.) I also have several paid workshops of various styles coming up, and wanted to both clear that up (I don’t use the Best of Both World kits in paid content, just the free stuff you find here and on my YouTube channel) and also give you a little advance warning should you want to follow along with one of those upcoming paid workshops with the same supplies that I’ll be using. One of the projects I have coming up soon features using the Glitz Wild & Free collection pack from start to finish. All collection packs – including that one – are currently on sale for 25% off, so that’s a great bargain on a brand new kit. I have no idea how long that discount is valid, I’m afraid. If Wild & Free isn’t your style, the project that features that collection kit could be used with any collection kit of your choice, so take a look at the complete list of options if you prefer. But just to make that really, really clear – that is a paid workshop and I will not be sharing the projects I make from that collection kit here on the blog. (Any questions, let me know, but I think that should make sense.)

Okay, I think that is most of the important info for Best of Both Worlds in September! You can find the kit here and add it to your cart. The Best of Both Worlds idea is that you’re free to make any changes you would like, so add more or take things away or swap for similar items that are more your style – whatever you prefer! If you purchase at least $50 in physical, non-phase out goods, you qualify for free shipping to US addresses or $5 OFF shipping to anywhere in the world. {ETA: I am SO sorry that I made an error there and originally made it look like $5 international shipping. $5 off. $5 off. I am so sorry!!!! It was just a typing error, but oh goodness what an idiot I am not to have caught it.} You will need to enter the code ZWPKWA for the shipping discount. International orders, you may find the shipping quote is higher than the actual postage price on your box when it arrives. If that’s the case, open a customer service ticket to request a refund of the excess – just to be sure you open the ticket within thirty days.

Thanks so much for your continued support, and happy scrapping in September!

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