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

At every trade show, the big question is always Have you seen anything really new? and there’s this assumed ruling that for things to be deemed very successful, there should be some sort of huge innovation on the show floor. Admittedly, every once in a while an innovative product changes the game for papercraft, but the clue is right there in the name: to me, a season’s new releases are successful if there is plenty of paper I can’t wait to use.

By that measure, the new collections that will hit stores over the next six months are definitely a success.

The other thing I try to keep in mind is whether papers will work with what we already have. I don’t want to have more supplies building up because each collection only works on its own. It makes my heart much happier for new collections to work well with things that already exist. Not too similar, but a few colours or motifs that carry over from one thing to the next can make a huge difference in how well the supplies mix. That was my very first question with the two featured designers at American Crafts: would the new Amy Tangerine and Dear Lizzy collections work well with the existing papers. I am here to report very good news.

It’s not too early to start my London 2012 album, is it? This is the title page. It’s a mix of all three Amy Tangerine collections – the original eponymous line, last spring’s Sketchbook range and the forthcoming Ready Set Go collection due to hit stores next month. When Amy said she was designing an autumn collection, I wasn’t sure if the colours would blend with the existing lines, but they definitely do. They aren’t the same colours as either of the others, but there’s just enough in common to make it work. The paler blue in the striped background and the camera-printed strip across the middle is actually a great match to the rich blue from the original line, just a less-saturated shade. The brown in the new collection is a good tone match for the brown in the other two collections, and the yellow is slightly different, but it is a little warmer than the original collection and a little cooler than the yellow-orange in Sketchbook, so all three look quite nice together really. The kelly green in Sketchbook is a good match for the green in Ready, Set, Go too. Wow: that’s a lot of colours and shades to compare. But it does work well! Where Sketchbook does have some brighter prints with a shot of neon, it also had a lot of good neutrals – cream-coloured ledgers, black and cream asterisks, black and white cameras… so it can work, even though the initial impression of Sketchbook is a very different look to Ready, Set, Go.

The only things here that aren’t from one of the three Amy lines are the glittery brown Thickers, the brown ink and the white adhesive pearls. Oh… and the date stamp is from Dear Lizzy, bringing us to experiment two!

The new collection from Dear Lizzy is called 5th & Frolic, and on first glance it’s a much closer match to the existing lines, especially Neapolitan. But I just have three sheets of paper from 5th & Frolic – I’ll have to wait until the rest hits stores in a couple months – but I summoned all my bravery and cut into all three sheets to give them a try. The grey polka dot background and the rose print here are from Neapolitan, while the triangle print across the bottom, the birds on grey and the set of three cards under the title and writing are from 5th & Frolic, as is the Polaroid-style print with the tree-stump… but the Vespa Polaroid is from Neapolitan. So these definitely have some things in common! I was even able to find a few little pieces I’ve saved from an earlier line, Enchanted, including that little ticket at the very top and near the bottom and the pink Thickers, plus I threw in a tiny heart and flower stamp from the debut Dear Lizzy Spring line. Which means I think the only Dear Lizzy I didn’t cover here was Christmas! Fair enough. Again it’s ink and pearls that aren’t from this line – everything else is Dear Lizzy in some way!

I hope that’s a bit of good news to share just how easily these two new collections will mix with what you might already have on hand. Anything that makes us able to enjoy a new little splurge whilst using what we already purchased is a win in my book! Of course, you still have a little time to work through your existing stash of papers, but these will hit stores pretty soon!

xlovesx

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After a very late Friday night I had to be up very early this Saturday morning, off to help tourists for the day in all my bright pink and purple glory. I couldn’t quite muster the idea of getting up and sat reading tweets in bed whilst the US west coast was watching the opening ceremony of London 2012, and this tweet was my very favourite: London, there appears to be a party in your house. Oh Chris, how right you are.

I have no time for anyone who is not excited by the games at this point. I have set aside everything I felt didn’t go perfectly in the seven years leading up to this and now I am here to enjoy without a grudge. On Friday, I started the morning on Westminster Bridge for All the Bells: an art project with the idea of all the bells anyone can find to be ringing for three solid minutes. From the bridge I could hear forty rings of Big Ben from 8:12 in the morning, plus a handbell choir in the crowd, the chimes of Westminster Abbey and what we think must have been St Paul’s in the distance. And my favourite bells of all? A crowd of cyclists who pulled to the side at exactly 8:12 and rang their bicycle bells like crazy for three whole minutes. Bells rang all over the country and it was sweet and simple and lovely.

Then I spent the day helping out in front of City Hall, in the shadow of Tower Bridge, including the arrival of the torch in the middle of the Thames, arriving at a set of floating rings and eventually heading indoors until finishing the journey during the ceremony.

_{This was my favourite part – the most dramatic part of the Suffragettes choreography wasn’t shown on the BBC footage we were watching, but it was such a beautiful moment.}

And then there ceremony! I actually watched on a big screen at the Royal Naval College (with The Boy, Kelly and Stephanie) but earlier in the week I had attended one of the final dress rehearsals for the show, and I was allowed to take my camera. So I have pictures! I couldn’t share them until the appropriate moment in the actual ceremony, so I did a bit of ‘live’ tweeting while watching until my phone ran out of battery.

I knew from the moment I sat down and saw the ceremony’s opening set that the hymn Jerusalem had to be involved. I know I am not really British, but Jerusalem always makes me cry. It turns out it makes me cry even more when I hear a voice singing it from the crowd and turn to realise he’s just there, a few rows to my right. And that was just the start of the show. I loved every minute.

I’ve uploaded my favourite snapshots from the ceremony here and they are licensed under Creative Commons so they can be used by anyone for free. If you want to scrapbook the ceremony and need some pictures – feel free. You don’t even have to ask. If you want to blog about the ceremony, you can use them! All I ask is that if you use them on the internet, you include a credit link. That’s all. I got to see the ceremony for free and I want to pass them on in the same spirit.

And to those of you who have been guessing at what my second Olympic project might be, I’ll finally tell you. A bunch of you guessed that I was in the show last night – and I wasn’t. I had friends in the show and was so excited for that! But I was definitely sat on the ground aside the Thames watching from Greenwich. I do however jump straight back into rehearsals this weekend. Because that super secret second Olympic project for me is the closing ceremonies. I still can’t tell you anything, but I will be dancing in the show and I’m at the beginning so don’t be late. Schedule your TV viewing now, yes?

Yes, London, there is a party in this house. And there’s going to be a big finale too, we promise.

But first! Let’s play some sports! If you’re local and have no tickets but want to watch something today, you can catch the cycling road race for free. And the screens at Hyde Park, Victoria Park, Potter’s Fields, Greenwich (old Greenwich, not North Greenwich!) and Blackheath (um, right in front of my flat!) are all free to enter. Most are running a 7am to 11pm schedule. If the weather turns, your better option might be a Vue cinema. They are also devoting screens to free BBC coverage of the games.

Right: I better go help some tourists find their way from Tower Bridge to the Globe or Earl’s Court! Have a fabulous weekend.

xlovesx

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This weekend, one commenter will win a cute Panda Plushie Pattern from Dolls and Daydreams.

Sarah Hanson is a UK girl living in the US. She designs patterns for plushies that are just gorgeous, and her store is bursting with cute doll and critter patterns that are sure to delight!
The more I read about Sarah, the more I like her and her work.

“I specialize in Fun & Easy Step by Step Photo Tutorial Patterns so that even a beginner sewer will be able to make dolls and softies just like mine!

When I was a little girl my Nanna taught me to sew & my first project was a little rag doll – I was in love! But when I brought a store doll pattern I was shocked at how hard it was to understand and so unhappy with my finished friend. So I kept creating my own doll & softie designs for my friends & family.

My life took an interesting turn after I organized a charity doll drive for the children of Haiti. I designed and offered an easy free doll pattern and the response was amazing. We collected over 500 dolls for the children and have since continued to collect, make & send out 1000’s to children in need all over the world. Through this wonderful work I received so many kind comments and requests for more designs and patterns and thus Dolls And Daydreams was born.”

You can become a fan of her facebook page here.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post describing your most treasured toy, childhood or adulthood!

Entries close at midnight Thursday UK time and the winner will be posted Friday evening, so be sure to check back to see if it’s your lucky day!

Good luck!

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Congratulations to Sabrina, who wins the two kitchen prints from Peanutoak.

Sabrina, please email me (shimelle at gmail dot com) with your address.

There’s a new giveaway every Friday night, so check back next week for another chance to win just by leaving a comment.

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Hello hello! How can it be Wednesday already? Well… it’s because it is indeed a funny little week in my world. Throughout this week, I’m wearing a bright pink and purple uniform and standing next to a pink and purple kiosk to help the fine pedestrians of London with any questions or concerns they may have. (Sorry, I don’t have any tickets for sale. But I can provide a free map, if that’s any consolation.)

I have several hundred more CHA photos to share with you, but I just need a bit more time… and I know it won’t be today since I have my day of bright pink combined with the super excitement of heading over to watch the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony tonight. It’s so exciting that I’m afraid you’ll just have to pardon me for collapsing into a heap by the time I get home tonight and not blogging. (But you better believe there will be new photos to scrapbook from tonight!) But I really will get them all shared here, and I thank you for your patience. (I know there are some other posts I need to get live here. Please know they will be available as soon as they are ready! That includes some videos and the new class I’m working on and all that sort of goodness. Thanks!)

As it’s Wednesday, Glitter Girl will have a new adventure today. When it goes live, you’ll be able to find episode thirty here.

Have a fabulous day!

xlovesx

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On the twenty-second of every month, we bring you Gardeners’ Digest – a blog hop of scrapbooking news from the Garden Girls at Two Peas in a Bucket! It’s been an especially Two Peas week for me, with the rare opportunity to catch up with Two Peas at CHA. In person we are equal parts crazy ideas, serious business and chatty fun. I’m pretty sure Amy, Kristina and I stopping to take this snap with Heidi Swapp counts as all three.

With all the CHAness on my calendar this week, I haven’t had a chance to blog the latest Glitter Girl adventure! It’s all about challenging patterned papers, and includes two layouts this week in an extended episode. You can find it here, including the pages, videos and easy shopping! You can catch all the other Glitter Girl adventures from this past month here if you’ve missed anything!

This month I’ve found myself taking the time to look at all the tiny details on pages like this one by Jaime Warren. Take a closer look at her gallery here and see what little touches might complement your own scrapping style. I love how she works with small photos but also a lot of open space, so despite the beautiful details, your eyes are still taken to the pictures.

This month my shopping basket has been filled with papery goodness and very few embellishments really. I have been using these printable journaling cards by Hello Forever (mostly because they include that rainbow Polaroid camera!), the Paper Cottage collection pack from BasicGrey, this great paper tablet from BasicGrey Clippings and the 6×6 version of Studio Calico HeyDay. Plus something not paper – this hexagon mask by Studio Calico for use with mist, paint or ink makes a great framework to hold smaller, simpler embellishments like buttons, brads and small die-cuts. What products have been catching your eye this month? Paper, tools, embellishments or a mix of everything?

With new releases expected over the next two months, there’s a fabulously big sale on at Two Peas right now.  (In fact, I just searched by price low to high to see how discounted things are, and there is actually a piece of paper marked down to just nine cents. Super sale!) To help with your shopping, I’ll give a $15 Two Peas gift certificate to three (three!) lucky readers this month. To enter, just leave a comment on this post! Entries close at the end of next Thursday, UK time, and the winners will be announced on Friday.

Now, once you’ve left that comment, remember to click on over to the next Garden Girl. Your next stop is the always amazing Jen Gallacher, a blog filled with constant happiness. And enjoy the digest posts from all the Garden Girls! You can also catch up with the Two Peas blog for everything happening in Pealand!

Fancy a post CHA chat? Just a tiny notice: I’m going to host an hour of live chat tonight/today (depending on your time zone) over on the Two Peas CHA message board. That chat will kick off at 8pm UK time, which is 2pm US Central time, and with a bit of luck you can adjust from there. I have lots of CHA posts left to finish the commentary and set live, but if you fancy some real time discussion on the message board, that’s where I’ll be! See you there, I hope!

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, find us on Twitter or subscribe to all our blogs with just a couple clicks.

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It’s hard to believe Amy Tan launched her first scrapbooking collection with American Crafts just a year ago, but that’s exactly true as her original collection debuted here in Chicago last year. Then she added brighter colours and whiter whites in her sophomore Sketchbook collection last winter and now Amy introduces an autumn colour palette for collection number three: Ready Set Go.

This collection includes bright (but not too bright!) greens, glassy blues and warm yellows all grounded by rich brown tones. Some of the Thickers styles are easy to customise with ink and two come in a new shape – square tiles.

Motifs in this collection include cameras, globes and arrows plus the occasional cheeky elephant. Why not?

These letter stickers are more than meets the eye: they are sheer! Each card has two colours and they look gorgeous layered over a subtle patterned paper (which shows through) or overlapped to create a darker shade wherever there are two layers of sticker.

Hello is a big theme throughout!

Such perfect DIY elements, with lots of paint and yarn to customise Amy’s displays. Spray-painted globe: check!

Two new spiral daybooks in the large size, with mixed pages…

…and stitched daybooks in a new mini size, with matching pages. (Plus a big ribbon value pack at the left.)

The die-cut pack has so many versatile shapes, and the leaves from the first collection are back in the new colours, and possibly just slightly smaller. Could be my imagination. Not my imagination that I really liked using these when they came out in the first collection. I used two whole packs!

Onto the papers, my favourites include the parquet flooring, the spinning globes…

and the LOVE LOVE LOVE print of white ink on kraft. It makes me sing Beatles’ songs and recite lines about Blue Meanies. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or just a coincidental side effect.

Not one but TWO date stamps in this collection, and the years go back to 2007! Huzzah. I am forever putting my Dear Lizzy date stamps away when I remember the photos predate the rolling date stamp. (There are a bunch of new date stamps from the American Crafts family of brands. Like half a dozen new date stamps. Everyone needs six more, right? If a little is good, a lot must be better!)

On the left, a product very near and dear to Amy’s heart: a travel scrapping kit that includes all the basic tools and necessities in a perfectly sized zip pouch. On the right, beautiful layered heart embellishments with vellum and stitching.

As you left Amy’s booth, you could pin the map with your location. I got to pin a new space on the board, which was very exciting! (I share this because it might be a good idea for scrapping your own travels – add mini brads or other markings to a map patterned paper as a background design element, perhaps!)

Really looking forward to working with this range, and planning an update soon of how these products mix and match with the two existing collections – always one of my favourite things to try with signature style collections like this.

Click here to shop for Amy Tangerine products.

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This weekend, one commenter will win a pair of kitchen prints from Peanutoak.

You may have noticed that July has been a month of beautiful artwork giveaways, and this week is no different – if you have fallen in love with our previous sponsors work then you are bound to adore the quirky and fun style of Peanutoak.

Patricia from Peanutoak creates beautiful bold images which feature an eclectic mix of subjects and some kooky phrases sure to have you smiling. I love finding out what inspires artists to create their work, and Patricia’s daily routine sounds beautifully inspiring:

_My name is Patricia and I’m a graphic designer. I usually work at home, dividing my day time between graphic design, arts and crafts and taking a few walks with my eighteen year old dog ‘Queenie’, who keeps me company during the day while I work. I live in Lisbon and it’s in this beautiful city that I also work. It’s a lovely, sunny and bright place to live and it’s easy to be inspired by it.
My brand is my signature as a person and it mirrors the story of my life, representing who I am as an artist. It often translates my tastes in several areas, such as movies, music, life and even nature and this is something of which I am very proud._

You can read more about Peanutoak prints via their Twitter or join the Facebook fan page.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling us if you are a kitchen goddess or kitchen catastrophe!

Entries close at midnight Thursday UK time and the winner will be posted Friday evening, so be sure to check back to see if it’s your lucky day!

Good luck!

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Congratulations to Kristen, who wins a place on the Scrapbooking Family Vacations Workshop with Nancy Damiano.

Kristen, We will be in contact with your prize details soon!

There’s a new giveaway every Friday night, so check back next week for another chance to win just by leaving a comment.

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Just around the corner from October Afternoon, it’s Echo Park central. Existing Echo Park fans will be pretty happy, since three of their new collections are twists on favourite collections from EP earlier this year, but with three holiday collections in the mix, there’s plenty of room for new fans to join the Echo Park fun.

Just for the Record 2 comes in two new colour themes. This blue and yellow scheme is the ‘Documented’ option.

‘Tailored’ leads with a warm reddy pink, plus orange and green.

‘Documented’ includes this worn numerical print in black and white to go with anything you like.

The journaling cards have plenty of sentiments to work with all sorts of everyday moments.

The sticker sheet includes cameras, doilies, and a bicycle. Plus they put a bird on it, so you can put you can put birds on things. Always a plus.

‘Tailored’ incudes this very pretty and striking doily print. (Did you see Glitter Girl’s doily picks from the show floor?)

I can’t decide if this black and white print is completely beautiful or makes my eyes cross. Is it possible to be both?

Sewing themed accessories are always cute, but not the easiest to match to your photo themes unless you sew pretty much all the time. That’s okay in this design because they all have great layering potential with the circle and stripe designs.

On the other hand, the border sheet is one that is so easy to use that I might need two.

Lush text choices in the cut-apart sheet. Happy paper is good paper.

Butterflies, sewing machines and doilies in the sticker mix.

Then we’re into the holidays, starting with Halloween and a detailed, ornate collection called Chillingsworth Manor.

Interesting that although it’s definitely an orange, green and black, but it’s a very muted orange rather than a bright pumpkin shade.

Makes for a bit of a different look against stark black!

Have to love a doily in a Halloween collection. Lots of delicate details here really.

Not just doilies sneaking in – butterflies too!

And some more traditional Halloween imagery shows up on the sticker sheet.

With some frightful words on the alpha sheet. And stickers of glass jars. To fill with creepy crawlies and peeled grapes and cold spaghetti. Or something.

Then there are two Christmas collections. This & That Christmas brings the look of the two This & That collections released earlier this year to a red and green colour scheme with plenty of woodgrain.

This & That Christmas includes a set of Advent numbers for a countdown project or two.

It always makes me smile when I spot a Jen Gallacher page on the show floor! Very sweet.

The Christmas edition of the ticket pattern includes tickets for entry to the Christmas tree farm and assorted other sweet and simple Christmas things.

I didn’t notice this pattern at a distance but I love it up close – green on green detail and tiny red stars to pack a punch.

Flash cards with plenty of Christmas words, and in red. Last year’s collections didn’t have nearly as much red. I’m totally a fan of this red resurgence.

Doilies! Woodgrain! Father Christmas! I mean really: what’s not to love?

And a mixed-up-font style in the countdown numbers.

This multi-coloured stripe is a little something different for a Christmas paper. Looking forward to giving it a try.

Lots of pretty on the two cut-apart sheets.

And sweet simplicity in the stickers. All just a charming and easy to use release in This & That Christmas.

Very Merry Christmas mixes handwritten sentiments with traditional holiday graphics and a bit of big blocky text.

See, that letterpress-inspired large lettering look is definitely big this year. This is two brands out of three in what I’ve been able to post so far.

Cut-apart journaling cards that will mix and match with a fair few other collections, new and old.

Two sheets of stickers – and a unique choice of font for a Christmas collection. I’m not sure how easy this one would be on a small-format page, but it certainly work well for a striking title on a 12×12 page. (It would still be striking on a smaller page, I just don’t know how many letters would fit with the width of these letters.)

But really, that’s not all from Echo Park! I’ll come back with another post to include their new mini themes and their new Photo Freedom collections for divided page protectors.

What’s your favourite of all this? Anything singing to your scrapping fancy?

Click here to shop for Echo Park scrapbooking supplies.

xlovesx

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