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

How often do you cut into a piece of patterned paper and save the rest for later, and even with the best of intentions you find you’ve saved it… indefinitely?

Would you like to feel more confident mixing patterned papers while still keeping your photos as the focus of your scrapbook pages?

Are you up for a crafting adventure that is light-hearted and fits your own schedule, but still has a very clear set of things to try and ways you can take them forward in your own crafting style?

If so, then my new class is right up your street! Half and Half is a class all about making pages that start with two 6×12 boxes of patterned paper: half the page is one pattern, and half the page is another pattern! Perfect for using your saved scraps, great for building your pattern mixing skills, and taught in a way that makes it easy to use your own stash, your own photo themes, and your own embellishing style.

Half and Half includes 12 new full length videos, and a few shorter segments:
10 12×12 single page layouts, each broken down in its own extended video plus a simple summary PDF.
2 12×12 double page layouts, again each in their own video + summary sheet.
A selection of short videos that adapt some of the ideas to 4×6 and 3×4 cards to create coordinated pocket pages.

As with all my classes, it includes permanent membership so you can come back as many times as you like or work at your own pace, plus a private class forum to chat with other participants, and you’re always welcome to email me to chat about the class materials while the class is live or long after. This class is suitable for all levels, so you’re welcome to invite a friend to sign up as well, even if they are new to the hobby.

Two of the class videos feature cut files, and both include ideas on what to use instead of a cut file if you don’t own a cutting machine!

If you’re new to my classes and know the videos I post on Facebook or YouTube, it’s worth knowing that I share three types of videos in those three places. My Facebook Live videos are the most chatty and least formal – I answer scrappy questions as we go and share why I’m making something, but we also talk about any old random rubbish! On YouTube, I don’t do off-topic chat, and you’ll find videos where I walk through a project but they are generally a single page at a time. In my classes, everything is focused on a planned curriculum – my goals I hope for you to achieve so you can leave the class being able to take what you learned and apply it on your own projects! So these videos are not only very focused, but also build on and relate to each other. While everything is on topic, I’m still open to your questions and tangents on the forum, and there is absolutely no pressure for you to finish anything by any certain time or date. You’re welcome whether you want to scrap all day or you’re watching because your supplies are packed away for a few months and you’ll get to the crafting later!

Half and Half starts Tuesday 20th April and can be purchased for $15 US Dollars or £11 British Pounds.

$15 USD	£11 GBP

For regular participants who would prefer to pay in a lump sum and not worry about signing up individually for every new class, you’re welcome to sign up for the new Class Pass. This allows you to prepay $150 or £110 in one go, and you’ll receive every class I teach until the value of the individual classes has surpassed that total. That means you’ll get a discount off that last class, but it is largely just an option for convenience, as it’s hard to keep track of everything and easy to miss something like a new class announcement! You’re also welcome to receive the prompts for Journal your Christmas and Learn Something New Every Day, should you not already have those classes on your account. They are not included in running total value, just a bonus! A while back, I called this the ‘annual pass’ but it ended up lasting… significantly longer than a year. So let’s call it the Class Pass now, and if you want to go for that option, you can sign up for a new one starting now, with Half and Half. (To give you an idea of class prices, Half and Half is the low end of my price range, with classes varying from $15/£10 to about $40/£30.)

$150 USD	£110 GBP

PLEASE NOTE: my class registration system is not automated – I am old school and add you to the class myself! You’ll receive a payment receipt email straight away, then your registration will be processed within 48 hours (usually quicker, but I don’t work Sundays). If you don’t receive a welcome email, check your spam (and your forum account, if you’re an existing student!), and if it’s not there, just send me an email so I can chase up anything that has gone astray! If you pay from a different email address than you would like to use for receiving class emails, that would also be something to let me know in an email please.

If you’d like to gift the class to a friend, use the sign up button as normal, then email me and let me know your friend’s name and email address. Thanks for being such an awesome friend!

Here’s an example of a half and half page I’ve shared in the past. Not to worry if you cringe when I cover half a sheet of background paper in this video. We’re going to cover your options for building those half and half backgrounds, including taping them together instead of layering over the top, if that’s what you prefer!

All the layouts in this post are half and half style pages I have made and shared recently. They give you an idea of my style, but everything in the class will be new and unseen.

Comments are turned off purely because they get targeted by spammers, but please do not hesitate to drop me an email if you have any questions at all! Thanks so much! I can’t wait to see you in class so soon!

My last live video for January’s kit features a Jedi photo several of you have been challenging me to use all month. Again I needed to add a background, and I chose a neutral from my first collection with American Crafts. I also added a Heidi Swapp stencil to create the background with a Distress Oxide ink from a previous kit. I love the tiny detail that the Crafty Jen Schow stamps add to the layering as well. That’s something that obviously optional, but I think little tiny things like this make a big difference to my love of layers.

I know I say this in so many videos, but I really do believe you can layer and layer and layer as long as you keep most of your angles square. The only really angled piece here is that double frame die-cut over on the left edge. Everything else is either horizontal or vertical, and that means you don’t tilt your head as you look at different elements. If layering is something that always leaves you a bit frustrated, this is definitely something to keep in mind. Keep everything or almost everything at right angles.

I do have some leftovers from the January kit. Not a huge amount, and no big pieces of paper. A little less than half of each set of stickers and a decent number of die-cuts. More washi flower petals. More words on the Thickers sheet, and heaps more tiny gems. I’m going to roll over the gems to work with my February kit, and I know I want to work more with the rainbow die. I will keep these extras together though, and usually after I have had a little break from these supplies, I’ll have a few more ideas in how to bring them together. Lately I’ve been approaching these after-the-month-ends pages without filming them. It’s quite a therapeutic process to work on alongside homework or homeschool, where I can scrap without needing my full undivided attention like in a video!

At any rate, our next live we move to the February kit and the March kit goes live for shopping (from a shop or from your stash). I scrap live on Facebook around 1:30pm Monday and 9:30am Friday, UK time. But everything stays available for you to watch at any time that suits your schedule.

For the supplies in the January 2021 Best of Both Worlds kit, see the second half of this post. You can create a similar kit from your own stash or add things to your shopping cart – all angles welcome!

To see the current kit, whenever you see this post, you can always find it on this affiliate link.

If you create something inspired by this scrapbook page or the kit, please tag me and add the hashtag #shimellebobw. I would love to see what you make!

We’ve come to the point in my kit that I’ve run out of sheets to use as a background! Today I picked a neutral from way back in my very first collection with American Crafts, and built lots of layers on top with the remaining scraps of patterned paper and lots of die-cuts too.

Yet again, I filled a frame with something that wasn’t a photo! This time it was patterned paper. I also pulled out the rainbow stencil from a previous kit to add more of a particular colour to the mix.

For the supplies in the January 2021 Best of Both Worlds kit – including those washi tape flowers and the pack of die-cuts I layered here – see the second half of this post. You can create a similar kit from your own stash or add things to your shopping cart – it’s all good!

To see the current kit, whenever you see this post, you can always find it on this affiliate link.

If you create something inspired by this scrapbook page or the kit, please tag me and add the hashtag #shimellebobw. I would love to see what you make!

The shortest video from January is this one – a 20 minute speed (for me!) scrapping session following one of the January PageMaps sketches. Even with the sketch, I didn’t get it nearly done in the 20 minutes, but I did get it finished off camera!

I added washi tape flowers after this video, as well as the title lettering and some of the Crate Paper stickers to embellish. This time I did use the frame die-cut for a photo!

For the supplies in the January 2021 Best of Both Worlds kit, see the second half of this post. You can create a similar kit from your own stash or add things to your shopping cart – it’s all good!

To see the current kit, whenever you see this post, you can always find it on this affiliate link.

If you create something inspired by this scrapbook page or the kit, please tag me and add the hashtag #shimellebobw. I would love to see what you make!

Covering two-thirds of a page with one patterned paper and bringing lots of colour and embellishment to the remaining third of the page is a great formula for scrapbooking with just one photo – or possibly two small prints. This page composition is a great way to incorporate bold, colourful patterned papers you don’t want to cover up, but this time around I actually used a black and white paper to contrast against the literal rainbow of colour in that top third.

This was the only page in the January videos where I used the rainbow die but I have plenty of ideas to use it again in future. I love adding elements like stamps, stencils, dies, and ink pads as stash building elements, so we can continue to use those pieces in future!

For the supplies in the January 2021 Best of Both Worlds kit, see the second half of this post. You can create a similar kit from your own stash or add things to your shopping cart – it’s all good!

To see the current kit, whenever you see this post, you can always find it on this affiliate link.

If you create something inspired by this scrapbook page or the kit, please tag me and add the hashtag #shimellebobw. I would love to see what you make!

I knew when I added the woodgrain patterned paper to the January Best of Both Worlds kit, I would use it as a background. Because I am nothing if not predictable. Or if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Somewhere between those two! Labels are another classic, and then I threw some camera motifs in too, because yep: this is just what always feels right to me.

In the video, you’ll hear me say I plan to stamp the title in white ink as well as writing the journaling with a white pen. I tried every white ink I had and none of them looked how I imagined on the woodgrain background, so I ended up adding some older white puffy Thickers to spell out the title, to at least keep the aesthetic I had in mind, but it did mean I had to step outside the kit there.

For the supplies in the January 2021 Best of Both Worlds kit, see the second half of this post. You can create a similar kit from your own stash or add things to your shopping cart – everybody is welcome!

To see the current kit, whenever you see this post, you can always find it on this affiliate link.

If you create something inspired by this scrapbook page or the kit, please tag me and add the hashtag #shimellebobw. I would love to see what you make!

Bring on more Disney trip photos: it’s been a year now since I’ve been to a Disney park and in this dark and cold month of more lockdown, I will take all the happy and colourful memories I can get! Today it’s two 4×6 portrait photos of WB hanging out in Andy’s Room – the Toy Story area of Disney’s All-Star Movies resort. And our last stop before the Tragical Express back to the airport!

Don’t forget that frame die-cuts don’t have to hold photos! This film strip shape from Vicki Boutin’s Storyteller Ephemera was perfect for filling with small scraps and embellishments. This page features the January Best of Both Worlds kit. You can create a similar kit from your own stash or add things to your shopping cart – it’s all good!

To see the current kit, whenever you see this post, you can always find it on this affiliate link.

If you create something inspired by this scrapbook page or the kit, please tag me and add the hashtag #shimellebobw. I would love to see what you make!

Schools haven’t reopened here this January and we are back to home learning, which means I’m back to having a small assistant in some of my videos! Today his class were studying Mondrian-influenced art, so we decided to see how I could take that influence over to a scrapbook page.

For the supplies in the January 2021 Best of Both Worlds kit, see the second half of this post. You can create a similar kit from your own stash or add things to your shopping cart – it’s all good!

To see the current kit, whenever you see this post, you can always find it on this affiliate link.

If you create something inspired by this scrapbook page or the kit, please tag me and add the hashtag #shimellebobw. I would love to see what you make!