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

Two little extras today for your Easter weekend: first, it’s not too late to do a little Easter decorating, and Gina Lideros has a project that is quick and easy and perfect to do either by yourself or as a collaborative family project. Then something just for you: a sale on some classes so you can have a calorie-free Easter treat!

To start creating my banner I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut little bunnies out of patterned paper. This file in the Silhouette store works beautifully, but there are plenty of different Easter shapes so you can choose something to your liking.

I thought that the little bunnies could use cute cotton tails, so I applied a small fluffy tail to each one for a quick and easy detail.

I used old book pages for the background of each piece of the banner, sewing them together for a bit more strength and using a border punch at the bottom for a cute scalloped edge. You could easily use patterned paper for this step too – select a small pattern in a pale color or a color that gives you a good contrast with your bunnies.

I added seam binding to the top to bind the banner together. Then I just adhered a bunny to each piece and my banner was ready to hang. I also created a small bunny framed piece by taking strips of patterned paper and adhering them behind a bunny that I cut out using my Silhouette Cameo. It’s the remaining piece from when I cut the bunnies for the banner, so it’s nice to have the potential to use both the positive and the negative when cutting the design!
- Gina

I’m very happy to say I’m in the final stages of a new class – finally! So this weekend I’m offering a special price on some existing courses that complement the new one coming up so soon. Chief among them is Cover to Cover, the course that covers how I went from treating every page like an individual project and just stacking the pages up in endless piles of disorganised craft to putting the book back in scrapbooking and finding an album system that absolutely changed this hobby for me. This is something I also discussed in the audio course format with Noell Hyman in the Story Centred Album recordings, but Cover to Cover is a course of PDF and video content that goes into step by step detail of how I made my photo storage work, how I got all those stacks into albums that made sense to me, and how keeping things really, really simple lit a flame under my creativity to keep making pages that told my stories. This course is normally $30 USD, but over the Easter weekend, it’s just $22. You can read all about the course here, but be sure to come back to this page to pay, as the sign up button on that page will charge you the normal full price.
Sorry this offer has now expired. The class is still available at the full price on the link above.

Next up is Inspired By, a group video workshop where several of us chose something as our inspiration piece then shared how we went from that inspiration to a new finished layout in a start to finish process video. The class includes ten videos plus a reference PDF, and normally costs $15. This weekend, it’s just $10. Again, you can read about the class details here, but be sure to return to this page to purchase so you get the discount!
Sorry this offer has now expired. The class is still available at the full price on the link above.

And the third and final special offer is slightly different. Glitter Girl’s Scrapbooking Survival Guide is a course I originally taught at Two Peas in a Bucket and it hasn’t been available since their closure. This is another thing finally reaching that point where I get to cross it off the list! If you took this class at Two Peas, you do not need to purchase it. We will be adding your access here, but it takes some time as there isn’t an easy way to transfer the list from their site to mine. But those names will start to be added on Tuesday and I will post here when we are through the full list so you can get in touch then if you should have had access and aren’t seeing it in your class list. But for those who have never taken the class, it’s now available for signing up! At Two Peas, the course was broken into two purchases – the ten video Survival Guide class for $25 and an additional extended video (Glitter Girl’s Guide to Stretching your Stash) was an additional purchase. Here, it will all be together for the $25 price on an ordinary day, which is already a saving since you basically get an extra mini workshop for free. But this weekend, you can purchase the full set for $18. That’s eleven videos (including one that is significantly longer than the rest) and five accompanying PDF files to break it all down. Class access for this course will be sent on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 29th and 30th of March.

Some important things
…Class access for Cover to Cover and Inspired By can take up to 24 hours. Class access for Glitter Girl’s Scrapbooking Survival Guide will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. You should receive a welcome email in that time frame, and if it’s your first class purchase here, you’ll also be sent login details in a separate email. They can sometimes go to your spam folder, so keep an eye if you don’t see it in your inbox.
…These classes are all archived and you will access the materials online. They include permanent access and you can access them any time, at any pace, and in any order you fancy, as long as you have an internet connection. If you already have an account and want to check what classes you already have, you can find that here, but remember your classes won’t be visible until you sign in with your username and password.
…Sale prices end at 6am UK time, Tuesday 29th March 2016.
…You can always contact me at shimelle@gmail.com if you have any questions with your purchase.

That’s enough blather from me! Have a beautiful Easter weekend and do not miss the fabulous Easter crafting tutorials from Heather Leopard while you’re here!

Comment [12]

UPDATE: this sale has now ended. All three class are available at any time, however, at the full price. You can find a link to each sign up page in the text below. If you have any questions, please send me a message so I can help! Thank you for all your support. -S.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome back to more regular posting. I’m so happy to have heard things like ‘I haven’t scrapped in a year but I made a page today and now I’m hooked again’. Seriously, that Made My Day. What you’ve seen so far this week is the sort of thing you’ll see every week here now, with a new challenge every Monday, Glitter Girl always posting a video on a Wednesday, then an assortment of scrapbooking topics on the other days of the week. I hope that balance of a little bit of schedule, a little bit of spontaneity works as well for you as a reader as it does for me at my crafting desk!

Now there’s another post with new pages coming up a little later today, and you still have this weekend to participate in the Scrapbook a Selfie challenge, but I have one little extra for you: a sale! This weekend only you can grab some online scrapbooking workshops at a discount.

First, there’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Scrapbooking. This is a class I taught at Two Peas and I haven’t had it available to purchase here until today. The Two Peas price was $25 and that’s what it will be here normally, but this weekend you can sign up for $18. The course includes 5 videos, each with a corresponding PDF, with a total of forty-two scrapbook pages found only in that workshop. You can read more about the class in this original post but remember to come back to this post to sign up! While this class will feature supplies that are no longer on the shelf in most shops, it is not a class that relies on you using the exact same products and is designed for you to adapt all the ideas to the stash you already have to hand.

Next up is Scrapbook Remix. Originally taught in 2012, this is a workshop all about mixing product from a variety of manufacturers and collections, with tips on what to look for to find things that will work together. Includes a series of eight videos and twenty PDFs (plus a few little extras), and is normally $25. This weekend, you can sign up for $18. The original post about Remix includes the breakdown of class materials, but make sure you come back to this page to sign up with the discounted price.

Then there’s Ready Set Scrapbook. This course came out in the middle of last year and it’s already really affordable – it’s only $8 full price for three videos. This weekend it’s just $5! Ready Set Scrapbook uses the True Stories collection in the examples. You can totally follow the steps with any products and papers you like, but if you have True Stories papers just waiting for you to get cutting and pasting, then watch these videos and have an easy time making pages! You can read the full class details here, then come back to this page to get the sale price.

HOW IT WORKS
All of these classes are in an archived format. When you sign up, you’ll receive a payment receipt through Paypal (you can pay by credit/debit card or from your Paypal account) then your registration will be processed by an actual person (me!) and you’ll receive a second email that welcomes you to class. If you’ve never taken a class at shimelle.com, you’ll receive one more email with your login details for the class side of the website. Once you have the email from me, you can sign in and access all the materials and work through them at your own pace. If you want to chat about anything or ask any questions, I’m just at the end of an email – send me a note or a tweet and I’ll help in any way I can! I aim to make sure you have class access within twenty-four hours of your purchase. If you can’t see an email in that time, let me know so I can get that sorted for you.

Thanks so much for the warm welcome back and I hope your weekend is filled with new happy memories!

Comment [19]

It’s just hours from my favourite time of year – Journal your Christmas time! The 2015 forums are open and discussions have started, and there are even two new videos posted for members that show my process for getting ready (it doesn’t take long) and staying organised with this project amongst the busy days of the Christmas season. But let me slow down just a minute.

Journal your Christmas is a project that has been near and dear to my heart for twelve years now. It was first a journal I created just for myself as I worked to ‘take back Christmas’ and rekindle the feeling I remembered in the season but wasn’t finding in everyday life at that particular time. That journal turned everything around for me and my love of Christmas has stayed with me ever since. The following year, I used that journal to develop a set of writing prompts for scrapbookers and journalers with the idea that you could write every day or just some days, choosing the topics that spoke to you most. There is no pressure to create an entry for every day or every topic in any one year, and you’re encouraged to go back to that book that you started with good intentions but didn’t get anywhere near Christmas day in your documentation. With that in mind, I set out from day one that this would be an annual project and if you joined in once, you could participate as many years as you wanted at no extra cost… which means there are a few people who have gone through the class more than ten times all from that initial purchase! I’m so honoured that JYC is part of Christmas for many of you.

The video above has a little explanation of the basics and what you’ll receive this year – and that’s a daily PDF and a new daily video. There is already a library of daily 3×4 cards from last December, and these are new videos with a different format. Still on the shorter side to make them fit in your holiday schedule, but rather than just a card each day, each video has a balance of crafting – sometimes an embellishment, sometimes a stamping technique or a journaling technique or working with a photo – and the theme explored in that day’s PDF. It feels quite cohesive for me this year, looking at the PDF and the videos together, and I’m excited to work in my journal alongside you. (I am working ahead a little so my journal can still be very much the real events and photos and thoughts of Christmas in our home, but in a way I can share with you without a delay.)

When you sign up, you receive access to all future years but also all the archived material from the past years of Journal your Christmas, so if you want to sign up now and look through the daily videos from last year or read all the prompts in one big binge session tomorrow, you definitely can. There are also printable and digital files in the archives and you can see the gallery from each year where participants share their work.

What’s included in Journal your Christmas?
Thirty-seven days of inspiration delivered right to your inbox. We start on the first of December and run to the sixth of January, which is the twelfth day of Christmas.
Each daily email includes a full-colour, printable PDF that covers a particular topic in depth with ideas for journaling, photographing, and crafting. This year, it also includes an accompanying video.
There is also a private forum to chat and share your work with other JYC participants.

What makes your classes different to others?
All of my classes include permanent access, something I have always taken very seriously. That means when you join the project, you can participate for as many years as you would like at no extra cost.

I donate £1 for every class purchase to The Girls’ Fund at Plan, a charity that helps millions of girls who otherwise wouldn’t have access to education or basic survival needs.

The PDF prompts come right to your inbox – you don’t have to sign into the website daily to view them – though they are archived for you online so if you need to go back or want to download several to work on while you’re offline for a while, that is always an option. (You may or may not be able to see the videos straight from your inbox – it depends on the device you’re using and your mail software settings, but likewise, the streaming videos are embedded in both the emails and the class forum so you can view them at the time that works best for you.)

We really embrace variety and doing what works best for you. You can just take pictures or just write words or you can create a beautiful canvas every day – it’s completely up to you and I love every way the project may be approached. That includes how many entries you will make. You can certainly add something to your album every day if you would like, but it’s not a requirement. When I started this project, I designed it with the idea that you would cover a few of the topics in the first year, then in your second year pick a few more, and so on until you had a very full album you loved that documented many years of Christmas celebration. So whether you want to create every day, just now and then, or just take notes in December then put it all together at a quieter time of year, you are welcome to take the avenue that makes you happiest!

How do I join Journal your Christmas?
Easy! Just choose your currency and click the button below for your choice of UK pounds or US dollars. If neither of those is your currency, you can still join us! Choose either and the payment will convert automatically when you make your payment.

You can pay by credit/debit card or Paypal account. If you would like your prompts to come to a different email address than the one on your Paypal account, please be sure to leave a note in the message to seller section with the email address you would like to use. (If you miss that, send me an email to let me know, with both email addresses. Orders can take up to 24 hours to process. If you haven’t received your class registration after 24 hours, just email me and I’ll make sure your registration is completed and ready for you to get started!

Can I give Journal your Christmas as a gift?
Yes! Just click to pay above as normal, then leave the email address for the gift recipient in the notes section. If you miss the notes, email me. If you’d like me to send an email explaining that the class is a gift, I’m happy to do so – just let me know your preference of being named or anonymous!

Is there a deadline for signing up?
No. You can sign up any day of the year. The class starts on the first of December, so if you want to be in on day one, that can be part of the fun, but if you sign up later, you’ll still have access to all the materials, and you can do them in order or skip around – there is thought to the order but it’s not so regimented that you can’t change it up!

As a previous participant, what do I need to do?
If you participated last year and your email address has not changed, you don’t need to do anything to join us again. (The first message sent also has instructions on how to unsubscribe if you don’t want to receive the emails this year.) If your email address has changed since last year, you’ll want to update your account on the forum. If you need any help getting your email updated, please send a message to this special address and include both the old and new email address so your account can be corrected.

Previous participants can access the class forum any time. If you do not remember your login details at the forum, click at the top right of the forum screen to log in. When that page loads, there is a forgotten password link below the boxes. Follow the instructions from there and your username and a new password will be sent automatically. (If you don’t see it straight away, check your spam folder.)

Any other questions, please let me know. I’m looking forward to creating a Christmas journal full of happiness this year, and I’d love for you to join me and so many dedicated Christmas journalers for JYC2015.

Comment [70]

While trying to find the right balance in living life first and scrapbooking it second (and possibly remembering to do the laundry third), I’ve found myself very grateful for a few strategies that have always helped me get the most from my scrapbooking supplies and my scrapbooking time. I’ve long wanted to avoid those creative moments of just staring at a piece of paper and willing it to tell me exactly what to do, but now I am so aware of any time I spend standing still at my scrapping desk. I need to move, I need to cut paper, I need to stick things together with glue and write things down with my pen and all those basic things that we know are at the heart of this craft but can often put to the side while we scroll through another hundred ideas on Pinterest, looking for the very best technique to try on our next page.

Ready Set Scrapbook is an online video workshop designed to help you stop staring at the paper and start your scrapping engine. In three videos, it covers three quick composition strategies that help me work quickly while making use of the supplies I love (rather than saving them for a rainy day) and still making sure my photos and writing are at the heart of my designs, even though I love my embellishment. I hope you will find it useful in creating pages that are filled with love and made with whatever time you have to scrapbook right now.

The full course is 82 minutes of video divided into three episodes, and also includes a PDF with six page examples – the three pages shown from start to finish as well as three additional designs following the same steps. All six examples feature the True Stories scrapbooking collection, but the tips are not specific to these papers and are designed to allow you to work with any supplies you select. There is also a forum to discuss and share your work (or you can share your pages on social media via a class hashtag), and you’re also welcome to email me with any questions as you work through the course at your own pace.

This class is just £5 or $8, and if you have watched many of my videos, there will certainly be some familiarity here as I’m sharing the process that is tried and true for me! But the pages are all new and I have not presented these design steps as one complete process before, right through from a new supply purchase through to three completed layouts. You do not need special tools to follow along – I do use a heart punch on one page, but nothing is cut with a Silhouette or other fancy gizmo. The pages are all 12×12 and feature either one or two photos each, using 4×4 or 4×6 prints, but the number and size of the photos could be varied for your needs.

Students who came to my classes at Chocolate Quente in Portugal, don’t sign up! You will have access to this as part of the class you attended and do not need to pay. Thank you so much for coming to class.

You’re welcome to pay in dollars or pounds by clicking the corresponding image above. This will take you to Paypal, where you can either log in and pay from your Paypal account OR complete your purchase with a debit or credit card without logging into any account. All class registrations are processed by hand, so this is not an instant access item. You will receive your receipt email instantly then a class welcome email, which I always aim to process within twenty-four hours. If you don’t receive that welcome, do check your spam folder and then don’t hesitate to email me to make sure everything is all clear for you!

Thanks so much for your continued support, and whether you join the class or not, I hope you find yourself scrapping more than staring when it comes to all that pretty paper in your collection!

Comment [28]

The first time I was a guest on the Paperclipping Roundtable, I sat in the basement of my grandparents’ house, and I distinctly remember my feet bouncing on the floor the entire time from nerves. Somehow I don’t remember how we planned that particular date, as it fell during a visit to my family that I now refer to as ‘the summer my life became an episode of Glee’, because I booked a trip home and then my mother told me I had a part in a musical. Because that is the kind of stuff that happens in my family. I digress. That summer was many years ago now and that first episode of the PRT for me was their thirty-eighth recording: A Metaphysical Bandwagon. Since then, I’ve joined the panel on a total of twenty-three episodes, most recently the CHA report, which is the only episode where we all sit in one room and can actually see each other’s faces. After that recording, Noell asked if I could stick around and discuss something, and she had a great idea that I’m now thrilled to share with you: an all-audio scrapbooking class.

Noell and I recorded about six hours of discussion on a theme: how albums can tell a specific story. This is mostly the two of us discussing our album philosophies in detail with concrete examples, so we share what does and does not work for us, but we also share how it works so you get an idea of all the different page themes and journaling ideas that help us create albums we feel can be read like a story. This is something that inspires both of us creatively and also something that helps the people in our lives who are not scrapbookers to understand our passion for this hobby, because the album makes sense to them even if they have no idea what paper collection is on trend or how to operate a manual die cutter. Izzy also makes a few appearances, getting us to clarify things and sharing ideas for how he sees the story concept working, as someone who isn’t sticking pretty paper together all the time. (He also did the audio production for this course, which is something he does all the time, so the sound quality is professional.)

You can download all the audio files and listen to them on your iPod, phone, computer, or whatever other gadget you use (sorry, don’t think we’re releasing this on vinyl record but otherwise you’re good), and there’s a thread on the Paperclipping forum for discussion if you want to chat about anything. We’re also hosting a webinar for those who sign up straight away, so if you have any questions, we can answer them easily.

You can find all the details and sign up for The Story Centered Album – A Deep Dive Audio Course here.

Those of you who follow my classes here may know I have a more visual course on my own album philosophy, and that continues to be available! It’s called Cover to Cover and includes twenty-five colour PDFs and a series of videos to complement the reading. Cover to Cover discusses more than just my story-centred ‘upgrade’ albums, and really outlines my whole process of all my albums, my photo storage, how I add more photos to my albums, and so forth. Cover to Cover also includes a video workshop I originally taught for True Scrap called “Go with the Flow”, about designing with continuity in embellishment, colour, and other visual cues throughout one album. The early feedback from those who have taken both courses is that they are a good set together, since they each have some ideas in common (the album that tells a specific story) but plenty of different material too (Cover to Cover is just my own process, so you’re not hearing from Noell or anyone else; Story-Centered Albums is focusing on a single type of album, not the entire process). I hope you find that to be true if you’re interested in taking both – it was certainly our aim.

Other things you might find interesting as a complement to the audio course:
The Perfect Collection and Return to the Collection – video workshops on creating stacks of pages (for one album or many) from one collection pack of paper. The first is more focused on stretching the paper to many pages; the second looks more specifically at embellishments.
This post with a look at my ‘early years’ album.
This Glitter Girl episode that shares the Alice album and some title pages from albums we discuss in the new course
The Story Albums episode of the PRT, with Noell and I but also Stacy Julian and Ashli Oliver for a shorter audio discussion but with more voices.

Thanks so much to Noell and Izzy for inviting me along on their new innovation, and thanks to you for checking out this latest scrapbooking course!

Comment [8]

With just a few hours of November remaining, it’s high time I share a bit more about detail about Journal your Christmas 2014. While there has never been any doubt to me that I would be running Journal your Christmas this year, as always, I just wanted to make sure all the updates and extras for this year were ready before I announced them! And I am happy to say this year, there is one very big update indeed.

(Now you see why I usually just show you my hands. Yes, I know it’s out of focus, but it’s also the last day of November. Something had to give, I guess!)

The major update for 2014 is a video element: every day there is a very short video with a 3×4 card. These are really quick! That way you don’t have to carve out more time from a busy time of the year. These are around two minutes, perfect for giving you a creative short cut if you need some inspiration or would benefit from a bit of a process to follow. I’m using my Christmas in a Box kit for these cards, but the ideas are easy to adapt to any supplies you might have on hand, and likewise you can adjust for different sizes of pockets or pages to work with whatever album you’ve chosen this year.

If you’re new to all this, things may be a little muddy still! Journal your Christmas is a project that has been part of my life since 2003, and an online scrapbooking class every Christmas since 2004. It is very near and dear to my heart, and it’s always my very favourite scrapbooking project of the year. I’d suggest reading the basics here, which includes my firm belief that you do not need much time each day to work on this project nor do you technically need to prepare anything in advance. But here are the biggest questions to make it easy:

What’s included in Journal your Christmas?
Thirty-seven days of inspiration delivered right to your inbox. We start on the first of December and run to the sixth of January, which is the twelfth day of Christmas.
Each daily email includes a full-colour, printable PDF that covers a particular topic in depth with ideas for journaling, photographing, and crafting. This year, it also includes a short video sharing the process for creating a 3×4 card for your album.
There is also a private forum to chat and share your work with other JYC participants.

What makes your classes different to others?
All of my classes include permanent access, something I have always taken very seriously. That means when you join the project, you can participate for as many years as you would like at no extra cost.

I donate £1 for every class purchase to The Girls’ Fund at Plan, a charity that helps millions of girls who otherwise wouldn’t have access to education or basic survival needs.

The PDF prompts come right to your inbox – you don’t have to sign into the website daily to view them – though they are archived for you online so if you need to go back or want to download several to work on while you’re offline for a while, that is always an option. (You may or may not be able to see the videos straight from your inbox – it depends on the device you’re using and your mail software settings, but likewise, the streaming videos are embedded in both the emails and the class forum so you can view them at the time that works best for you.)

We really embrace variety and doing what works best for you. You can just take pictures or just write words or you can create a beautiful canvas every day – it’s completely up to you and I love every way the project may be approached. That includes how many entries you will make. You can certainly add something to your album every day if you would like, but it’s not a requirement. When I started this project, I designed it with the idea that you would cover a few of the topics in the first year, then in your second year pick a few more, and so on until you had a very full album you loved that documented many years of Christmas celebration. So whether you want to create every day, just now and then, or just take notes in December then put it all together at a quieter time of year, you are welcome to take the avenue that makes you happiest!

How do I join Journal your Christmas?
Easy! Just choose your currency and click the button below for your choice of UK pounds or US dollars. If neither of those is your currency, you can still join us! Choose either and the payment will convert automatically when you make your payment.

You can pay by credit/debit card or Paypal account. If you would like your prompts to come to a different email address than the one on your Paypal account, please be sure to leave a note in the message to seller section with the email address you would like to use. (If you miss that, send me an email to let me know, with both email addresses. Orders can take up to 24 hours to process. If you haven’t received your class registration after 24 hours, just email me and I’ll make sure your registration is completed and ready for you to get started!

Can I give Journal your Christmas as a gift?
Yes! Just click to pay above as normal, then leave the email address for the gift recipient in the notes section. If you miss the notes, email me. If you’d like me to send an email explaining that the class is a gift, I’m happy to do so – just let me know your preference of being named or anonymous!

Is there a deadline for signing up?
No. You can sign up any day of the year. The class starts on the first of December, so if you want to be in on day one, that can be part of the fun, but if you sign up later, you’ll still have access to all the materials, and you can do them in order or skip around – there is thought to the order but it’s not so regimented that you can’t change it up!

As a previous participant, what do I need to do?
If you participated last year and your email address has not changed, you don’t need to do anything to join us again. (The first message sent also has instructions on how to unsubscribe if you don’t want to receive the emails this year.) If your email address has changed since last year, please send a message to this special address and include both the old and new email address so your account can be updated.

Previous participants can access the class forum any time. If you do not remember your login details at the forum, click at the top right of the forum screen to log in. When that page loads, there is a forgotten password link below the boxes. Follow the instructions from there and your username and a new password will be sent automatically. (If you don’t see it straight away, check your spam folder.)

Any other questions, please let me know. I’m looking forward to creating a very special Christmas journal this year, and I’d love for you to join me and so many dedicated Christmas journalers for JYC2014.

Comment [15]

Today I’m delighted to introduce a new online scrapbooking workshop: Inspired By.

I’ve worked with some of my favourite scrapbookers to break down how we translate different sources of inspiration into unique scrapbook pages, and we’re sharing that process with you through ten videos and an accompanying PDF for reference. This workshop is self-paced, so you can view all the videos now or any time!

Across the ten videos, we take inspiration from the photos we will scrapbook, a patterned paper collection, geometric graphics, party decor, mixed media art, watercolours, commercial illustration, interior design, text art, and an existing scrapbook page. Then we walk through our individual scrapping process from taking that inspiration and turning it into something we love for our albums. It’s inspiration without sacrificing personal style, and we’d love for you to join in the fun.

I’m thrilled that Nancy Damiano, Paige Evans, Stephanie Bryan, Marcy Penner, Jen Kinkade, Wilna Furstenberg, Laura Craigie, and Jill Sprott were able to join with me and each share a brand new video. That makes eight videos, and there are two from me to add up to ten. And if you like getting a bit computery with your crafting, there are also some gorgeous bonus downloads: printables and cut files designed by Wilna and Jen.

Your registration includes the ten videos, accompanying reference PDF, bonus printable and cut file downloads, and a private message board to discuss things with the contributors, chat with other participants, and share your own work. I have always offered permanent access to class materials and that is included here as well. I know it’s a tangent from this actual workshop but in light of recent things in our industry, I want to address what I mean by permanent access to materials. I have been teaching online for more than ten years and all the materials from even that very first class are still available to those participants. Yes, passwords may be forgotten or email addresses may change, but I can help with those instances and though it may occasionally take a bit of time to track things down from all those years ago, we can and do get that remedied for past class participants. (One big change last year was automating the password reset on our class forum, so if you forget your login name or password, you can get that in moments and don’t have to wait for me to read your email.) Yes, I changed formats many years ago from a set up that was more like an email group where we all chatted back and forth to using message board as a classroom set up, but all the previous materials have continued to be maintained. If I were to upgrade again in the future, that would be my plan. And in addition I have what I call my ‘hit by a bus policy’, which is a dreadfully terrible name for how I have tried to do all in my power to make sure that if something horrible happened and I went out of business or disappeared from the face of the earth next week, all my customers would continue to have access to everything for many more years than they would probably want to reference those materials. I can’t guarantee that policy will work in every way because I am most definitely not volunteering to be hit by a bus just to test it out. But this is something I have meant since the very first day I said I was offering permanent access. It makes sense for me and I’m happy to offer it, and I’m sorry for the tangent, but the notion of losing trust due to decisions made by other companies is one that plays on my mind.

Also related: yes, students from my Two Peas workshops will soon be able to access them via my own site. You will be sent an email when that is ready and I will also post here (so if your email has changed since your Two Peas days, we will be able to sort that out for you). I know it’s taking a long time and all I can say is that everything is taking me a long time right now, and Wonder Boy is worth it for me. But I can see the end of that project in sight and I’m so happy to be able to extend those workshops under my own little umbrella.

Right: back to Inspired By! It’s £10 British Pounds or $15 US Dollars. If neither of those is your currency, that’s okay – you can choose either and it will automatically convert. Check XE for exchange rates to get an idea of the price in numbers that make sense for you!

If you’re ready, click to sign up!

After you sign up, you’ll be given access to the materials, generally within 24 hours. (I try not to work on Sundays but also try to make sure process registrations last thing on Saturday night and first thing on Monday morning!) If you have made your payment and do not receive a welcome email within that time frame, please double check your message hasn’t gone to your spam folder, then email me to let me know. If you are paying from a different email address than you would like to use for the workshop access (including giving the class as a gift), leave a note in the comments of your purchase – or send me an email if you miss that step. Any questions, please do not hesitate to email me and I will get you an answer as soon as possible.

Comment [28]

In 2012, I taught one of the sessions for True Scrap 3, and my contribution was a forty minute video workshop entitled The Perfect Collection. The idea was to take a collection pack of patterned papers and use it until it was all gone, creating a stack of layouts that stretched that paper investment to lots of scrapbooking! That workshop remains available, but it is time to return to that idea with something new.

Return to the Collection is a new workshop here at shimelle.com. Earlier this year, it was open for Early Bird Registration, but it is now open to all and will remain available. Unlike many of my workshops which are PDF based but with some accompanying videos, this one is video accompanied by notes. Those of you who prefer to watch will find plenty of new material here – none of the video in this workshop has been shared in any other class nor on the blog – it is all exclusive to the workshop. There are also some printable notes to help (and so you can have still shots of the completed layouts) but these notes support the videos rather than the other way around.

Return to the Collection showcases six layouts from start to finish, using one collection pack – the Wild & Free collection from Glitz Design – but instead of the limited embellishment focus of The Perfect Collection, this time the pages feature a more embellished style and a range of techniques.

…Examples include both single and double page layouts and a variety of numbers and sizes of the photographs. My pages are all 12×12 (making a 24×12 double page) but you could adapt the ideas to other page sizes if you prefer.
…Techniques and design ideas are easily adapted to the collection of your choice. You’re welcome to follow along with Wild & Free, but my aim is to give you the confidence to use these tips with the papers you love. In fact, many of the early bird participants reported that Wild & Free was really not their style, but they were still able to apply the strategies to papers they loved. That’s exactly what I hoped for, since my goal is always to help you find things that will work in your own way so you find some creative independence rather than just duplicating any particular project.
…The design process for each layout includes building and embellishing, with all of that explained on video, including my reasons behind each choice. I do not teach in a ‘glue this here and stamp that there’ fashion, and always value the ‘why’ more than the ‘do’ in sharing my scrapbooking process.
…The page designs can be used together for a cohesive series of pages or separately across a variety of photos and albums – whatever suits your needs best!

Once you purchase the class, you’ll receive access within 24 hours, with details sent to you by email. (If you don’t receive a message within 24 hours, check your spam folder just in case, then get in touch so I can help!) Shimelle.com classes are accessed via a forum, so if you’ve taken a class before, this will be added to your account. If it’s your first class, you’ll also receive login details for your new account. When the class is live, you will have access to everything all at once – it’s not a daily email class. Like all shimelle.com classes, you’ll have permanent access to all the materials so there is no rush to work through the videos. You can view them any time you like.

Choose your currency and click to sign up for the class. You can pay by credit/debit card or by logging into your PayPal account. The email address on the payment is where your registration will be sent. If that email address is not correct (or if you want to give the class to a friend as a gift), then leave a note in the ‘notes to seller’ section with the correct email address. If you accidentally forget that step or have any other problems, email me. You’ll receive a PayPal email receipt when your payment has been made, then class access within 24 hours.

Questions and Answers
Do I need to take The Perfect Collection first?
No, it’s not a requirement. There are a few references in the dialogue of the class, but they are simple enough to understand without having taken the class. If you prefer more embellished styles, The Perfect Collection may not be the best class for you – it is more aimed at stretching a collection page to many layouts without having to sacrifice colour and pattern. But of course you are welcome to take both! The Perfect Collection is still available here.

Do I have to have the same collection pack for the workshop to make sense?
No, not at all. The papers are all referenced with explanations and descriptions that make it easy to apply the same tips to any paper collection of your choice.

What other supplies are you using in this workshop?
For the embellishment, you’ll see many little things from different manufacturers and collections. The idea is to start with a collection pack of papers, but not to feel you have to then buy every pack of embellishments in the line. Instead, pick from your existing stash to find frames, die-cuts, stickers, brads, and stamps to create unique combinations. You don’t need to use the same exact products as in the video. For example, there is a fabric-covered brad by Cosmo Cricket on one page. You wouldn’t need that pack of brads specifically. You might have fabric-covered brads in your stash, and if so it’s easy to select one that will work. If not, that’s still fine – use a plain or epoxy brad. No brads? No problem – substitute an item that is of a similar shape and size – like a button or a maybe a flair badge. This way you are free to use what you love and what you have on hand, while at the same time learning to embellish on your own so you can add as much or as little as you like without needing to keep looking back at a reference point once you have the hang of it. That’s the goal!

Any other questions, please feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer. Thanks so much!

Comment [23]