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

The results for the recent monochromatic turn of our weekly challenges really gave my face the human version of the heart-eyes emoji. Seeing all those layouts in just one dominant colour each made for such a happy grid of inspiration! And when we set that challenge, I was convinced I would go into vastly familiar territory and create in shades of pink or turquoise.

Then I found this photo and decided against being predictable. (This is The Boy at just a few months older than Wonder Boy is now. Obviously that fills my creative heart with glee. And more heart-eye emoji faces.) Red it is!

But red is such a bold colour that even as I pulled out a desk full of red supplies, I could see the photo fading into some lost dimension. I tried a few things to see if I could find a good ground of compromise between the ideas of ‘I heart this photo!’ and ‘All The Red!’ and some worked, some didn’t, and some are up for debate.

What didn’t work: crisp white. It just didn’t work with this photo and it felt sterile to me. I know, I know, how many times will I pull out white cardstock for a background because it looks beautiful all over the internet and then put it away because it doesn’t look beautiful on my own desk? Apparently that number is somewhere near infinity.
Also: overloaded embellishment. I probably pulled out three times as much as what is here. But I just got to a point where I pulled a bunch back and sighed a very zen sigh and took it as a sign that this is how much was meant to me there, no more. It does mean it’s a bit simpler than some of my pages, but there is room for that!

What did work: distressed off-white and cream. That chevron background (from Crate Paper) was where I started with choosing the vintage tones and then just found whatever had bright reds but not bright whites, and that ended up being Cosmo and Sassafras. I’m starting to see a theme with that lately.
Also: less embellishment and bringing in brown, which I started thinking was a total cheat but I liked the look and the more I looked at it, I realised the brown is really just a shade of the distressed off-white (albeit at the extreme ends of that shade card) and that means this is not a monochromatic layout at all now. Well, hmpf. But I wouldn’t have ended up here if I hadn’t started by aiming to make it a monochromatic layouts, so I think that’s still in the spirit of the challenge, if not the letter. I am totally good with that if ever happens with your own challenge projects, by the way!

What is up for debate: the red letter stickers. I really like elements that you have to look closely to see, and I find when I’m filming videos I have to keep asking myself if it will be clear on camera. Just because I can see it with my own eyes in person doesn’t mean it will show up with that same clarity when photographed, of course. The red letters are exactly that sort of thing: I know they are subtle but I am sure some of you would quickly say that choice is not one you would make in your own album. Totally cool. My thought was that the giant glittery ampersand makes you realise that the brown letters are probably not all of the title, so you’ll look back if you miss the red letters on first glance. But I totally accept that easy to read titles are a better choice for some! So although all of this design stuff is clearly up for debate really and you’re welcome to prefer crisp white to distressed off-white any day of the week, I think the monochromatic letter stickers are probably the thing worth thinking about whether you would personally like or dislike in your album – and then if you dislike it, you’ll never waste time or supplies on trying it!

Since we just had a challenge a couple weeks back to make a monochromatic layout, that part is optional. Your real challenge here is to scrapbook an older photograph. You can decide what is ‘older’ in your photo library! But probably not something from the past week. Any style and any interpretation welcome – just let us see what you’re making!

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Yep, that title line is horrible and I love it anyway. Please sing it at least once if that song is now in your head. Thank you. But onward to some actual scrapbooking! I asked Cheryl from Scrapstorian to revive an old scrapbooking technique and she pulled out a page template designed to colour block a scrapbook page. While I never owned the exact one she used, I did have plenty similar items! Maybe twelve years ago I was teaching workshops using the Deluxe Cuts colour blocking templates – please put your hands up if you remember those or still have them in your stash. The idea of colour blocking takes me back to that phase…

…and also to this phase! This was my scrapping style circle 2000, and in fact this layout was in the CK Hall of Fame book in 2001 (bonus points for anyone who is reading this who is actually too young to remember 2001, scrapbooking or otherwise). It was a time when I had basically no access to patterned paper and all of my pages were made with solid cardstock. I got to a point where I did a lot of experimenting with randomly wide open spaces, and it all went a bit Mary-Quant-gone-wrong sometimes but it was a phase that helped me find what did and did not work in terms of design. But it was almost always colour blocking, even if I didn’t know to call it that.

Back to 2016 and trying to figure out how I can mix that old school technique with my current style and have it actually be useful and enjoyable! The first big difference for me is to swap all that solid cardstock for patterned paper. I keep very little solid cardstock on hand these days compared to patterned paper. Patterned paper is definitely what feels right to me, and there’s no reason why it can’t be used in the same way. My usual practice is to use the more subtle patterns for the bigger expanses of the page if I’m scrapbooking more than one photo on that layout. I started with that blue paper in the background from Starshine and added a dark blue crosshatch (a Starshine b-side) and the yellow print from an older October Afternoon collection (Midway, I think).

In terms of making things useful, colour blocking is a brilliant way to work with that combination I so often try to avoid: one landscape and one portrait photo. These are both printed at 4×6 and if you look at everything at this stage of putting things together, there’s a lot in common with that older layout! Multiple photo mats that are square and even. No angles on anything. Straight lines in the open space (the stitching on the far right on the old layout; the strips of paper at the top of the new layout). But then I got to the point where I wanted to bring it up to date with how I scrapbook today!

This felt like shaking off the things I don’t love about colour blocking. Now there is some movement, with curved shapes and slight angles and overlapping layers. But there’s also purpose. Wonder Boy’s friend in the background of the landscape photo was having a momentary unhappy face, and I have much happier photos of her on other pages in my album. I’m okay with using a bit of embellishment to cover that bit of the photo and that gives a softer line to the top right of that photo – so it’s blocked underneath all that, but not just blocks on the surface. (Also I was really happy I could use that rocket die-cut because it matches the rocket on his shirt, which I made with the same drawing, but that is really not a requirement of scrapbooking and I do not expect you to fire up your lightbox to customise baby clothes to match die cuts. I said I’m not expecting it but I don’t disapprove either.)

Does it still count as colour blocking? I’m voting yes. If nothing else, it is definitely an old page inspiring a new one! But what would Cheryl do with her trusty page template that started all this?

No matter how many times I go through my supplies and “de-stash” or donate items, my Creative Memories page template stays. I’m sure it’s been around for 10 years. It’s purpose used to be to fit as many photos on a page as possible, but since that’s not what I needed here, I had to rethink it.

I wanted lots of colour, so a modified grid design was the answer. Each square of the template became a home for a different patterned paper. It was an easy way to dress up the Shimelle True Stories background.

I loved the pencil lines (and what tool is older than a pencil?) so I doodled around the edges of each paper piece. A vibrant, carefree page is the perfect home for this silly story. Now, if only I was as good at keeping track of teeth as I am photos.

Okay, your turn now! Cheryl and I challenge you to colour block your next page! With or without a template, create a page with blocks of colour or pattern. You can scrap lift either of our pages or come up with something totally your own. You maintain all artistic freedom here, of course! We’d love to see what you make!

Today’s Guest Artist: Cheryl loves to play with paper, sing in the car, and lift heavy stuff. You can find more from Cheryl on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and her blog.

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Nearly two years ago, I started working on this much-anticipated (by me!) bit of documentation – a Project Life baby book to record so much about Wonder Boy’s first year. I wrote that first post with everything thought through in my head and tried to develop a system even though I’m not usually an entirely systematic crafter at all.

Then one year ago, I was nowhere near done with the album, but I wrote again and I still had a working system. And a few months later, I did a video series with ten updates on how I was making some progress card by card. And now we’re in March 2016, which means next month Wonder Boy will be two and it’s time for me to say I am still nowhere near done with that album. In many ways, it would seem I am not even halfway there.

But I’m okay with it!

I am so grateful I decided to have a system even though I normally don’t. I guarantee if I hadn’t had a system in place, this project would be collecting dust on my shelf, no matter what my intentions. Instead, it looks like it’s not even halfway because I’m only on week fifteen of completed layouts like this. But that system has actually let me have a lot more that is already done even if the pages are not complete.
-The photos are printed up to the point where I ran out of Design A page protectors and the remaining photos are all organised in folders by what size they should be printed and what week they are for, and that is backed up in more than one digital place for safety. So that’s a big job done for the entire year of that book.
-The notes that accompany those photos are in two places (a notebook where I wrote by hand and a note taking app on my phone for when that was more convenient) and that big job is done for the entire year too. I just refer to those two sources of journaling when I’m putting weekly layouts together.

So really all I have left is the crafty part and I think it’s perfectly okay to take my time with that. Maybe I should aim to have it finished in a year or two, before he is old enough to realise how slow I am, but sarcastic offspring aside, I’m okay with it. And the biggest reason I’m okay with it is this album has taught me exactly how much I love 12×12 pages.

Don’t get me wrong: I love many things about the pocket page system. I love that you can make it totally easy and if I wanted to convert those photos and notes to a finished album with no further embellishment, I could grab a core kit and do it in an evening basically. I love that this option exists if embellishment and the crafty side is not your interest. …but it is totally my interest. I love it. And that makes me want to treat every little pocket like a full layout. And that makes me wonder where I ever thought I was going to get an infinite amount of scrapping time. Yeah, I have not found that just yet. I would rather be slow with a project and enjoy it than rush it and have it not feel like my own. (Interestingly, I know I’m not the only person feeling this way, because it is the very topic of a recent Scrap Gals podcast!)

But I also love the amount of detail I can include in that book with the weekly set up and all its little pockets. In no way am I going to record that style of information with all those specifics on my 12×12 pages. The way I have written things in this book is very different – all the things we did and places we went and people we saw rather than three paragraphs about my thoughts on one lovely afternoon. I love that I have all those details for his first year. But it’s not something that would feel true to my personal scrapbooking process in the bigger scheme of things. After one, there’s a shift to everything on full 12×12 pages and that journaling is right in line with the way I found my happiness in scrapping. I think the two can definitely coincide – one is a project where the end result will be so valuable to me (he might not care at all and I am okay with that, always!) and the rest is my ongoing creative process that has just as much value as I make the page as when I fill an album. I enjoy them both, but for different reasons.

It’s one of those feelings that leaves me thinking ‘I hope this all makes sense’.

So he’s fifteen weeks in this album now and at the same time, I’m plotting out a train-themed toddler party for next month. And I am completely content with that!

This was my answer to the mix old and new products challenge, with some older things like the cloud print paper from BasicGrey Soleil and those journaling cards that are preprinted as 2014 so they clearly can’t be that new! But the chipboard and some of the other cards are from an Ali Edwards story kit that I bought via a Facebook group to give it a try (that is a way I love to try out kits from other countries, and it works out well to give one month a try when a subscriber decides that particular kit is not her cup of tea). Some old favourites out of the stash and into the album and some fun using some new things that made me think differently! I loved that diagonal stripe card and really like how the writing turned out on those lines framed by the panoramic photo.

Okay, less of me waxing philosophical about scrapbooks and more about inspiring you to get making! Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create something that has value to you, whatever that may be. And share it with us. How’s that for a totally open challenge? I can’t wait to see how you respond to that idea.

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Good morning and welcome to an entire weekend of scrapbooking fun! From 8am to 4pm UK time, both today and tomorrow, you’ll find a new scrapbooking challenge here every two hours. But don’t worry if that time zone doesn’t work for you – all the challenges stay open until the end of next weekend and you don’t need to be here at any specific time. I hope your schedule finds a match sometime between now and then!

Now throughout the weekend, you’ll see a variety of challenges plus some videos, special guests, plenty of new projects, and a surprise or two! But all the challenges are quite open for interpretation so you can make new pages that will feel right at home in your albums, no matter your style. The only guideline for all the fun is that the challenges are for new pages created from now on, not for existing layouts made before now. Easy enough!

I always believe in starting with a warm-up, so challenge one is the easiest of the ten – or is it? You’ll have to make a decision! Since we started the recent weekly challenges here every Monday, we’ve had selfies, hearts, mixing old with new, monochromatic colour schemes, and the current challenge of maps and globes. To start, choose one or more (or all?) of those challenges to create your next page! Simple… once you’ve made your decision, anyway!

See you in two hours with your next challenge… and enjoy the warm up until then! So happy to see you here this weekend.

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Oh hello there. Let me bring us back to our regularly scheduled scrappiness. A few things (mainly Wonder Boy learning he cannot actually fly) made me hit my first real bump in the road with keeping up with my master plan, but I hope you were able to use the pause in time to catch up with some crafty things and you’re ready for something new now! I am, and I’m happy to say I finally got unstuck with the project that was sitting half-finished on my desk pre-derailment, and got that scrapbooking project and several others finished and photographed today. Huzzah! I’ll have a few extra things to share in the next few days as I play catch up, but let’s have our weekly challenge on Monday while it’s still just barely Monday in my time zone, shall we?

Way back in 2011, I wasn’t designing products for American Crafts but instead designed projects using their lines as part of my year-long spot on their design team. It coincided with the start of Amy’s collections at AC and it was definitely a joy to have every little piece of those collections, as I’ve always cherry picked my favourite pieces when doing my own shopping and can’t think of a time when I’ve splurged on an entire collection in one go. (I have been known to go back and buy missing pieces if I’m really loving how one collection works, though!) At any rate, this page is one of my favourites I created in that year of designing with all things AC, and it’s relevant to this week’s challenge, I promise!

And now, on to the challenge! This week, think as symbolic as you choose. I challenge you this week to take maps or globes as your scrapbooking inspiration. Just create a new scrapbook page inspired in some way by the idea of maps and globes – be that a more literal travel page with globe-shaped die-cuts or something more metaphorical, like a personal journey toward a goal. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Kirsty Smith and guest artist Margie Visnick.

One of the things I love most about the Starshine collection is that it really does work for a huge range of different subjects and styles. I LOVE to travel and take photographs as I explore, and I’m always on the lookout for new designs and ideas to inspire my travel layouts. Starshine seems absolutely tailor-made! I adore the little starry globes in Shimelle’s new line and I used one as a great starting point for this page.

I used the globe as a focal point on a background of map-themed patterned paper. I added my photos and journaling on one side of the page, and used the starry globe to launch little stitched flight paths for paper aeroplanes soaring around the world.

I’m a huge fan of aqua, (I blame Shimelle!) and I layered up lots of coordinating stickers and papers to frame my design and my title, which had to be glittery Thickers! I used little flashes of pink to give a bit of contrast, from layers peeping out behind the photos, to puffy little heart stickers to add detail to the paper aeroplane flight paths.
- Kirsty

My scrapbook pages are quite often inspired by all of the lovely products that are available, and quite often, it sparks a story or reminds me of a moment that I need to record. This was definitely the case with the beautiful globe print, “Exploration”, from the Starshine collection. The globe plus floral pattern immediately reminded me of Epcot at Walt Disney World, and exploring the “World”, when we were there right after the Flower and Garden Festival. I started browsing my folder of photos from Epcot that day, and stumbled across this photo of my daughter, with a story still waiting to be told, and I had the basics for my page.

I chose a blue/grey polka dot from the True Stories for the background of my page, and layered it up with several of my favorite patterned papers from the Starshine collection, and a pretty pink watercolor ombre paper from Amy Tangerine’s new Better Together collection, along with a piece of gold foiled vellum from Dear Lizzy’s Fine & Dandy collection. Shimelle’s new floral washi tape from Starshine was the perfect addition to draw the eye across the page, and from there, all that was left to do was to layer up an assortment of embellishments. I mixed all sorts of different bits, mostly from the Starshine collection, all though a couple of wee bits from an old Basic Grey die cut assortment did make their way into the layout, simply because they were on my desk, and needed to be used. I used stamped bits (the navy globe under the first letter of the title, and the tiny navy rose in the cluster to the right), punches, chipboard stickers, die cuts, an acetate piece that I stapled to a scrap of white cardstock so that it would show up, and some flair.
- Margie

You have a week to complete the challenge and share a link – but of course you’re welcome to set your own time schedule. Whatever keeps you happy and creative!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share some new projects of my own. I have both my old + new products and my monochromatic challenge pages ready to show you!

Today’s Guest Artist: Margie Visnick loves scrapbooking, photography, and red velvet everything. You can find more from Margie on Instagram, Pinterest, and her blog.

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It’s been a long while since we first talked about colour theory on this blog, but ever since it’s come up just now and then. Maybe it’s me wishing for spring, but colour is on my mind so much lately, and I’m finding it more a creative pull than perhaps it usually is. Playing with so many different colour combinations is bringing me much joy, and I’d love for you to feel happy creating with your favourite colours too. Which means, I’m going to ask you to play favourites. If I force you to answer right this second, what’s your favourite colour?

And now take that answer, and go on to the challenge! This week, it’s definitely okay to play favourites. I challenge you this week to go monochromatic on your next scrapbook page. Choose one colour and select your supplies only in that colour, though you can use plenty of shades (adding white) or tints (adding black) to have plenty to work with, and make a new scrapbook page. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! You’re welcome to include black and white photos or colourful prints – the photos themselves do not need to be monochromatic, just your page design. To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Nicole Nowosad and guest artist Zsoka Marko.

I find a lot of inspiration from mixing different colours and so the thought of just using one was a bit of a challenge for me until I broke it down into being just all about shading! Once I wrapped my head around the idea of using a monochromatic colour scheme, it was really just about shades of pink/red and not so much about using “one colour” anymore.

I used several different colours and patterns of pink/red in the Starshine collection and kept the lines clean by using small one inch squares of the different patterns and colours and arranging in a quilt like pattern to help mix up the various shades of pink/red in the collection!
- Nicole

When I saw the word “monochromatic” in this challenge, that was it! I’ve been hoarding this striped paper from Shimelle’s True Story line for ages, waiting for the right moment, and now it just seemed fitting! I’ve created this circle cut file from some car cut files I’ve found at the Silhouette store, then backed all circles with different papers; some from the same Shimelle collection, some from other brands in my stash.

I love using lots of embellishments on my pages but here I kept them to a minimum: wooden buttons and star stickers from Freckled Fawn plus enamel dots and brads from Simple Stories. I didn’t have Thickers I quite liked on this layout so I spray painted some white ones with Shimmerz Vibez in deep blue sea for my custom colour.
- Zsoka

You have a week to complete the challenge and share a link – but of course you’re welcome to set your own time schedule. Whatever keeps you happy and creative!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share how I took on this challenge! Place your bets on what colour I’ve chosen this time.

Today’s Guest Artist: Zsoka Marko loves cut files, circles, and lots of embellishments. You can find more from Zsoka on Instagram, in her scrapbooking gallery, and on her blog.

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It’s nearly four years since my sparkly friend shared a video adventure of this page, mixing all her old supplies with new and coming up with kits to make them work. Which means everything highlighted as the ‘new’ then is basically the ‘old’ now. But I still have a few select bits of the ‘old’ from then… which means the old piles up. I cannot be the only one to experience this phenomenon.

And so, on to the challenge! This week, take that pile of old down a notch. I challenge you this week to mix old scrapbooking stash with new favourites. All you have to do is create a new scrapbook page, choosing supplies that are a mix of newer purchases and older items in your collection. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! Don’t worry about how new or how old something is in the bigger scheme of things – everyone’s stash is a little different, so just go with your definition of what feels old and new to you when you look at what you have. To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer May Flaum and guest artist Aimee Madden.

When mixing old and new product, I focus on what I’m trying to create instead of the product. What am I making? What colors do I need? Sizes? Textures? Patterns? By making the focus on what I’m making, it makes the use of various brands and older with newer product seamless. Instead of worrying if things go together, I focus on the project and enjoy the process.

{full page by contributing designer}

Nothing brings out my inner child faster than time at a Disney Park – and adding dressing up to the equation is just loads of fun! Luckily, I’ve got a daughter that is just as fun loving as I am that decided it’d be a great idea for us to get in the Star Wars spirit together. What could top all of this off? Having some navy and star covered papers from Shimelle’s new Starshine line to bring everything together.
- May

I have always loved to mix and matching product, but just recently have I been able to use up my stash! I normally am a white space scrapper using very little product. Lately seeing a little bit of everything on a page makes me really happy.

With that happiness in mind, I used lots of different product for this layout that represents/reminds me of my childhood. I used Shimelle’s True Stories Collection as my main product focus, but I love how it mixes with so many other products and collections. The white background allowed me to determine exactly what I would add as I went along, and I was particularly happy with how this strategy let me include plenty of textures and dimensions without any stressful or super messy techniques.
- Aimee

You have a week to complete the challenge and share a link – but of course you’re welcome to set your own time schedule. Whatever keeps you happy and creative!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share how I took on this challenge! Now go, go, go find the old stash you know you love and want to get into your albums!

Today’s Guest Artist: Aimee Maddern loves non-fat lattes, traveling and the beach. You can find more from Aimee on Instagram, Studio Calico, and her blog.

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_{Full page here in the archives.}

So many scrapbooked selfies from last week’s challenge! It really made my week to see new pages pop up there and on Scrapbook like a Superhero every day. But we’re getting very close to Valentine’s Day now, so it’s time for embracing all the pink and red and vintage text and sheet music and other prettiment in paper crafting.

Here’s a new challenge! This week, get ready to get a bit symbolic. I challenge you this week to scrapbook with hearts. Make a new page and include one or more heart shapes in the design. Simple. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! A few years ago, May shared five ideas for artsy crafting with hearts, and this past summer, I tried using hearts in a relatively masculine design! To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these new examples from contributing designer Heather Leopard and guest artist Chloe Murray.

The contest my daughter and I have almost every single day inspired me to create this layout. This is actually becoming a battle and she’s the one who instigates it 99% of the time but that’s okay because the awesome thing is that this competition is a healthy one for us. It’s a battle of who loves whom more. I’ve created pages about this before but I feel it’s important to document this throughout the year since it’s one of those ongoing special things between just us.

One of the things we talk about is how our hearts are exploding with love for each other so I thought it’d be fun to make it look like hearts were bursting from the bottom of the page. To create this, I started at the bottom and stitched the yellow heart. I then layered another heart on top, stitched it, tucked another heart under and stitched it, etc., etc. until I had all the hearts on the page.

Once the hearts were in place I added layers of paper, die cuts and other embellishments around the photo. I created a pocket under the right side of my photo to insert a journaling tag. I then created my title using a mix of alphas and two sentiments from one of the 12×12 papers.
- Heather

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I decided to scrap this recent photo of myself and my boyfriend. I had this wonderful patterned paper from the new Starshine collection just begging to be used as a background, so I decided to keep my photo very small, and really make use of the movement in the paper.

I layered the photo up on some shipping tags, a few die cuts from the Starshine ephemera pack, and some gorgeous floral stickers from the corresponding sticker sheet. Finally, I cut some hearts from an older Shimelle paper, and combined them with lots of other heart embellishments from my stash; I wanted to create the illusion that the hearts were emanating out from us. I’m really pleased with the overall effect.
- Chloe

You have a week to complete the challenge and share a link – but of course you’re welcome to set your own time schedule. Whatever keeps you happy and creative!

I’ll see you tomorrow to share how I took on this challenge! Happy heart-filled scrapping!

Today’s Guest Artist: Chloé Murray loves documenting the little things, reading, and her pet bunnies. You can find more from Chloe on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and her blog.

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