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

Welcome to And Now For Something Completely Different, a monthly scrapbooking challenge I’m leading at UKScrappers throughout 2012. I would love for you to join me!

Each month of 2012, I invite you to join me for a start-to-finish craft along, in which we’ll all make a scrapbook page. Each month we’ll make something completely different, so you’ll have a variety of pages on a variety of themes with a variety of techniques. Heck, let’s just start a variety show while we’re at it!

Today is your ten day warning: each month I’ll post a look at the supplies I’m using on the tenth, and the craft along tutorial is posted on the twentieth, so you have ten days to get your pictures and supplies ready to go.

For January’s project, you will need three small square photographs. Mine are 2.5 inches, but you can vary this if you prefer. Above you can see my supplies. You can use exactly the same or your can substitute similar items in colours and patterns that suit your own style. See this post on UKScrappers for an itemised list and further notes on substituting other products to create your own page kit for January’s project. UK-based scrappers, the UKS sponsors can help source your supplies. US-based readers can find a list of supplies here (do take care that list includes the papers both individually and in the collection kit, just depending on what you prefer for your albums, and it does not include the larger of the two alphabets so you would need something similar from your stash).

The project will be posted on the twentieth of January, so for the next ten days you can get ready and chat about your speculations on this thread at UKScrappers. So what do you reckon we’ll be trying this month?

xlovesx

PS: 10 Things on the Tenth will be live just a bit later so you can link up your post!

Comment [5]

I’ve nearly found a place for papers and stickers and stamps to be happy in their new place without constantly stepping on a box that still needs to be unpacked. So many steps in the right direction! Now just don’t ask me to find anything in the first place I look. Aside from pens and Thickers, most things take me at least two guesses, even though half my drawers and boxes are accurately labelled with their contents. But hey, I don’t even know where the cutlery drawer is in the kitchen either, so apparently it just takes me a while to get my bearings.

But this I remember: scrapbook starting points! It’s back, and it’s on Mondays now, so you can use this starting point any time throughout the week and next Monday I’ll post a new starting point and a round-up of favourites from the previous starter. This week Starting Points is brought to you by BasicGrey and their Picadilly collection. Circle and star punches also came in handy.

To follow this starting point, you will need a full sheet of pattern for the background, plus rectangles at 4.5×10.5, 3×7, 2×6.5, 1.5×2.5 and 1×3 inches, plus three circles and six stars. You can, of course, swap the stars for any other motif you like.

I didn’t add very much to my finished page actually! A funny little wallet-size print that was one of my senior pictures from my last year of high school, some BasicGrey letter stickers and some Hambly washi tape, plus a Jenni Bowlin journaling card.

But you can finish this starting point in any style you like! What do you fancy? Give it a go with your photos and share your end result!

Comment [12]

This January, I’m excited to be the special guest at BasicGrey, with a few projects to share with you. This first layout is my favourite kind of project with BG papers: some simple detail yet plenty of space to show all the lush patterns in their collections. These papers and stickers are from their Picadilly collection, with an Instax picture the lovely Laura snapped for us way back when on our second anniversary.

If you fancy a sketch challenge, head to this BasicGrey blog post and give it a whirl with some of your favourite papers!

…and keep your eyes open for the return of the weekly sketch right here this week!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xlovesx

Comment [10]

As we reach the first weekend of the new year, we have a little change to how the weekly giveaways will work here! Nothing too different though: they will still be giveaways that promote handmade, small business and all that sort of loveliness. They will still go live on a Friday evening, UK time. But the time you have to enter will be extended! Giveaways will now close on a Thursday, and the winner will be announced on Friday, in the same post that opens the next prize. Cool, cool? Lovely. Let’s move on then!

For the first giveaway of 2012, one winner will win registration in Layout a Day (LOAD) 212, an online scrapbooking class from Lain Ehmann.

In her effervescent and down-to-earth style, Lain invites you to spend February with her in LOAD 212, creating 29 layouts in 29 days (it’s leap year!). Each day brings a new page prompt, layout example, and video to help inspire you. LOAD 212’s theme is Past Perfect, and participants will be mining recent (or ancient!) history for unique story-telling opportunities that share a little bit of themselves on their scrapbook pages. With a private Flickr gallery and message board, scrappers share inspiration and motivation with sister LOADsters in a safe and friendly internet community. To register or see what past participants have said about LOAD, visit the class information page here.

I’ve worked with Lain on the True Scrap event, and Layout a Day is a different set-up where she spends a full month with you, while True Scrap is an intensive three days filled with different topics, workshops and instructors. I’ve had a little peek at how Lain structures her Layout a Day materials, and you receive an email each day with a topic to kick start your thoughts on a particular theme, then a short video with a sample page and Lain’s thoughts on various ways you could take that topic and run with it. You’re welcome to take visual inspiration from her sample pages or to work in any other style you like. Part of the idea of completing a page every day means you can work quickly and simply, so it won’t take you hours and hours each day.

Do any of these describe you?
It’s the new year, and the photos are piling up on your hard drive or your scrap desk. But you’re not really feeling the love. You’re a bit burnt-out and tired…
or
You’re raring to go, but making scrapbooking a priority has fallen by the wayside as you tackle “life:” Work, home, kids, friends… when are you going to get time to scrap?
or
You’re a new scrapbooker and are still trying to find your sea legs in this crazy, seemingly all-consuming hobby.

If any of those sound like you, then Layout a Day might be right up your street.

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this post mentioning just one thing you would like to scrapbook this year. Easy! (If you’re new to commenting here, please note you need to click the ‘preview’ button first, then you can publish your comment.)

_{Entries close at the end of Thursday 12th January 2012 (UK time) and the winner will be announced Friday evening. One winner will be chosen at random from all qualifying comments, and the prize is provided by Lain Ehmann.}

Good luck!

Comment [277]

_{Class content ©twopeasinabucket.}

In her first adventure, Glitter Girl comes to the rescue of Chrispeas, who shares her concern with organising and scrapbooking a mountain of memorabilia. (See the discussion here.)

Along her adventure, Glitter Girl tackles storage solutions, finds useful products and creates a scrapbook page with new year memorabilia.

_{Click here for supplies.}

For pretty pieces of memorabilia you would like to keep out and enjoy, a shadow box or printer’s tray from 7gypsies may be just the thing. Just cut photos to size then stack on the memorabilia you would like to save. This box is tiny (the large photo is just smaller than 4×6) and includes tulle from a bridal veil, a wedding favour and ribbons from the wedding stationery, plus the four photographs.

_{Click here for supplies.}

Pockets are handy for adding memorabilia to scrapbook pages, and this new pack is especially cute. Glitter Girl used the smallest and largest size from that set on this layout. (And I am rather excited to have my first page in our 2012 album!)

Any more ideas for memorabilia you would like to share? Please do! Glitter Girl would love to hear from you in the comments. And she challenges you to share a layout or a photo of your memorabilia storage system in the gallery this week.

Onward, covered in glitter, my dear scrapbookers!

The Adventures of Glitter Girl is a weekly series on Two Peas in a Bucket, and goes live every Wednesday. I’ll share each adventure here shortly after that. I hope you enjoy her quests for crafting happiness, and if you ever have a scrapbooking dilemma yourself, you can always call her to action on the message board.

Comment [28]

New year, new projects. There are so many projects out there this January! That makes me happy – I love that the scrapping community continues to share so much online. Here’s a 2012 filled with craft and creativity! But specifically, let me introduce you to some projects that are near and dear to my heart.

And all of these are free, by the way. Entirely.

Saying Thanks
In this day of tweets and text messages and all those fast ways we communicate, real mail that is handwritten and sent through the post or handed to a friend is extra-special, right? My personal project this month is make a point to say thanks. Thank you cards for Christmas gifts, thank you gifts for hostesses, thank you notes to let friends know how awesome I think they are. That sort of thing.

I also want to say thank you to all of you, who make all my crazy adventures possible. I am thankful every single day that I get to do this – this whole crafting and writing and picture taking and class teaching and blogging thing. I can’t say thank you enough to convey it all.

But I’m going to share a whole bunch of thank you cards and thank you card tutorials with you throughout January. I hope you’ll pick your favourite and know it is from me to you.

You’ll find Saying Thanks right here at shimelle.com, in blog posts throughout the month. You can also subscribe via Youtube if you prefer that way of catching the latest video.

The Adventures of Glitter Girl
Every day of the week, scrapbookers gather on the General Scrapping message board at Two Peas in a Bucket to discuss their latest finds, their favourite projects and also their crafty conundrums. There are plenty of interesting discussions to compare products, stretch supplies to more crafting and otherwise find new and interesting ways to glue a piece of paper to another piece of paper in an aesthetically pleasing manner. The General Scrapping board is my go-to place for scrapping discussion!

I don’t know much about the rest of this. See, mild-mannered scrapbooker Shimelle Laine can only do so much. I read the boards, I post when I can add to the discussion. But some crafty conundrums call for something more than I can offer. But in times of crafting crisis, there is someone who can help. Just call out for Glitter Girl!

Every Wednesday, Glitter Girl takes on a new adventure, helping the world one crafting dilemma at a time. Glitter Girl joins Two Peas via video to solve a problem posted on the message boards. That includes project tutorials, product comparisons and technique tips throughout the new year.

So yep, there’s that. Whoever she may be.

And there are more new scrapbooking classes at Two Peas from other Garden Girls too. If you like videos featuring scrapbook page tutorials from the supplies to the finished layout, tune in at the beginning of the week for Memory Keeping Monday. Jen Gallacher, Shannon Tidwell, Nancy Damiano and Lisa Truesdell rotate as the weekly hosts, so you’ll see each of them about once a month, which means there is a great balance of varied styles. If you prefer cardmaking tutorials, then the end of the week is for you. Laura Craigie, Julie Campbell, Kandis Smith, and Lynn Ghahary host Finally Friday with a new card tutorial each week.

You’ll find all these projects on the classes page at Two Peas, and you can also subscribe to the Two Peas Youtube channel. Glitter Girl might just persuade me to share her adventures here on the blog too. We’ll see.

All of the Garden Girls are bloggers, by the way. If you want to start 2012 with a great bunch of scrappy blogs, you can find them all together here, and you can even subscribe to all of them in Google Reader with just one click to make it nice and easy. (Not quite all of us tweet, but you can find all who do here, if that suits your style!)

And now for something completely different…
The other message board where you might find me talking scrap? UKScrappers. It’s the place to talk to other scrappers and papercrafters in the UK, but everyone is welcome really, so do grab yourself a username if you want to join in the fun. In 2012, I’ll be leading a monthly project at UKScrappers. Each month includes a full scrapbook page tutorial, but each month that tutorial covers something completely different.

On the 10th of each month, a supply list will be published at UKScrappers. All of the projects can be completed with your own stash – they don’t need specific supplies. But the supply list lets you find the right photos, print them at the right size and gather the supplies of your choice so you’re ready to go when the tutorial goes live. That happens on the 20th of each month. Then you have till the end of the month to upload your project to the gallery at UKS… and you just never know what goodness might come your way for that!

If you like the idea of a year-long challenge but also know doing the same thing for an entire year isn’t really your idea of fun, then this sort of project can be just right for you.

Other classes offered at UKScrappers this year include Art Journey, an art journaling workshop on Mondays and Wednesdays, Simple Recipes on the first and third Tuesday of each month, a new technique post every Thursday (called Technique Thursdays, of course!) and Snap 2012, a photography project with prompts on Fridays.

You’ll find each of those projects has its own location on UKScrappers, but your best bet is to always check the UKS homepage for links to what’s new. I’ll be sharing my tutorials here too.

So wow that’s a lot. My head is spinning a bit! But it’s a spin of excitement!

I hope something here grabs your fancy and you find a project or two to enjoy in 2012!

Thanks so much.

xlovesx

Comment [18]

_{Click here for supplies.}

2011, you were a year of adventure. A year of 50,000 miles and thirteen countries, yet moving house by only a quarter mile. Of backpacks and notebooks and cardboard boxes. Of no scrapbooking for the first three months followed by falling head-over-heels in love with it upon getting back to my desk. Of becoming the house-of-freelance wherein neither of us did anything that seemed like a ‘normal’ job. Of a few hopes being completely dashed and unfulfilled. A few others doing their best to make up for it. A year of growing and giving and letting go of what I cannot control.

I will remember this year as one that changed my perspective. That made realise the real definition of luxury and unnecessary. That an adventure through new places followed by coffee with a stranger would lead me to find a way to support and help even when I can’t physically spend all my life building schools in places where there are none. (One day I will help build one. Not in a someday maybe kind of way, but in an my eyes well up at the thought sort of way. Some part of me was meant to do that and not all that long from now.)

It was the year that I raised my hand a great deal. Who wants to volunteer? Who wants to help? Who wants to give this a try? Who wants to audition? My hand was in the air. Seriously: 2011 was the year we ATE SPIDERS*. On purpose. That’s a year of adventure, right? A year of signing up, pitching ideas, meeting people and constantly rewording my explanation of what I do for a living. But always ending with the idea of ‘it’s not really traditional, but it’s perfect’.

I hope the adventures of 2012 are just as lovely.

_{Click here for supplies.}

And can I just say there are some very new things coming here to shimelle.com throughout the new year? December has been quiet on the blog as we worked behind the scenes so much. But I am excited. I love this craft. I love pretty paper. I love creative people. And I love the idea of sharing even more of all that with you throughout 2012.

Best wishes for a beautiful new year.

xlovesx

*I say ‘we ate spiders’. I mean ‘he ate spiders’ and ‘I ate a spider femur’. But I still think it counts. The menu asked ‘who wants to try fried tarantula?’ and my hand my have been very timid, but it was somehow in the air. I’m calling it a win. And I’m making no plans to eat spiders on purpose any more. They aren’t as crunchy as you imagine.

Comment [30]

_{All class content ©twopeasinabucket.com. Click here to view supplies and full details.}

It’s the thirtieth of the month, so that means it’s time for a brand new edition of 4×6 Photo Love! This is the final lesson in the year long class. Since it’s the twelfth month of the year, we’re scrapbooking a full dozen 4×6 prints on one scrapbook page – and it’s even a single page layout, if you can believe it!

This month’s idea is super simple: create a stack of photos and attach them to the top of the layout with string, twine or ribbon. With double-sided patterned papers, you can make the stack of photos extra pretty and colourful. I used the Little Black Dress collection from BasicGrey for one layout and a mix of collections from Studio Calico for the second page.

By the way, just for today Two Peas has marked all patterned papers from Studio Calico to 60% off, like the dozen papers I used in my Year in Review layout. Check the sale out here and stock up on 12×12 papers for thirty-four cents and 6×6 paper pads under three dollars. (Your order might qualify for free US shipping too – try code NKFFRL for free shipping on orders of $35 of physical, non-phase out products up till the stroke of the new year.)

Depending on how you prefer things in your album, the loose mini pages can stay inside the page protector or you can attach them so they are on the outside of the page protector with just a little tweaking. Punch the hole through the page protector as well as the layout, staple or sew through the page protector, or just cut part of the page protector away. You can also cut extra page protectors to size to fit all the photo layers. Stitch them or close the edges with pretty washi tape.

Stop by Two Peas to download a PDF with notes on this project and visit the Education message board for all the Two Peas classes.

This month I’m joined by special guest Leah Farquharson with her take on this design principle. Leah added border punches to the mix for a beautifully detailed

You can find Leah’s project here at Two Peas to add to your bookmarks.

Now it’s your turn…
Every month, there are two ways to win a prize for participating in 4×6 Photo Love! The first is at Two Peas: create your page and upload it to the gallery. Be sure to tick the box for this challenge in step four of the upload process. One participant will win a gift certificate to Two Peas to go shopping for whatever you like. But there’s a second chance to win right here: on this post, leave a comment with a link to your page (in the gallery at Two Peas or on your blog, whatever you prefer) and one of those links will win Two Peas shopping money too! The deadline for both is the 29th of January.

Congratulations to Gaby for winning the draw for last month’s eleven photo class! (Gaby, I need your email address. Can you contact me at shimelle at gmail dot com please?) Will you be next? Just choose twelve 4×6 photos to scrap and follow along with this month’s class prompt.

xlovesx

PS: Feel free to grab the button there on the left for your blog or to share this class with a friend – since it’s free, the more the merrier! This is our final update to this project but it will continue to be available for free to help any scrapper with ideas for 4×6 pictures.

Comment [38]