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

Now I’m curious if anyone guessed this particular page topic when I posted yesterday’s starting point with all that pink and yellow! This new little face is the daughter of a certain scrapbooker so I’m quite convinced her first words will be things like patterned paper and border punch. But seriously, she is super lovely and didn’t make a single peep while we spent an afternoon taking all sorts of lovely newborn pictures of her. If only she would always be such a willing model! We’ll see how that works out, Miss Abigail!

Most things on this page are Studio Calico, including the new chipboard butterflies. I’m now convinced I will need multiple packages of those! There are a couple letter stickers from October Afternoon, some MME pearl brads and pearl strips, then I added pink paint with a border stamp from Jenni Bowlin – but everything else is Calico goodness!

If you create something from this week’s starting point, do leave a link at the end of this post so we can see all the different end results from the same start.

Here are four of my favourites from last week’s starting point. Clockwise from top left, they are one, two, three and four. Have a click and see more detail and more posts from each scrapper!

And you know what starts tomorrow, right? It’s Pretty Paper Party time! And it’s not too late to join in – so sign up and join us for four weeks with hundreds of ideas for using that stash of paper you have collected!

Have a great rest-of-Sunday!

xlovesx

PS: The missing post is no longer broken! Find last week’s round-up and finished page here.

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Oh hello there Saturday! You make me want to jump up and down and glue pretty paper to other pretty paper and possibly bake chocolate chip cookies. Will let you know how that goes. But here’s the beginning of the pasting of pretty paper, and this week it’s all paper from Studio Calico and all things on a wonky angle. Dare to give the wonkiness a try? Embrace the wonkicity, I say! (I really do say because wonkicity is a beautiful word if ever I invented one.)

The large box in pink is 9×10 inches, the strip of white grid paper is 2 by just shy of 11 and the grey box is roughly 3×8, but that bottom edge ends up cut at an angle where it goes off the edge of the page.

So that’s your starting point this week! If you’re new to Scrapbook Starting Points, the idea is really easy: you take this placement of papers and replicate it using papers from your own stash. Then you finish the layout in your own style with however many photos in whatever sizes and however much writing and embellishing you want to add. Then upload your page to your blog or a scrapbook page gallery and leave a link here so we can see all the variations made from this same starting point! I’ll post some of my favourites a week from tomorrow.

PS: I only realised this morning that last Sunday’s starting point post isn’t showing? I must have broken something. Will get it fixed asap! And I’ll try my darnedest not to break anything for tomorrow’s post of this finished page! I mean, there’s wonkicity and then there’s just… broken. Broken is way less fun!

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This weekend, one commenter will win a $25 gift certificate from Chic Tags

Veronica is excited to introduce to you her new shop Chic Tags, (formerly known as Shabby Chic Crafts.) They design delightful vintage inspired paper tags for all your crafty needs. They have a large selection to choose from, all different shapes, sizes and styles! If you’re starting early on your Christmas projects, you must check out their site. They have new holiday journaling tags, and embellishment perfect for all your holiday crafts! Please don’t forget to check out the CT blog Veronica will be working on her third annual holiday workshop next month. There will be many handmade gift ideas and crafts to be seen and admired

To enter, just leave a comment letting us into a secret, ‘if you could only be one, would you be shabby or chic?’ – for me, I’d want to be chic, but I’m actually pretty shabby, if I tell the truth! And if there is any doubt, I would show you my hair which currently is freshly coloured, but tied in the biggest knot of all time. Win some, lose some.

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

Good luck!

xlovesx

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Remember this layout from the other day and the mixing of ye olde 2006 patterned papers with things that I’m using throughout my current album? Well, this page sits opposite that one in my album. So although they are not a double page layout, they do have a few things in common and I wanted them to be linked in some way, so I started this page with the leftover supplies from the first page… then added more to make it a completely different mix. It’s something that really makes me love the album process… and I think I might share some more thoughts on that with you very soon. But for now: the sketch!

This sketch has quite a bit of flexibility and a bit of a 1-2-3 methodology: one square of paper, two photos and three circles. The sketch looks overly simple, but you start there and can then add as much embellishment to each of the circles as suits your style. The circles can be moved about a bit to accommodate portrait or landscape pictures, and the square of paper can be made from more than one sheet if you want to use up some scraps. I ended up using two papers because nothing I had chosen was big enough to make the square on its own. As you can see here…

(And an extra little thank you to everyone who as subscribed to the videos over at YouTube. I appreciate it so much!)

As always, the weekly sketch is no-stress and just for fun! If you use it, I’d love to see, so please leave a link if you post your page online.

The last sketch was actually two weeks ago so the extra time meant even more pages submitted – and so many fun designs. I love the energy on these pages that comes from the strips of patterned paper.

Click the corresponding link to see any of these layouts in more detail and get to know the scrappers behind the pages.
Top Row, L to R: one, two, three.
Middle Row, L to R: four, five, six.
Bottom row, L to R: seven, eight and nine.

Now… are you up for some sketchy scrapping this week? Choose two pictures and grab a few papers to start. Give it a go and share it with us!

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_{©twopeasinabucket.com. Click here for supplies and further details.}
Hands up if you own stamps that have never been used in any way. Even if it’s just one stamp in a set. I’m guessing there are very few of us out there who have honestly put ink to every single stamp we own – especially if we count the letters of the alphabet! And interestingly enough, that’s what the new series A to Z of Stamping aims to do – encourage you to put those stamps to use with a variety of projects and techniques highlighted each day… one day for each letter of the alphabet.

_{©twopeasinabucket.com. Click here for supplies and further details.}
I drew the letter A out of the hat, so I had to be brave and go first of all the Garden Girls. I made two projects – a card and a scrapbook page – with a focus on layering stamps by American Crafts. Simple, quick and easy but still definitely homemade. Other projects for A included alcohol inks and art journals, with plenty of examples and a video to demonstrate. Then the next day showcased stamps from BasicGrey, buttons and background stamps. Today we’re up to C for Copic markers, Colorbox and charms. And so forth to come throughout the alphabet!

Each day also includes a themed sale and a challenge with a prize winner. Just a bit of bonus, that.

You can find the daily updates for the A to Z of Stamping here throughout the next twenty-three or days or so!

Now… what stamp have you not used? Grab it and get it inky, won’t you?

xlovesx

PS: Sketch of the week is definitely ON for this today and there’s a video! Huzzah.

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For the American Crafts blog, I was challenged to find a clever use for Patchems, the embellishments that are just like merit badges only designed to coordinate with paper collections. My answer is remarkably simple: make cards. But cards for certain people.

Each of these cards will be going to someone I know will remove the patch and stitch it to her camp blanket or backpack. Then the patch gets to do double-duty – cute card, but also something to keep! (Why yes, I did often get excited by birthday cards that included that ‘it’s my birthday’ badge when I was a child. And by ‘when I was a child’, I clearly mean ‘for every birthday in my life’.)

The three patches on these cards all come in the same set from the Amy Tangerine collection, and the cards use other elements from the same, including lots of paper scraps. And aside from the stitching, I made these outside in a lovely day in the park. So the leaf on the Hello Autumn card may have just fallen off the tree onto my project and suddenly found itself attacked with adhesive and included on the card. Seems fair enough: fall on my head while I’m crafting and I will just glue you to something.

So if you had a pack of Patchems, what clever thing would you do with them?

xlovesx

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You may have noticed, I am rather fond of pretty paper. What you might not know is when I say ‘pretty paper’ aloud, it is almost always immediately followed by a wistful sigh. Pretty paper inspires me. It’s such a simple thing and yet such a fabulous bonus in life. Why yes, I do have significant gratitude for pretty paper. So much that this is all leading to a brand new online scrapbooking class.

If you are also a fan of such things, I invite you to a party. The Pretty Paper Party. A four week celebration of pasting pretty paper to other pretty papers in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Would you care to join me?

The party kicks off next Monday, and lasts four weeks. Specifically, that’s the 17th of October to the 12th of November, but as with all shimelle.com classes, participants have full and permanent access to all the class materials so you can access them at any time. Party favours include…
…25 PDF prompts loaded with brand new and exclusive scrapbook pages and papercraft projects.
…an exclusive video series to show specific techniques step by step.
…members-only message board to mix with other party-goers and share your work.

And of course there are also some other goodies along the way, because the best of parties always have an element of surprise to keep you inspired!

The guest list to the party is shaping up to be rather special too! I’m very excited to be highlighting the work of dozens of my favourite scrapbookers from all over the globe. These special guest artists have shared their love of pretty paper and created brand new scrapbook pages to share with you, and I know you’ll love their tips and the variety of crafting styles they bring to the party! Single pages, double pages, minibooks, cards, simple elegance and artful complication? They are all coming to the party and hoping to meet you there!

You don’t need any special supplies at all. We’ll be using what we have on hand and busting that stash! You will want plenty of pictures ready to scrap, and they can be any theme so it’s perfect for what suits your needs: work on one themed album or make a stack of pages, each on a completely different topic.

Every papercraft lover is cordially invited to the party – but how do you know if this is the perfect date for your social calendar?
…do you want to make more from your investment in your craft supplies (especially your paper stash)?
…do you have a big stack of pretty paper (colours or patterns) that you know you should be making into beautiful things but somehow it hasn’t happened yet?
…would you love to learn secrets of mixing patterned papers, creating colour combinations or bringing new life to the oldest sheets in your pretty paper collection?
….do you love to scrapbook and love paper and would just love the idea of creating with a group of people for four weeks?
If any of those apply to you, then make room on your calendar and join us for Pretty Paper Party!

The party starts one week from today, so send your RSVP by signing up and get ready for all sorts of creative fun! You can register in your choice of British pounds or US dollars – just click the button for the currency you prefer. If neither of those are your currency, you are still welcome to the party! Just choose whichever you prefer and the payment system will automatically convert it to your currency when you pay.

You can pay your class registration by credit/debit card or Paypal account, and both options are shown on the screen that follows. Please be sure to enter a valid email address as part of your payment so your prompts can be delivered to your inbox. If you would like to gift the class to a friend, please provide her email address. (You can email it to me if you like.) Class registrations are processed by an actual person (me!) and can take up to 24 hours, though it’s usually much faster.

I’m proud to donate £1 of every class registration to the Plan Girls’ Fund, which supports girls in developing nations, provided education, improving living conditions and passionately working to break the cycle of poverty and gender discrimination. The donation from September’s class equated to a year of schooling and living expenses for five girls, and I’m excited to continue to support this amazing cause.

I’d love to see you at the party! Get clicking and sign up – for this party, it’s great to be fashionably early!

More details and sneak peeks as the party draws near!

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Congratulations to Elvan, who wins the chalkboard tags and card from Kate’s paper goods.

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

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

Have a great week!

xlovesx

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