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Just a quick little heads up to let you know I have two pages up on the blog over in Jenni Bowlin land. I hope you’ll hop over to check out lots of red and black birthday scrapping.
Today I’m working on a little special something that is part of True Stories — I’ll share as soon as it’s done! And don’t miss all the giveaways from the special guests – leaving a comment on their blogs could make you the lucky winner!
xlovesx
Comment [2]
Less than a week now until the new online scrapbooking class, True Stories, starts and I love the week before a new project. So excited as the finishing touches all come together! Today I want to share one little part of that — some of the special guest stars making an appearance in the class. Each of these talented ladies have contributed to a True Stories lesson with their own take on the writing topics and of course their fabulous creative style to get you crafting too!
Let’s have a drum roll for these fifteen inspiring scrapping stars, in alphabetical order, since we’re on a bit of a literary and library kick!
Laura Buckingham makes me fall back in love with label stickers with pretty much every page, adores donkeys and llamas and believes in writing real letters.
SJ Dowsett writes beautiful heartfelt notes about her son that make me well up every time, throws the most amazing summer birthday tea parties and promises to put your postcards on her wall.
Danielle Flanders creates gorgeously detailed projects that make me want to rethink everything I ever believed about my crafting supplies, writes journaling with such great description that sometimes I’m sure I was really there and makes me smile when I see thread, like her blogheader.
Wilna Furstenberg creates pages that make you automatically click to view large so you can read her amazing words, has the teacher look down pat and made me never want to throw away another paper coffee cup without making it into a minibook.
Alissa Fast scrapbooks the every day in themed albums that make me wish I had thought of that, writes blog posts that make me want to wander around the Pacific Northwest for approximately a million days and has so much energy I wonder what her secret truly is.
Jennifer Gallacher has never, ever made a layout I didn’t love, tells beautiful stories about her family and photographs her pages with such cute backdrops that I’m convinced she has a second house just filled with props.
Jen Geigley has a daughter with a name I absolutely adore, dares you to scrap with pure emotion (like she does) and believes in the power of Converse All-Stars.
Kelly Goree has mad skills with patterned paper, is one of the most soothing personalities I have ever met in scrapbooking, and just blogged the sweetest thing about wanting to get back to telling the important stories for her family. It made my heart ache with happiness.
Jen Jockisch makes fabulous pages that balance superfun design with supermeaningful storytelling, has tiny little one and a not as tiny little one in her family and has a turquoise-coloured wall in her house that I love so much there I would agree to live there without ever seeing the rest of her home.
Nichol Magouirk is an absolutely genius with die-cutters and gadgets you can use to scrapbook, has a supersweet smile and giggle in real life and always gets bonus points for being a Kansas girl, like me!
Kelly Purkey will create a page that makes my jaw drop and then say shyly that she wishes it was a lot better, blogs about food so amazing it makes me want to get on a plane just to go to lunch and has a love of always going somewhere, even though she loves her NYC base.
Doris Sander makes layouts with paint and stitches that make me want to just play with craft supplies, keeps a blog that tells the sweet stories of her family’s adventures and is unabashedly addicted to Coca-Cola Classic.
Liz Tamanaha creates the most delicate and lush digital scrapbook pages ever, tells lots of stories that are worth a thousand words because her photos carry such meaning and sent me the cutest note about loving scrapbooking that made me so very excited for this class.
Dina Wakley travels all over the world to teach people how to create art and get their feelings on paper, can seriously work paint like nobody’s business and actually took some of my very first classes I ever taught online, which makes me a bit giddy.
Kerry Lynn Yeary writes sensory blog posts that always inspire me with something new, has a vintage-meets-modern crafting style that I love and sent Halloween party invitations with (non-actual) eyeballs in actual jars. Gotta love it.
Now… it pays to be nice to these ladies – or at least to comment on their blogs! They all have a class pass for True Stories to give away! They are all in different time zones so the give aways may be posted at various times, so just keep an eye out to make sure you don’t miss out! (And by the way, there is no risk in signing up if you’re entering — if you win, I will happily send you a refund of your class fee or you can invite a friend if you prefer!)
So very excited — class starts Monday and I hope you’ll join all of us there!
xlovesx
Comment [10]
©twopeasinabucket.com
All through October, Two Peas is hosting a SpookCRAFTular Halloween event, filled with projects, special guests and prizes. Today it’s my turn to share a project and start a challenge that is open to anyone who would like to participate.
This Halloween shadowbox is made with the Maya Road Trinket Box and a digital kit by Rhonna Farrer that is available for download at Two Peas. I also used buttons and pins by Jenni Bowlin and pleated ribbon by Pink Paislee. You can find all the details about this project here, including a full supply list and a PDF instruction sheet to download. Or if you prefer to watch rather than read instructions, you can watch a full video of the project from start to finish.
Your challenge is to create any Halloween-themed project that includes at least one Two Peas digital kit. There are plenty of Halloween kits available so you can find something right up your street. Print something out and make a scrapbook page, card, decor project, cupcake topper, tag or anything else — as long as it’s Halloween-themed and you’ve included something printed from a Two Peas digi kit, then you’re in. Upload your project to the gallery at Two Peas and remember to check the box for this challenge in step 4 of the upload process so you’ll be entered for a chance to win a prize!
In other news…
…The brand new online class will make its first appearance on the blog later tonight and you’ll be able to sign up any time from then! ETA:The class details are now here and registration is open!
…The last of the prizes from the last online crop (and some Banana Frog giveaways) will all be sent this week – the last of the boxes will hit the post on Friday and several others have already been posted this week. So if you have been waiting, I promise it will be with you very soon.
…If you fancy a bit of a scrappy bargain, there are some great Halloween deals here, tons of BasicGrey is marked down and today only, the Greenhouse collection is 50% off — it’s one of my favourites, filled with hot pinks and mod flower illustrations.
…I’m interested to know what you think about videos shot like this rather than from overhead. Does it just depend on the project, or would you in general like to see everything from one vantage point? And would you want to see longer videos like this regularly or better to stick to things that are short and sweet? Just curious as to what you would find most useful!
Have a lovely Wednesday!
xlovesx
Comment [9]
Supplies: patterned papers by My Mind’s Eye, Bo Bunny and Cosmo Cricket, die cut and mini paper by Jenni Bowlin Studio, chipboard letters by Making Memories, letter stickers and border sticker by The Girls’ Paperie, bird sticker by My Mind’s Eye, word sticker by K&Company, label sticker by October Afternoon, lace rub-on by Hambly Studios and border punch by EK Success.
As promised, a layout to start scrapping the photos from Laura’s wedding. I highly approve of her wedding colour scheme – I love scrapping with pink and green! I just had a few of the pictures printed so I could test out the various styles in the post-production. A few more little tweaks and I shall order prints of the whole lot! Exciting stuff. For a scrapbooker anyway.
In other news, there’s been a little switch up here at shimelle.com, so if you’re reading through a reader, stop by for a look. If you have any trouble with the changes, please let me know. Over to the right you’ll find all the online scrapbooking classes that are available. All the classes are available at any time – each class runs once on a ‘live’ schedule when the prompts are sent to your inbox each day, but you can also sign up at any date as an ‘archived’ class. You get full, permanent access to all the materials – you just download them from the website instead of getting them in your inbox. Two classes (Learn Something New and Journal your Christmas) run every year, and no matter when you sign up, you get to participate for as many years as you would like at no additional charge. So you can sign up any time!
I’m down to my last few days of this September visit to my hometown, and I’ve been able to meet up with some of my oldest friends, which was super lovely. I’m looking forward to heading home (and The Boy), but not until after the Britney episode of Glee, obviously! Ha.
xlovesx
Comment [16]
Supplies: Dotted Swiss cardstock by Bazzill Basics, patterned papers from Echo Park and the new Cosmo Cricket Togetherness collection, die cut by My Mind’s Eye, Thickers letters and pearl brads by American Crafts and labels by October Afternoon.
Here’s a little start to the wedding scrapping for September! One pink and green wedding and another in yellow and grey, so I’ve stocked up on cardstock and patterned papers to match, of course!
Wearing yellow for this wedding had its own little story. Pretty shortly after Tami asked me to be a bridesmaid, she asked what colours I would or wouldn’t want to wear. I figured my vote didn’t matter really – that’s the bride’s vote! But I said something like ‘oh, I don’t mind — I just don’t usually wear yellow, but I’m fine with whatever.’ Of course a few weeks later she chose yellow! Darn the power of suggestion!
She let each of us choose our own yellow dress, so we had three very different styles. One breezy and summery, one dressy and tailored and for me, something vintage. I didn’t even go looking for this dress particularly. All I remember is looking up something on ebay and the next thing I knew, vintage yellow dress was in the search box. I’m not sure how that happened at all!
All photo credit to The Boy, bless him!
So I don’t usually wear yellow, but this one I like! Do you have colours you don’t usually wear? Just curious!
Now if I don’t get the snaps from Laura’s wedding uploaded, I’ll be in trouble. Better get on to that!
xlovesx
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Supplies: Mini papers and journaling die cuts by Jenni Bowlin, glitter die cuts by My Mind’s Eye, letter stickers by BasicGrey and butterfly punch by Martha Stewart Crafts.
One tiny little shopping trip yesterday afternoon and I picked up enough to finish this page. Still pretty minimal for me but that’s okay now and then! (And I did manage to get a set of four patterned papers in there, so you know I’m happy really.) The journaling on this particular page is all about the vocabulary rather than the event. You can’t really see what’s written on the signs in the photo at this size, but it includes a bit of current vocabulary: for the win. I’m sure I won’t be saying that in five years… possibly not in one, so I just wanted to take that little bit of time to explain how this phrase became so prevalent in my vocabulary in 2010.
Do you have any phrases that might need explaining? My mind is storming a bit with ideas of other vocabulary elements that might be scrappable, and how it can work for teens and adults in addition to the more traditional ‘cute things you say’ pages for younger children.
And lest you think I had wasted the opportunity to scrapbook about the sheer wonderment that was the photobooth at Laura’s wedding, I promise I still have plenty more strips to go! This is just a sampling. Hurrah for unlimited photo opportunities, fake moustaches and good friends!
In other news, the special project I mentioned yesterday is available now — I was a guest on the Paperclipping Roundtable. It’s a podcast with scrapbookers discussing a different topic in each episode. We discussed using scrapbooking to help achieve a goal or work on a project, so that’s very much in line with how I scrapbook! If you discovered my blog via the podcast, welcome! This post is a great place to start as it points out some of the most important posts here. And you can find all the details (including the sign up button!) for the current online scrapbooking class right here. If there’s anything else I can help with, please just ask! It’s lovely to see you!
xlovesx
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©twopeasinabucket.com. Supplies: Dotted Swiss cardstock by Bazzill Basics, patterned papers by My Mind’s Eye and BasicGrey, scallop circle punch by EK Success and scallop border punch by Fiskars, stickers by Bella Blvd, stamps by Prima, pleated ribbon by Pink Paislee, die cuts by The Girls’ Paperie, brown pen and pop dots by American Crafts.
Doing a little catching up and I’m pretty sure I haven’t shared these two pages that I made for the garden at Two Peas. One with plenty of neutrals and one with primary brights! Click on either to see the full page and details.
©twopeasinabucket.com Supplies: patterned papers by Cosmo Cricket, from the Garden Variety and Snorkel collections and an accent sheet from Bella Blvd, Photo Label Punch by EK Success, brown pen, plus American Crafts Thickers letters and chipboard word by Chatterbox (from older collections).
I got up this morning and started on a new page with some photos from the photobooth at Laura’s wedding (scroll to the bottom of the post to see). Loving the relaxation and return to normal that scrapping provides, but of course I only have a few crafty supplies with me so I’m feeling a shopping trip might be the key to getting the page just how I imagine it! And I’ve ordered prints from the second September wedding – Kansas friends Tami and Ben. It included bowling, cake pops and a yellow vintage dress! So I think I will be officially back in the scrapping groove this week. Sounds good to me.
Also just a little nervous about a special project today… but I can tell you all about that in a day or so!
xlovesx
Comment [9]
My grandpa was a man who loved a good project. I don’t know anyone who embraces every part of the process in the same way, from an outlook that saw an opportunity where the rest of us saw a problem, through brainstorming for ideas to mocking up a working model, testing it out and improving it until it was just perfect. Many grandparents might ask about the grandkids’ school work, but my grandpa wasn’t doing it to be polite — he was asking because he knew some of that school work would include some projects! Science projects, especially. When the rest of the class just did the homework to read an article about dinosaurs, Grandpa took me to the natural history museum at KU. We walked around with a notebook and a camera, taking notes, drawing diagrams and making timelines, and on the way home we stopped at the library where Grandpa challenged me to find the dinosaurs from our notes and match up the research we had done at the museum with what was printed in the books. And once we finished that, we came home and built dinosaur models from balsa wood and glued them into displays with moss and rocks, just like the museum displays only smaller. I promise I definitely got an A on my homework the next day.
But my favourite project that we worked on together was making a mousetrap car in the seventh grade. We talked through the basic physics of how a mousetrap could power a little model car and then he stood back while I made my first model. It worked and it went far enough to beat everyone else in my class, but of course it was no amazing accomplishment of mousetrap engineering on a worldwide scale. A week or so later, Grandpa said I had to come over to see his latest project. He’d been curious about how to improve on the design of that first car, so he built a new and improved version, made entirely of things found around the house. The frame was made of old yardsticks, the wheels were made of records, and the darned thing went so far that we had to take it out of the house because it would run into the wall at the end of the longest hallway. My original had only travelled about 12 feet! So Grandpa let me see it run, but he wouldn’t tell me how he made it work. I could look at it just for a little while, and then I had to try to recreate it on my own. I could ask questions, but Grandpa would only answer them if they were the right questions! I got there eventually and I know I learned more about torque and traction and scaled ratios from that project than I ever did in my toughest physics lesson.
I’m sure that some of my own love of projects came from Grandpa, even though my own projects tend to involve paper and glue or a needle and thread rather than mousetraps and dinosaur bones these days. When Grandma and Grandpa came to visit in the week before my wedding, Grandpa helped me with those last minute projects, including making little books for the guests’ favours. I had started to work on them, and after watching for about ten minutes, Grandpa had quietly worked out a way to make the process more efficient. I left the room for a second and came back to find my assembly line had been optimized and I had a foreman willing to work for nothing more than chocolate!
I know I am not the only person to have learned so very much from the way Grandpa took on a project and solved problems without ever being overwhelmed. I hope I can have just a fraction of his calm and logical attitude when faced with the big projects of the years to come and am so very thankful to have had the world’s most amazing grandpa as the father figure in my life.
Miss you.
xlovesx
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shimelle.com is © 2003-2016 and written by Shimelle Laine. She's a girl obsessed with storytelling through scrapbooking.
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