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

Whether you use them all the time or quite rarely, sketches are the thing that gets requested time and time again. So I have three for you this weekend – one for each day!

Today’s sketch is the simplest. I’ve just used one photograph, but you could add more photos to a central block if you prefer more pictures on the page. You can keep it simple or add more embellishment to this outline.

Create a scrapbook page, card or other craft project based on this sketch and upload it to your blog or a page gallery. Leave a link in the comments on this post to be entered to win. See this post for details and deadlines for this weekend’s online crop.

One randomly chosen entry will win a selection of label stickers for your next scrapping project. (Digi scrappers can opt for digital labels if you prefer!)

I can’t wait to see your projects!

xlovesx

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Our first photo challenge of the weekend comes from the very image in the background of the crop logo — these pebbles at Brighton Beach!

Your challenge is to take and post a close up photograph! Easy enough, right? The entire shot can be a close up, or like the beach, it can be part of the framing of the full image.

You can photograph whatever you would like, but the image needs to be snapped between now and Monday — this weekend’s challenges are not for older images already in your photo library. Post your image on Flickr, on your blog or in another online photo gallery. Leave a link to it in the comments on this post to be entered. One winner will be randomly chosen to win Picture Perfect a photography e-book from Ella Publishing. It’s a great resource for taking great photos of your family and friends. Please see this post for all the deadlines and details about this weekend. Now go grab your camera!

xlovesx

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The final article in each of the Scrapbook Inspirations Idea Books is based on a colour story each month: a set of colours used for a variety of crafting projects and scrapbook pages to then see the tone they set, creating a mood for the the stories told.

The first colour combination we featured included red, aqua (or turquoise) and white. Now it’s your turn to take this combination and head to your stash. Make a paper scrapbook page, a digital scrapbook page, a card, a decor project or whatever else comes to mind, as long as it uses red, aqua and white to tell that story.

Post a picture of your project online (in a page gallery or on your blog) and post a link to it in the comments on this post. You can see the details about deadlines and other information for this weekend here.

One randomly chosen entry will win a prize package of red and aqua inks, paints and mists!

Happy crafting!

xlovesx

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Thanks so much for joining me for three days of scrapbooking, snapshots and prizes! You can drop in whenever you would like and take part in just one challenge or dozens!

Challenges will be posted hourly throughout the weekend, from 10am to 10pm Friday, 10am to 10pm Saturday and 8am to 8pm Sunday. That’s UK time, so you can adjust to your timezone whether you’re ahead or behind my time here. No matter where you are, I promise there’s plenty packed into this weekend to keep you busy choosing the challenges you fancy! And none of them have to be finished in the hour — you have all weekend and a little more actually. All challenges end at 6am UK time on Tuesday the 17th of August. That gives you Monday evening to keep crafting with anything you want to finish up and also some more daylight for the photography challenges if needed.

Did I just say photography challenges? Yep! This time around, our challenges will alternate on the hour. Even hours are crafting challenges and odd hours are photo challenges. So you can enter plenty of challenges by just picking up your camera and taking a picture to fit the theme! And by the end of the weekend you’ll have a collection of new photos to scrapbook too, so everybody wins!

One thing I do want to mention right up front, and that is all these challenges are for scrapbook projects you create and photos you take from now until the deadline. Older projects and existing photos are not eligible for prizes. If you would like to share something because others might find it helpful, please go ahead, but state it as such and know that links to things posted before now will not be eligible. This weekend is all about participating now! Thanks so much.

When leaving comments on posts throughout the weekend, know that if you include more than one URL in your comment, it will go into moderation. Don’t worry – I’ll approve it! It just won’t show up automatically when you post it. And if you’re having trouble posting a comment, try the preview option first, as that often helps!

If you are blogging about this weekend and would like some images to include, please feel free to use this large image for a blog post or this smaller image for your sidebar and link back to shimelle.com so others can join in the fun!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments here, on any post or by emailing me (shimelle at gmail dot com). I’ll be happy to help in any way that I can!

I think that’s enough fine print — let’s get started with the crafty goodness, right?

Happy cropping!

xlovesx

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Challenges, projects, prizes and more — starting here tomorrow and continuing all weekend long!

Clear your crafting space and I’ll see you oh-so-soon!

xlovesx

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Cards for Kids is such a good cause for creativity, and it’s so easy to get involved. Make a card (or several) and send it in, and it will be delivered to someone who needs a bit of sunshine in their day. Cards for Kids is currently sending paper joy to thirteen seriously ill youngsters and their families, including brothers and sisters too young to understand situations that involve so many doctors and hospital visits and challenges that we all wish no one ever, ever had to face.

And as scrapbookers, I just know we all have extra bits of paper waiting for a purpose. And stamps and stickers that aren’t getting used. Even some extra glitter, perhaps. Adding some sparkle to the day for any of these kids and their parents would be such a perfect way to put those supplies to use. Cards for Kids even has several generous sponsors that give prizes to randomly selected cards sent in, just as a bit of happy karma for spreading sunshine.

Whether you send a card to Cards for Kids, to someone you know personally, or just leave one at your local hospital or doctor’s office, please remember that handmade and handwritten thoughts really can make a difference for someone else. If making stuff makes you happy, this is just an entirely win-win ordeal.

Find all the details for Cards for Kids here, including names and the address where you can send your cards.

If anyone knows of a similar effort here in the UK, could you let me know? Thanks!

Think happy thoughts today! Why not, right?

xlovesx

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For the third tutorial video in the Stamped Titles for Scrapbook Pages series, I dusted off a lettering template that is probably ten years old to cut these letters. But don’t worry — you can use a die-cutter if you prefer to stay up to date. I did find it quite therapeutic to return to what used to be a technique I used on every single page but with an updated twist. I used to spend hours cutting letters from paper to create titles on my pages.

You can find the stamp details here on the Banana Frog blog!

On another note, are you ready to party? All this weekend — the 13th, 14th and 15th of August — we’ll be hosting the second-ever shimelle.com online crop, right here on the blog! Challenges, prizes and goodies galore! I do hope you’ll stop by whenever you are free! Consider yourself invited to the party! I can’t wait!

xlovesx

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_{Supplies: Green check and yellow floral patterned papers, journaling card, mini papers and stick pins all by Jenni Bowlin. Thickers letters and brown pen by American Crafts.}

We went to see The A-Team this weekend — and it wasn’t because we thought it would be amazing, critically-acclaimed cinema. It was for the retro fun of it all! We both watched The A-Team as kids and it wasn’t exactly critically-acclaimed then, but it was fun to see the old characters come to life again, with a bigger budget and even a plotline that wasn’t that far removed from some of the most politically-charged films of the last few years. But it was the return to something old that made it entertaining, most definitely.

I’m in the middle of a huge clear-out of my crafting supplies, and one of fun parts of such a job is going through a big stack of papers and sorting them into piles of yes, no and maybe. And these two showed up in that stack of older papers — does anyone else still have these in their collection? They were designed by Jenni Bowlin as a collection for Lil Davis Designs — before Jenni had launched her own company. But oh goodness I had to put them in the yes pile because they are still so pretty and timeless. That’s my favourite thing about her designs.

_{Supplies: Die-cut and patterned paper, stick pin, butterfly and bingo card all by Jenni Bowlin. Glitter letters by American Crafts, mini letters by My Little Shoebox and border punch by EK Success.}

I love that about my favourite KI Memories collections too — the baby blue paper on this page is from 2004 and I’ve used it so many times even though I only bought one sheet. It’s so perfect to add just a touch of a certain colour here or there, so I keep this one and what’s left of the other colours in that collection in a folder together as a go-to spot for basic colours with just a bit of pattern. Perfect!

What are your favourite older supplies? I’d love to know what you make sure to keep around years after it has passed the latest and greatest status!

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On another note, I’m working on a project that will highlight several small businesses that are both online and feature handmade items. Does this describe you or someone you know? If you have an online shop selling handmade items of any kind and would like to be considered for some extra promotion, please send me an email (shimelle at gmail dot com) with a link to your shop and a summary of what you make and sell. Thanks so much!

And before you go, how about a winner of the last giveaway! Here’s the winning comment:

Sinead Says:
4 August 2010, 12:00
Hi Shimelle,
The secret phrase is Circus Stories:)
Love the video, have never tried heat embossing before but am really tempted to invest in all the stuff now! Your layout looks great. Thanks! x

Sinead, send me an email (shimelle at gmail dot com) with your address so I can get your prize pack in the post! And thank you to everyone who entered!

Have a beautifully crafty week, won’t you?

xlovesx

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