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

Don’t worry – you don’t have to be in New York or even a big city to participate in our second photo challenge, I promise!

Your challenge is to take and post a photography of something manmade! The subject is entirely up to you, as long as it features something created by at least one person.

You can photograph whatever you would like, but the image needs to be snapped between now and the end of the crop — 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 Scrapper’s B&W Actions, a workflow of black and white processing options for your photographs. If you’re not a Photoshop user, you can choose another product of the same value from Two Peas in a Bucket. Please see this post for all the deadlines and details about this weekend. Now go find something to photograph on your lunch break!

xlovesx

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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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