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

_{Supplies: All the papers and the butterflies are from the Caldera kit by The Queen of Quirk, plus these negative frames and these borders by Carina Gardner and trim from this kit by Holly McCaig.}

Ever have a day that starts with extreme organisation then spirals into pure crazy? That would be today in ShimWorld. I’ve been to those places you go only when trouble abounds: two different auto repair places (and still no car outside our place) and the confidential customer service desk at the bank (where they let you sit when they don’t want all the bank patrons to know just how much they have messed up lately). I came home and opened the curtains to let the sunshine blast away all of that, only to find the window pane has been smashed. Does it put my day in perspective if I tell you I did some ironing to calm down?

Thankfully I think I have managed to put it all into perspective now: broken cars and broken glass can be fixed. It is really not that much of a big deal. If anyone ever figures out why these things throw us so much, I’d appreciate a memo.

So once upon a time, I had a plan for an exceedingly well-thought out blog post. I think that plan has been thrown far, far through that broken window. Instead, I give you assorted notes in bullet point form:

...the winner of the free place on Go To Press is Beth. I’ll be in touch with your class sign up details tomorrow morning!

...tomorrow (Wednesday) I’ll be doing a live chat at 8pm UK time // 2pm Central time. Come say hello and chat away with me! The chat will be here as part of a three day online CHA party—but we can chat about anything you like!

...the digital page above is my answer to this weekly challenge to scraplift yourself. I lifted a paper page from 2005 with a new favourite digi kit.

...and now I have a question for you! I want to update a little research I did a while back. When do you scrapbook? Weekends? Evenings? Daytime during the week? Please let me know in the comments! Thanks!

xlovesx

PS: This weekend. This site. Be there or be square. That’s all I’m saying for now.

Comment [33]

Just posted a little something about this layout plus a card and a giveaway over at the Frog Blog. Be sure to comment over on this post so you can be entered to win a page kit and a set of stamps.

I also wanted to say thank you to Fiskars—they featured a little project of mine as part of their summer school series of guest posts. You can check it out here if you fancy!

And tomorrow, I’ll be back here with some class previews and a chance to win a spot in the new class so don’t miss out!

xlovesx

Comment [3]

_{Click for layout.}

Heads up: a new garden full of scrapbook pages is here and this month we were set a fashion theme. Great ideas in there for how to take inspiration from fashion to your layouts as well as scrapbooking about fashions you love. Like perhaps my teeny, tiny Orla obsession. Perhaps.

My pages are here, here and here definitely take in the whole garden for all the pretties!

xlovesx

PS: Prize winners—postal strike over (for now?!), I have started to post these off to you! I have a few more of you I need to contact, but I am working down the list and will be in touch! :)

PPS: HARRY. POTTER. TONIGHT. Woot!

Comment [8]

I am not, and never have been, a water person. I can swim well enough to not drown but not well enough to engage in anything that can be marked by laps. Luckily, this was not much of a problem growing up rather far away from any coast line.

I moved to England more than ten years ago now, and we do not need to start discussing just how old that may make me. In terms of geography, the big shift was less about mileage and more about living just a short walk from the beach (as well as my sudden discovery of hills, but that is a tale for another day). You have to understand that if I call Brighton Beach the beach, I cannot really be a water person, because swimming in the channel is not really something that many people do past a quick wade in. And that may have been on a dare.

There have been times when I’ve thought of myself as completely fearful of large bodies of water like swimming pools and oceans. I will do anything possible to take the tunnel rather than the ferry to cross the channel. And yet, there has been something intriguing there, like the rhythm of the waves hitting the rocks were water’s way of laughing ever so slightly and saying ‘Really, you’re making a big fuss of nothing.’ So on our trip to Hawaii, I talked myself out of this conflict and figured it was about time I discovered for real if I really should be terrified of the sea, or just respect it.

I want to record this honestly: kayaking in the open water pretty much freaked me out and there’s no way to put that feeling in pretty terms. But I did not fall out, panic or cause a big problem (other than being slightly useless at paddling but hey – one thing at a time). There were occasions in which I chickened out of things. But there were occasions in which I was swimming along and realised there just happened to be sea turtles on either side of me. I’m also pretty sure that one of my snorkeling scrapes is going to be at least a semi-permanent reminder that the current is certainly stronger than I am.

But sometimes there are little things we do in life that feel like really big personal victories. For me, this was one of them.

What you may find more interesting is the photography challenge I’m hosting at Two Peas this week — it’s all about photographing water.

Personal victories not required.

But seriously: do you have a little thing that gets the better of you? I’d love to hear about the sorts of things we go about beating from day to day. Just something on the brain recently, I think.

xlovesx

Comment [11]

this series of photo masks by Carina Gardner. So very pretty. And very easy to use.

I’ve added a photo mask tutorial here in case you have wondered how these lovelies work!

_{Supplies: Photocuts Masks v.2 and Inked Edges by Carina Gardner, Rich Bohemia Solids and Spool of Stitches by Tia Bennett, Bare Branches by The Queen of Quirk, Bada Bing overlays and Travel Journal Tool Kit by Rhonna Farrer. Adler & SocialAnimal fonts.}

Wishing you a lovely week!

xlovesx

Comment [3]

...it was lovely to see you all so beautiful at the prom last night!

Enjoy your summer and I’ll do my best to see you on results day – may it be just as happy!

xlovesx

Comment [5]

_{Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Love, Elsie patterned paper, Project Cuts Noel Card by Jen Allyson and a few little adhesive pearls.}

It seems to be big-time deadline time here, which is always exciting if a little disconcerting. The flat seems to suffer the most: there are class kits stacked in pizza boxes all over the living room (including in the window, so I am sure the neighbours think we eat far, far too much pizza) and layouts in a line on the counter with rough-draft PDF files printed out and sitting on top. Which means a new class is so very very nearly here. Excited.

_{Supplies: Digital quick page by Michelle Underwood.}

So not a lot of time for making things for the blog this week, but these two projects took no time at all. They are both part of the Christmas in July celebrations, which might catch your fancy if you are a) getting ahead on next Christmas or b) still catching up from last Christmas.

I’m afraid I am most definitely in camp B, although I do so long to achieve camp A status one day!

xlovesx

Comment [4]

©twopeasinabucket.com…click any layout to see larger

Just a few things inspring craftiness here today:

Some of my favourite pages from the latest garden (click those thumbnails above to see).

A pancake picnic for breakfast, listening to a brass band concert in the park and a stroll through the rose garden, now that it is sunny but not so unbearably hot.

Seeing what people are making with the library cards, like this popsiclelicious wonderment, which I love.

Pretty much every single item in this etsy store.

And possibly (hopefully!) inspiring for you, I’ve got a post over here today. Hop over and take a look!

xlovesx

Comment [2]