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

In sketching out a whole collection of page outlines to get things planned for 2013, I realised just how much I like a very simplistic sketch to get scrapping. Yes, it can be lovely to have so many little extras built in, but it can also be so helpful to have just a few basic things in place and then have the freedom to add and subtract without feeling like it’s an abandonment of the original idea. So don’t be surprised at just how simple some of these sketches may be: that way they are yours to dress up or keep simple as the mood hits!

I imagined this sketch with two photos printed slightly larger than my usual, and in fact I printed mine at 5×6 inches. If two photos is too few for you, never fear, as today’s guest has made it work with four images instead. And if you fancy making this into a two page layout, look at the middle line of this sketch and pretend that is the centre of the two pages. Then just extend the design outward, possibly with two portrait 4×6 pictures side by side instead of the single 5×6 pictures. Does that help?

This marks my third full project with the January kit, which is now starting to look well-used but there are still some full sheets untouched that I want to use as backgrounds. Because this page will go in my Round the World album, I added a sheet of kraft cardstock so it matches all the other pages in those books, plus some glimmer mist to paint on that frame around the edge, but everything else is from that same set of supplies.

If you check out the Black Water Rafting website, you’ll see just how alike all the photos are, but if you ever find yourself touring New Zealand, it is certainly an interesting item for your itinerary. It’s called ‘black water’ rafting because you’re in a cave and entirely in the dark. Well, maybe not entirely, as there are glow worms on the ceiling that make it a bit like looking up at the stars, except once you find out what a glow worm really is, it’s not nearly as romantic as it sounds, but it is still pretty cool. It’s very cold (even in a wet suit) and very touristy, but New Zealand was our stop of ‘let’s do all the things they show in leaflets’, so indeed we went rafting, paragliding, and scuba diving to ship wrecks. (I say ‘we’. When it comes to the scuba diving, I mean ‘he’. But still.) And at the end of the rafting adventure, they give you hot chocolate and a DVD of pictures from your day, perfect for a scrapbooker.

Today I’m thrilled to welcome Ashli Oliver (also known as SoapHouseMama in the world of scrapbooking message boards) with her beautifully layered and detailed style. She had no trouble converting this sketch into one with additional photos, so I know you’ll find her ideas inspiring, no matter what your style may be.

When I saw this fun way to incorporate four photos onto one page, I knew I would be heading straight to my stack of Disney pictures. After all, I took loads of fun pictures and I need to maximize my page real-estate! As you can imagine, this album of our vacation is chocked full of fun and whimsy, so I just overlapped and tilted my photos a bit to maintain this consistency. Not to mention that I just couldn’t bring my self to cover up that fabulous polka dot print from Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic. The choice of the gold dot vellum also allows for the pattern to peek through a bit, while adding a nice touch of sparkle. In addition to the who, what, when, and where journaling, these photos have a bit of a longer story that I wanted to tell. So, I added a little pocket from Whiskers Graphics to include more journaling. A touch of gold in the title work helps pull in the gold sparkle from the vellum and some doodles finish it off. Plenty of room for pictures with still enough space left for embellishments… This is a sketch that I will be returning to again and again, I just know it!

It is such an honor have joined you this week. Thanks you for having me, Shimelle! I hope to see you all over at purplemailbox.com. You can also find me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. I look forward to “seeing” you soon!

And now it’s your turn! Create a page in your style with this sketch, post it online, and share it with us. You can upload to your blog or to a scrapbooking gallery like Two Peas or UKScrappers, then just follow the steps to link to your project wherever it can be found online!

Comment [13]

I have my work cut out with me creating posts for all the remaining CHA booths and I’ll be on that straight away now that I’m back home in snowy London! (To be fair, Southern California wasn’t that much warmer, though there was a great deal more sunshine.) And to make up for a bit of lost time while I was off staring lovingly at all the new paper for 2013, this weekend I have two scrapbooking sketches for you – both with videos and guests, of course.

This second sketch of the year uses my favourite photo combination: two 4×6 prints in the same direction (portrait, in this case). It stays pretty simple from there too: a title, writing space, and three areas of embellishment. Of course, what you choose for those embellishments is totally up to you!

This is my second page to come from my January kit, though you might have noticed Glitter Girl sneaking a title from my kit lettering options last week. I added some thread and a tiny bit of gold mist (it sells out fast but it is restocked often – click the ‘request & notify me’ button if you’re still searching for some and that way you have a good chance of catching it as soon as it arrives), but everything else is from the kit.

I did add one tiny bit of additional embellishment not on the sketch – two initials and the date at the top left corner. I like having just a few things that repeat on every page in a specially themed album, and in the Harry Potter album, it’s the initials ‘HP’ somewhere on each page. It just seemed a bit more balanced to place them in the top corner rather than add them into one of the existing areas of embellishment since those three were so similar and the initials would make one grouping so different.

The scrapper behind this gorgeous page is this week’s guest, Melissa Mann. I love how she repeated one motif in two unique ways through the die-cut background and the patchworked embellishments.

I loved that this sketch included two 4×6 photos. I usually stick to one photo scrapbook pages or multiple smaller photos. I stuck pretty close with the sketch but changed the place I put my title. It didn’t seem to flow as well with the title in the lower right hand side. That is the one thing I love about sketches! You can duplicate the sketch in its entirety or use it as a jumping off point. I really wanted to use the lime green card stock on this layout, but it was too bright in my opinion to use as the base. I layered it on top of some dark gray card stock and stitched it down with my sewing machine. I then layered a piece of white card stock that I ran through my Silhouette Cameo and cut a triangle design on and stitched it down on top of the lime green card stock. I matted my two 4×6 photos with a piece of patterned paper that had more geometrical designs on it. I created my own custom arrow embellishments by cutting the arrows out of cardstock. On two of the arrows I layered strips of paper across and trimmed off the excess. On the biggest arrow, I punched out squares of patterned paper and laid it down on top of the cardstock and again cut off the excess. All three arrows were stitched around the border with my sewing machine. A couple of stickers and brads were placed around the photo and the title was placed above the photo mat. The supplies I used are by American Crafts, Studio Calico, Basic Grey, Ki Memories, Tim and Beck, and October Afternoon. The cut files used were by Studio Calico and Silhouette.

You can find more of Melissa’s work on her blog or her galleries at Two Peas and Studio Calico.

And now it’s your turn! Create a page in your style with this sketch, post it online, and share it with us. You can upload to your blog or to a scrapbooking gallery like Two Peas or UKScrappers, then just follow the steps to link to your project wherever it can be found online!

Comment [7]

Oh Dear Lizzy papers. Such pretty pastels with just the right amount of sweetness. I’ve loved so many of these papers since the original ‘Spring’ line a few years ago now. These cards were made with the Neapolitan collection last year. And this weekend, there’s a whole new collection to add to that tradition. American Crafts is thrilled to announce its sixth collection from
designer Elizabeth Kartchner, “Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm”.

From American Crafts:
“Beautiful paper with a cool mix of blues, mint, orange-red and yellow,
with a pop of pink in the each of the pretty florals. Lucky Charm was inspired by jewelry charms so you will find your favorite ‘lucky’ icons here and there. As well as dreamy clouds, star-maps, hot air balloons, and darling umbrellas. Some of the new products sure to get you excited include the roller phrase-only stamp. Scrapbookers loved the Dear Lizzy Date Stamp, so in this collection you will find a new stamp that is full of just the fun phrases. There are also awesome 4×6 diecut cards, striped square buttons that look like candy, a perforated sticker book, tissue fringe flags, fringe garland, printed clothespins, and a colorful Daybook. Of course, a Dear Lizzy line wouldn’t be complete without some Lizzyesque icons including jars, kites and handwritten phrases.”

Here’s a look at the Lucky Charm daybook! Such a cute mini to carry and create or perfect for making a gift.

To see another product continue on the blog hop to Dear Lizzy for a sneak peek and a giveaway of the entire Lucky Charm collection.

And it’s not long at all now until the show opens – and I’ll be blogging (and Instagramming) photos directly from the show floor! I’m packing my suitcase today and flying out tomorrow. Place your bets now on how many days I’ll be wearing sequins.

Comment [44]

If you’ve read more than say three posts here in the last two years, you probably know I have a great fondness for Amy Tangerine papers from American Crafts. So you will know how giddy I am to have a small part of sharing the newest line with the world! Get to know a little something new called Amy Tangerine Yes, Please.

The new line includes some very fun things, like this embroidery kit. Add lettering like Amy’s t-shirt line to my scrapbook pages? Yes, Please! Oh wait. I think I see what’s she done there.

Yes, Please includes twenty-four patterned papers, Thickers, stickers, stamps and Daybooks, plus new embellishments like wood veneer tags, an embroidery stencil kit, wood alphabet stamps, and a very special calendar stamp.

Today, Amy invited a few friends to share the new collection, so you can click around to all of those sneak peeks then have a change to win the whole shebang for yourself! Your next stop is the lovely Jennifer McGuire. When you’ve seen all the posts, be sure to stop by the American Crafts blog for your chance to win.

So… are we excited for CHA yet?

Comment [99]

Here’s one of the three ways you’ll see guests bloggers sharing their ideas here throughout 2013: with five ideas posts! Each five ideas guest has chosen a product, technique, or idea she would like to share with you across a variety of looks. I hope you find them inspirational! Today I’m pleased to welcome Angie Gutshall, who has falled head over heels for the paper feather embellishments in American Crafts’ Dear Lizzy Fifth & Frolic collection.

Happy New Year! Did you notice in the scrapbooking industry there are always new trends popping up each year? Well, I usually love them and start to use them like everyone else. This new trend of feathers has me pretty excited! I think this is going to be fun new trend that will carry over to 2013!

I picked these American Crafts Leaf & Feather combo to show you five different ideas of fun ways to use them. Like I said before I love trends and this is honestly one of my new favorite trends out there.

For this layout I started by adding some gesso and chalk ink with a mask. Then I used lots of washi tape and stripes of paper. Then came all the fun little embellishments I added to the stripes of color. I love how the AC feathers just add a fun pop to the layout and since all the little rhinestones are already attached it’s a perfect little fit.

This card was a work in progress. I had to walk away a couple of times because it just needed something and I couldn’t figure out what. Then I realized I need to add another piece behind the pink and also added some gesso with a mask. I then stamped the ‘hello’ and hearts and embossed them to make the black bolder. I then added my cute AC Leaf & Feather detail. Lastly, I sewed around the top.

My daughter got some jewelry for Christmas and I wanted to get her a nice little box to put them. I bought this box for a dollar and didn’t like the top design, so being crafty I figured I could ‘doctor’ it up. I took some twine and washi tape and wrapped around the bottom. I then took a piece of paper by My Mind’s Eye to cover the top. I loved the cute little Jillibean Soup sticker and thought it was very fitting for jewelry. I then decorated it with the AC feather, a flair, and some butterflies.

To dress up a dresser, I started with a blue frame and painted it with some gesso to give it an antique look. I liked the oval Crate Paper chipboard but it wouldn’t fit behind the frame so I put it on top and love the result. I then added the papers and title behind the frame. I used the American Crafts feather to accent the oval frame. I love how it turned out.

I had this little binder that I planned to create a desk calendar out of so I went to work decorating it with some fresh new papers. I started by placing some Crate Paper vellum and then added some paper pennants on the side. I then used the AC feather combo to layer over the little pennant stripes.

I hope I have inspired you to have fun feathers this coming year! I have enjoyed sharing with you my ideas of inspiration. I can’t wait to see what you create! Thanks again for having me, Shimelle!

Of course you can click to order the feathers or any number of cute things from the American Crafts’ Dear Lizzy Fifth & Frolic collection.

Angie Gutshall is a stay at home mom for four children. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Brian. She lives in the country in the central part of Pennsylvania. Scrapbooking is where she captures her everyday moments on paper so her children will have something to treasure when they get older. She also loves taking pictures, baking, watching movies with her kids, and created craft projects for gifts. She shares more inspiration on her blog, My Little Blessings.

Comment [15]

One of those things I’m excited to share with you every week this year is a new scrapbooking sketch! Having a guest each week is going to keep me on my toes and I’ve already seen the first several pages they’ve made and I love them. I hope you will enjoy this new take on the old sketch posts too!

I’m starting the year very simply, with a sketch that includes one large photo and two smaller images. I printed all three at home (rare for me!), printing the large image as a borderless print on an A4 sheet of photo paper and the two smaller images at 2.5 inches square. If you’re looking to order large prints, I suggest Photobox in the UK and York Photo or Persnickety Prints in the US – all three offer large prints, including 12×12 photos, and you upload your photo online then the prints are delivered to your door.

For this video, all of my supplies came from the January Best of Both Worlds kit that I’ll be using all month, with the exception of the baker’s twine, which I had in my stash (plus ink, stamping block, pens and adhesive, of course).

The sketch itself includes a bit more embellishment at the top left of the large photo, but adding something there would have covered the lovely faces in this case, so I just swapped sides and added that top embellishment at the right. But our special guest kept it in its original location!

I’m delighted Rhonna Farrer could join us as the first sketch guest of the year! I love her beautiful digital take on the large photo idea. And her creative process for the page makes it even more special:

The New Year is on my mind the past few weeks. I wanted to document my approach to this New Year in a scrapbook page. This is created digitally with my elements in my Rhonna Designs Insta Fonts and Brushes. I plan on printing this out & hanging it on my Inspiration Board so I am reminded everyday of my one little word & goal for 20.thirteen. I took the sketch & added photos that will inspire me: my family and a photo of my mountains. The sketch is perfect for drawing my eyes to the sky… looking up… focusing. Each element is placed there for a reason: to draw my eye first to TODAY at the top. Then, flowing through the entire layout to remind me to BE STRONG in one thing each day. That feels doable. I know I can do that.
I used one of my favorite color schemes with colors from 2012 & a POP of the 2013 color of the year: emerald in my family photo!

You can find more of Rhonna’s gorgeous work on her blog and shop, plus you’ll find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

And now it’s your turn! Create a page in your style with this sketch, post it online, and share it with us. You can upload to your blog or to a scrapbooking gallery like Two Peas or UKScrappers, then just follow the steps to link to your project wherever it can be found online!

Comment [6]

2013 will be an amazing year for scrapbooking. I know that sounds a little strange for a hobby that isn’t at the popularity height it was six or eight years ago. I know it’s hard to imagine when we hear of many old favourite stores closing their doors. I know it might be rough at an industry level in a year when many are making plans to cut their unnecessary spending even more. But hear me out: I so believe scrapbooking has just turned a corner.

We’ve turned a corner to knowing it doesn’t have to be about gathering in huge groups to finish hundreds of pages over a weekend. The sad news of losing some lovely specialist stores we perhaps took for granted has made it more obvious of just how much our remaining favourites need our support when we do choose to shop for something new. And the changes in crafty spending have seen different types of business innovate to make something out of nothing.

Some examples:
Starting today, Two Peas in a Bucket will now have new scrapbooking tutorial videos six days a week. Almost every designer there now contributes videos, and there are six different scrapping series, so there are all sorts of crafting styles and creativity sparks on offer. (And I am delighted to say my sparkly friend is back: The Adventures of Glitter Girl will continue to be the Wednesday broadcast, and I have more to share about that in just a bit.) All of these videos are free to view and invite you to participate by trying a featured idea or technique. Videos can be viewed at home or on the go, through the Two Peas site, Youtube, or the designers’ respective blogs.

The Paperclipping Roundtable podcast brings together a variety of voices from the scrapbooking world to discuss a new topic each week. Again, completely free to listen. You can listen at home through each episode’s blog post or you can subscribe (for free) in iTunes and listen on your phone or iPod or whatever you prefer. I listen to PRT with my headphones while I’m on the train or walking home. I know quite a few listeners queue up the PRT to listen while in traffic. I know it seems a little odd at first to listen about scrapbooking – since scrapping is such a visual thing. But it really works. If you think about it, it’s not really that odd: I could happily talk about scrapbooking over coffee for ages without a single visual aid. It’s just that if I’m talking with them on the roundtable, I have to click the button to mute my microphone whenever I actually drink the coffee. (Confession: forgetting to mute the microphone is pretty much my biggest fear when I’m on the PRT. I will quite happily say something stupid or get flustered and stutter my way through a point I swear makes sense in my head, but a coffee accident is just waiting to happen.) The Paperclipping team also has a membership programme with regular videos, and in their 2012 round-up post, you can watch the most popular members’ video for free to see what it’s all about.

In a world dominated by quick bits of social media updates, there are bloggers sharing in-depth stuff. From someone who rocks the product like Jen Gallacher pulling together all different layouts to demonstrate how versatile some items in your stash might be (her Product Focus series) to Ali Edwards and her encouragement to choose a word to guide your year, which can help in terms of scrapbooking but also in much more (I love that this concept is something you can do on different levels – carry it in your own mind, work on your own projects, or sign up for a more specific workshop Ali teaches throughout the year). In a scrapbook-blogging world that includes daily updates like this, this, this, this, this, and this, there is inspiration aplenty (some of those I love for the words, others for the visuals, but all of them make me want to stop typing right this second and go glue paper to other paper in an aesthetically pleasing manner). I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to follow every scrapbook blog known to the universe, but there is just so much good stuff being shared right now. Apparently I’m not the only one fixated the the ‘amazing’ thing, as Simple Stories just shared that one of the papers in their new line reads make today ridiculously amazing. Clearly I will need multiple sheets of that paper.

There is one type of message I received now and then throughout 2012 that made me so ridiculously happy. It would come from different types of people – all over the world, different ages and stages in life, different creative styles – and would say pretty much the same thing: I had given up on scrapbooking, but now I love it again. Oh thank you, thank you for not giving up. For giving it another try. For finding what works for you and staying creative. When I would read that, it made me so excited about this entire craft. You know me: I do tend to go over the top.

So here’s the thing: all this awesomeness is out there and you can help support this drive of creativity. You can do things like…
…share something you like with others, like emailing a link to a friend or posting it to Twitter or pinning it to a Pinterest board.
…click the like button on videos or gallery posts or anything else that inspires you to create.
…take a moment to leave a comment in a gallery, on a video, on a blog post or in a reply on social media to let the people who inspire you know you are out there appreciating what they do.
…consider making your selected purchases in ways that support those people and companies providing you with the free stuff you love most.
…create a project in response and share it – post it in a gallery and credit your inspiration or enter a challenge or write a blog post.
All of those things go so far to making this little world of scrapbooking as fabulous as it is, and all but one are free. Okay, making a project probably means you spent something on supplies at some point in time, but trust me, all of us working on projects like this are really happy for you to use any supplies you want, and that includes making an effort to work through a collection you’ve already stashed away! And the one I mention that isn’t free isn’t a case of you-must-spend – rather, it’s a case of if you are going to shop anyway, it would be awesome if can support the projects you love. That’s reasonable, right? And this stuff works for all your favourites across this industry – so many people doing things in different styles and formats, there’s much to share.

Also, I’m a bit biased that I know all of you are amazing because you are the people who have helped me raise thousands of pounds for charity, helping girls get education and fair treatment, and all of that was possible because of scrapbooking. I don’t care that I go over the top: I really do think this is an amazing time in an amazing community of creative people.

I hope you agree. I hope you get excited by the good stuff being shared. I hope you find something that is just right for your style, whatever that may be.

In addition to the return of Glitter Girl, there is some other new stuff you’ll find here starting right now. It includes a monthly kit concept for 2013 called The Best of Both Worlds. It includes three guest bloggers right here every week, working with me to share tutorials and their take on a scrapbooking sketch. Which means yes: there really and truly is a sketch for every week. As in the next six months of sketches already exist as I type this and I can’t begin to tell you how happy that makes me: I have always wanted to have something like that planned so far ahead and this is the first time it’s really happened. It includes lots of opportunities for you to get involved. It includes more video. It includes new workshops soon and a rerun of a requested class from the archives (Pretty Paper Party will run again starting on the 14th of January – more about that coming up soon, but feel free to sign up if you fancy). It includes buttons at the bottom of the screen to take you to the most popular sections of the site. It marks the very first time I’ve ever put my face in the sidebar (it’s still a little odd to me – we’ll see how it goes). It includes coverage from CHA-Winter, the big craft trade show that is now ridiculously close. It includes a lot of scrapbooking and a little bit that isn’t. Changing things around means it’s quite possible I’ve broken something along the way, so it may also mean a few little changes here and there until it all seems settled, but basically: it will be an amazing year for scrapbooking, and I really want to be part of that.

I hope you do too.

Comment [75]

There are some things I absolutely love about scrapbooking kits: the ease of something selected to mix and match perfectly without it all being one collection, the right amount of stuff to make quite a few pages or projects without having to dip into too many other supplies, the portability factor that makes it easy to pick up and scrap anywhere by grabbing a kit with some photos and basic tools, getting to see how different crafters are so creative with the same set of supplies, and the chance to take up the challenge to use something I might not otherwise purchase for myself. But then there are downsides: accidentally duplicating items I’ve already purchased, ending up with supplies I won’t use because they are beyond a challenge and just aren’t my style, wishing I had something very close to that kit but with maybe a small change or two, and the conundrum of what to do with a subscription that arrives every month whether I’ve had time to use the last one or not.

So for 2013, I’ve put together a little something designed to be the Best of Both Worlds. These are my product picks that I’m assembling into a kit each month, with a few guidelines: the kit will stay at the same budget (just shy of $40 USD – but keep reading because there’s a solution if that’s too much for you) and always include at least two elements that will last long after the paper and stickers are gone (usually a stamp set for one, then things like tape, mist, or ink for the other). You place your order through Two Peas in a Bucket, so you can add more products while you’re shopping if you like (they offer free US shipping over $50, so that may be beneficial to you) and they ship all over the world. You can skip straight to the January kit here if you fancy.

There’s no subscription so you can jump in and out as you see fit.
You can edit the kit if you want more control by omitting items or replacing them. Say you don’t stamp: removing the stamp set from the kit saves you a sizeable chunk of the kit’s overall price, so that’s a great way to keep things to a smaller budget. Or say you don’t like Thickers (gasp!), you could leave them out or if you just don’t like glittery Thickers, you could replace them with another colour in a non-glittery option in the same font, so the kit would work exactly the same as I’m using it but you wouldn’t be angry at the world for getting glitter on your desk.

And yes, I’ll be using it. Each month you’ll see my projects from the kit come together through different videos and blog posts. I’ll be using the kit for my Sketch to Scrapbook Page videos and Scrapbook Starting Points and a few other spontaneous blog posts along the way. (You are, of course, welcome to participate in those challenges without the kit too.)

I realise this is a different definition to the idea of a ‘kit’ in the scrapbooking world, but that’s certainly what I’m making – a kit of supplies to use throughout the month. It just doesn’t have the subscription element and gives you the freedom to make choices should you wish to change the kit a bit! The January selection includes patterned papers from Pebbles, Echo Park, Studio Calico, Jenni Bowlin, BasicGrey, My Mind’s Eye, and October Afternoon, plus Thickers and smaller flat letter stickers, buttons and chipboard embellishments, colourful tape and a set of clear stamps designed by Kelly Purkey.

Here’s a look at the January selections and some further thoughts on how this works – including why I added certain elements this month and what changes you might want to make if your scrapping style differs to mine!

Click here to purchase the January 2013 Best of Both Worlds kit.
It’s as simple as adding one of everything if you want to use the same kit that I’ll be using all month, but you can of course make any changes you would like. Right now, there is a good supply of all the items in the kit, but as this gives you the option to pick and choose, it may mean some items sell out quicker than others. So waiting is at your own risk, I guess!

If you’re a loyal customer at Two Peas, your customer loyalty discount will be applied! And of course your kit purchase counts toward the customer loyalty discount too.

Coming right up: the first Sketch to Scrapbook Page video of the year, with a layout made from this kit, of course!

Comment [22]