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

Right now, I’m working away on new projects. Working on a new class for the summer, with a focus on getting the most from your stash. Working on a seriously big challenge with Studio Calico that involves killing all five kits for July. Working on making CHA Summer possible with London airfares to anywhere a bit crazy for this summer like no other. Working on finishing as much video as possible before the games actually arrive, since there will be loud speakers right outside my window.

So that might be enough work to keep me busy pretty much every moment of every day, but it is a fabulous kind of work and as we reach this halfway point of twenty-twelve, I’m thinking it’s a pretty fabulous year indeed. (Also: HALFWAY? What is going on, people?)

While I’m busy cutting and pasting and filming for things to come, there are a few smaller groups of people taking up some challenges with existing classes now available in a self-paced format, so now seems as good a time as any to let you in on that in case something strikes your fancy. It can be great to start with a few other people joining in at the same time, though truly any class can be taken at any time so you can fit it in your schedule.

Cover to Cover is the class we just finished, but it can be taken at any time. This is a philosophy class rather than a layout class, but many of the participants found themselves scrapping more than ever before! If you have pages in stacks or just randomly in an album but you wish you could hand a guest an album with confidence and have them understand and appreciate your work even if they don’t really know about scrapbooking, then this is the class for you. It’s all about putting the book back in scrapbooking. This course includes 25 pdfs, four exclusive video episodes and access to a few videos from other courses that are also relevant to the discussion. Click here to sign up for some serious album system stuff!

Pretty Paper Party is just what you want if you love paper and collect paper but want some new ideas for actually using all that paper to scrapbook and craft. You’ll get project ideas and tutorials from me and a team of special guests, including 25 pdfs and five exclusive videos. Click here to sign up for all that paper goodness.

True Stories is one of the projects dearest to my heart. It’s all about writing – or journaling – for scrapbookers. All different ways to approach writing, get your message written down and enjoy the creativity of words. I’m joined by guest scrappers and special guest Relly Annett-Baker, who happens to be a writing professional by day and scrapbooker by night. I love this class, and the pages I created for these prompts are still some of my very favourites in terms of both storytelling and design. Click here to join in some no-fear word-smithery.

Blogging for Scrapbookers actually has two parts – the original class and the more advanced sequel. We start with the basics of getting a blog set up and making it look how you like then we move on to why blogging can be so useful for scrapbookers and how you can use the two things together. The class content covers all sorts of topics for interesting blog posts for scrapbookers to write from their own perspective, and in the advanced class we look more at growing your readership and even making some money, if that’s the sort of thing you would like to do. The class content can be used with any blog system, so you can blog on your own set-up or Blogger, Typepad, Squarespace, Wordpress or anything else. Ali Edwards recently featured this class on her blog – thanks Ali!

Love your Pictures, Love your Pages is my answer to scrappers who say they are most inspired to scrapbook their best photos, but are not interested in photo courses that are intimidating, technical or expensive. I love to scrap those winning shots but I always prefer to enjoy the experience more than think about technical stuff, so I’ve had to adopt some strategies to find a happy medium for me, and that’s what we explore in this class: how to get photos that are so much fun to scrapbook and then lots of ideas for how to scrapbook with those pictures. This is a summer favourite since it’s so much easier to get out and scrapbook when the light is there, the weather is warmer and the days are long. Click here to join the camera + paper experience.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Scrapbooking is slightly different in that it’s set up to always be self-paced, while all these other classes started with a daily format. If you want to scrapbook more efficiently (at home or away), use the paper and embellishments you buy (rather than just collecting them) or get a really intense dose of my scrapbooking style, then this is the workshop you’ll love. It’s a book + video format, broken into five chapters (all printable) and five accompanying videos. Each video reviews the concepts of that chapter plus shows you one layout from that chapter in a start-to-finish process. I’m also working on a little something new that will be added to that class soon, but I don’t have an exact date just yet so I’ll fill you in on that when it goes live. Of course everyone who has signed up to the workshop – at any time – will get access to that! Click here to become a Hitchhiker!

There you go: plenty of options for different kinds of scrapbooking workshops, and you can take any of them on your own schedule at any time. Grab a friend (or post on your blog or a message board to find a new friend) to join you if you think you’ll stick with things a bit more with someone to talk to through the process, and of course you can email me about anything in any class any time if you want to chat something over in more detail. Take your pick… and I’ll get back to work on that new stash-busting class for summer!

As always, a very very big thank you to all who take my classes and make all this possible. Thank you thank you thank you, indeed.

xlovesx

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On the twenty-second of every month, we bring you Gardeners’ Digest – a blog hop of scrapbooking news from the Garden Girls at Two Peas in a Bucket! Since last month, I’ve had five different videos at Two Peas: scrapbooking about yourself, making a scrapbook sketch your own, a quick lesson in mixing letter stickers, thoughts on handwriting, and ideas for using your sticker stash.

This month we have a brand new face in the garden: Marcy Penner has joined the team and will inspire you with her love of layers and dreamy photos.  

This month my shopping basket has been filled with spring and summer colours, and I love that the good releases just keep coming this year.  (My bank balance may not share my enthusiasm.) I just placed a new order with Two Peas this week and it includes October Afternoon Cakewalk, Studio Calico Heyday, Jenni Bowlin Wren, Crate Little Bo Peep and new Doodlebug letter sticker sets.  Have you been scrap shopping this month? What collections have caught your eye?

This month I’ve been loving Amy Heller’s workshop on colour so much that I’m going to buy a seat in class for one of you who comments today, making today’s prize a $25 value.  To enter, just leave a comment on this post! Entries close at the end of next Thursday, UK time, and the winner will be announced on Friday.

Now, once you’ve left that comment, remember to click on over to the next Garden Girl. Your next stop is the positively lovely Julie, a blog filled with stamping beauty. And enjoy the digest posts from all the Garden Girls!

Gardeners’ Digest is a monthly update from the Garden Girls, the design team at Two Peas in a Bucket. To keep up with the Garden Girls throughout the month, check out the garden gallery, find us on Twitter or subscribe to all our blogs with just a couple clicks.

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Glitter Girl has a sticky situation on her hands this week: scrapbooking with stickers! It started with this discussion on the message board, and Glitter Girl’s adventure took her through two layouts: one using the themed stickers in the new “Shoreline collection”: from American Crafts and another using a mix of stickers from different manufacturers and collections.

You can find all the products mentioned in this week’s video right here, though that set of glittery stickers has already sold out in the sale today! But all the sticker books are there, as are all the papers in today’s video. You’ll also find an additional video on that page with Shannon Tidwell’s top tips for using border stickers, if you have more of those in your stash.

Speaking of American Crafts, it’s actually a sticker-themed week on their blog! Check out those projects here for some further ideas on using their stickers.

The second layout in today’s adventure is one that can be used with plenty of part-used sticker sheets and it’s great with Instagram or Hipstamatic images if you find yourself with those square photos to scrap… otherwise you can crop a square from a more traditional photo. Either way, you don’t need much else to the rest of the page since all the embellishment comes in those squares. I’m sure you could also adapt this idea to Project Life when working with those smaller pockets. The JBS Hodge Podge stickers are a real winner for mixing different brands of stickers – they provide a nice neutral design to bring all the other elements together.

This week Glitter Girl challenges you to use your own handwriting on a crafting project- no matter what happens – and share it in the Two Peas gallery. You can also leave a link in the comments here if you like.

Onward, covered in glitter, my dear scrapbookers!

The Adventures of Glitter Girl is a weekly series on Two Peas in a Bucket, and goes live every Wednesday. I’ll share each adventure here shortly after that. I hope you enjoy her quests for crafting happiness, and if you ever have a scrapbooking dilemma yourself, you can always call her to action on the message board.

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A lovely Monday to you, and a new starting point to jumpstart your scrapbooking this week! The last few days I’ve been pulled back to travel photos for some pages, so the kraft cardstock has been out on my desk again.

I’m working my way through the Pieces of Me kit at the moment. This is the second layout to come from my kit, since Glitter Girl stole her favourites last week to make this page. But I’m aiming to use everything she left me! For this starting point, I added a sheet of kraft cardstock for my background, but the papers are from the kit, including a 4.5×12 vertical strip, two small strips for that vertical border (one punched with a large scallop) and one 4.5×6.5 box. Those two sizes give you some flexibility in where the photos will go. Does your eye go to a photo on the green box? Or photos on the pink strip? Or both? So potentially you could include three 4×6 prints here, or any number of smaller images of course.

I went with two portrait 4×6 prints, then used the space at the right for my title, writing and more embellishment. Aside from the supplies, this layout has quite a few things in common with Glitter Girl’s page: two 4×6 photos, writing on a tag held in place in a paper pocket, and a triangle of accents in a contrast colour. Glitter Girl used that pop of red, but I went with aqua this time, creating a little triangle on the right side of the page between the aqua paper block, the aqua bow on the paperclip and the aqua sequins at the bottom of the page. If you like scattered embellishments but have trouble finding just the right spot for them to balance, that might be something you want to try.

I love that I could get such a varied title for this page without adding anything else to the kit. The large letter sticker sheet includes two colours in both upper and lower case, so they work as two different alpha styles here, plus the small tile letter stickers and the lettering in the stamp set. This time I stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Zing powder in leaf green. (If you’re keeping track, the only things I added to the kit for this page were the kraft background cardstock, the ink and embossing powder and the coordinating leaf green Mister Huey spray.)

Last week’s starting point inspired a range of looks from one to three photos on a single page. Check out these pages and say hello to the scrappers who created them: one, two, three and four.

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Lisa Truesdell just launched her mini-workshop at Two Peas. It’s called Divide and Conquer and it’s all about scrapbooking with pockets, creating a smaller format album and making sure you actually finish that mini project you keep saying you’ll start! It’s normally $12 but this weekend I have one free place to give away to a reader.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post listing something (anything!) you would like to finish.

Entries close at midnight Sunday UK time this week, so don’t wait to enter.

Good luck!

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Congratulations to Sue SG, who wins last week’s prize provided by adorable bead company Cute Cornwall. (By the way, Cute Cornwall have added some very sweet rubber stamps to their shop and I adore their crazily cute Hello Kitty charms!)

Sue, please email me (shimelle at gmail dot com) with your address.

There’s a new giveaway every Friday night, so check back next week for another chance to win just by leaving a comment.

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I know: calling it scrapbooking sketch of the week at this point is entirely too cheeky. But I don’t know what to change the graphics to say, so for the moment let’s just say I have a really creative definition of a week. Or something.

This time around, I had a few bits and pieces left over from working with the May papercrafting kit from JBS Mercantile, including most of a printed transparency sheet. I love transparencies but don’t love just layering them all the time – sometimes I like keeping the transparent element in the album, but that takes a little thought about what can go on the back of that page, else it can end up pretty awkward as you turn the pages. So this sketch was designed with a transparency in mind, with a simple design to the rest of the page so it can be repeated on the back to keep that transparent element in the album. Of course, that works best with a pattern that works from both the front and back of the page! Stars, chevrons, lines, checks, polka dots, clouds and all sorts of geometric patterns work better for that than anything with text!

Of course, you don’t have to use a transparency to use the sketch. You could simply piece together the background layer with two pieces of cardstock or two patterned papers. Easy enough! But if you do have a transparency kicking around that needs to be put to use, consider this your challenge!

(Oh, and I may have posted things in a different order to what I expected, so that starting point is already live for you! Find it here.)

As this goes live, a few each of both the main kit and the dime store kit are still available. You can find the main kit here and the dime store kit here, and you don’t have to subscribe to order either kit.

I loved the absolute variety of page themes posted for the last sketch. Here are four favourites: one, two, three and four. Give them a look to see each page in more detail and meet the scrappers who created them!

Sketch of the Week (or whenever!) is always just for fun, and you’re invited to join in with some photos of your own. Grab any supplies you want to use, create a page and share it with us via an online page gallery or your blog. We would all love to see where this sketch takes you on your scrapbooking adventures!

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I’m sure Glitter Girl was born with all her scrapping skills fully developed, but that is definitely not the case for me. Especially when it comes to handwriting. I got in so much trouble at school for terrible handwriting. Even though it got so much better with repetition, I had such a complex about it, thinking it still looked like that third-grade scrawl that I would have to rub out and trace again, over and over. On my first few years of scrapbook pages, everything is carefully pencilled and printed. Then I gave up handwriting entirely and typed every bit of journaling for the next few years after that. It was only when I was faced with life without a printer that I started to write by hand again and since then, I’ve never gone back really. I think I’ve printed my words three times in the past seven years? Something like that. I still don’t think my writing is perfect but I have reached a point where my penmanship and I are on speaking terms and we understand each other. I’ll take that as a win.

So this week, Glitter Girl takes on a question about what to do with written mistakes. The simplest answer? Write it again and paste it over the top! Easy. Again something that would never happen to Glitter Girl, but one of my most embarrassing moments demonstrating at a craft show involved a customer looking closely at a sample page for ages, then announcing that she had counted and there were thirteen layers on paper in one spot. And I immediately knew why: I had made twelve mistakes. Sometimes less is more, but on my scrapbook pages? Usually more is more. More mistakes, more second chances, more layers, more patterns, more colour. All sounds fine to me!

Today’s video has three parts – the kit of supplies at the beginning, then the step-by-step process of the layout and then we start talking about handwriting once the layout is about two-thirds complete. (If you’re only interested in certain parts, you can of course skip to what you want to see!) If you fancy crafting with that specific kit of goodies, you can find the Pieces of Me kit listed here. Just scroll down the pages until you reach the supply list and pop it in your bucket! Glitter Girl also shares some of her top tips for handwriting on that page too. (And if you’re interested in learning more about what to write rather than just how to write the alphabet in an aesthetically pleasing fashion, you might consider True Stories, my journaling workshop that can be taken any time in a self-paced format.

This week Glitter Girl challenges you to use your own handwriting on a crafting project- no matter what happens – and share it in the Two Peas gallery. You can also leave a link in the comments here if you like.

Onward, covered in glitter, my dear scrapbookers!

The Adventures of Glitter Girl is a weekly series on Two Peas in a Bucket, and goes live every Wednesday. I’ll share each adventure here shortly after that. I hope you enjoy her quests for crafting happiness, and if you ever have a scrapbooking dilemma yourself, you can always call her to action on the message board.

PS: Glitter Girl will be looking for a few extra good topics over the next couple weeks, so don’t be afraid to ask away!

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Last month I put together a little video that I thought would make quite a few people roll their eyes. It’s just forty minutes of me scrapbooking, starting with a kit and working on pages until it’s all gone. That was eight layouts later, starting with a kit of about $40 (including two long-term items – a stamp set and a bottle of mist). I had no idea that it would strike such a chord.

First Jenn at Live.Teach.Create. started this challenge and invited her readers to create a similar kit from their own supplies, then scrap until it was gone. And this month, the Counterfeit Kit Challenge decided to make it their June project, and they invite you to join in the fun and see how many pages you can make… all by choosing things from your existing stash of scrapbooking supplies.

Now, just in case you use those supplies and fancy something a bit new, you can also purchase the original kit in my video here. Just add one of each element that you want, and presto: a kit for getting crafty! (And just a little advance notice: I’ve just picked out the supplies I’m using for a new project along these lines, so this sort of flexible kit may become a regular thing at Two Peas if enough people like the idea!)

Anyway, I just wanted to say how humbled and thankful I am that so many scrappers find the videos like this to be useful and helpful in using that stash. I love to hear scrappers say they are creating more and collecting less. (Not that there’s anything wrong with collecting if you have plenty of space to save all that pretty paper! I have days when I am definitely envious of a big space to store such prettiness!) If you found this idea useful, I hope you’ll take up one or both of those challenges and I hope your stash proves exceptionally useful!

xlovesx

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