Lo and behold, I have finally come out the other side of a giant stack of deadlines that meant I could return to something I’ve been wanting to do so much: Sketch to Scrapbook Page. I’m going to see if I can make this a weekly event but that’s not a guarantee – just an aim at this point. If you’re relatively new around here, you can work your way back through plenty of sketches and videos here, by the way.
I don’t always work with a sketch, but I find I scrap more quickly when I do. This week I wanted to create a sketch from an existing layout – one of my favourites from my 2010 album. From this page, I took the idea of the two landscape 4×6 photos in the top left corner, plus three blocks of cardstock and a bunch of journaling cards and came up with this as the page sketch:
I combined that sketch with a stack of various American Crafts products to make a new page. And you can watch that entire process if you like:
I’m not quite sure why I’m drawn to so much orange lately, but I loved this mix of papers even though every single paper was from a different collection. And I have to admit Gardenia is a lot more fun in person than I first thought. For some reason it struck me as a line that would be a bit tough to use (maybe because it has some gardening themes and we don’t have so much as a potted plant?) but once I had it on the desk and started chopping it up, my opinion changed. I love the richness of the colours and I have a few more Gardenia projects coming up soon.
You can find all the supplies for this page here, at the bottom of the page.
Here’s a closer look at that finished page. My only wish was that we would have had a photo of the two of us together for the top left corner, but we don’t, so that’s how it is! I do have a picture of The Boy in that same spot, so I’m going to scrap that on the facing page in the album. Hoping that will work to emphasise that’s an ‘our favourites’ rather than just my favourites! It’s a plan. (And also, we’re working on our self-portraits.)
In other news, this layout was featured here on the American Crafts blog, and their blog includes plenty of inspiring projects made with all sorts of American Crafts products. Worth checking out if you’re not already a reader there!
Why not grab this sketch and two of your own 4×6 pictures? Give it a go and share your page with us!
A little digest of news from the Garden Girls – on the twenty-second of the month, we bring you Gardeners’ Digest, a blog-hop style wrap up of our favourite projects and products at Two Peas in a Bucket. If you’ve just arrived from Nancy’s blog, then hello hello! (And if you’re just starting here, you can following it around, of course!)
First a little behind the scenes look at something you’ll find shortly at Two Peas. Any guesses on what aventure this may have started? All to be discovered next Wednesday!
This month I’ve found myself clicking on all of Amy Heller’s pages to see all the details she packs in to each design. I don’t think I’ve ever met an Amy page I didn’t like! You can find her gallery here. Be sure to click that with a bit of time on your hands, because you’ll find plenty to add to your bookmarks!
Another little new thing at Two Peas that isn’t a product: lots of people said they wanted a place to follow the Two Peas blog in a super easy format, so you can now find the Two Peas blog here at Typepad, so it’s nice and easy to add to your subscriptions! (If you read on the Two Peas site, no problem as you’ll find it there too!)
Three things for you:
First, leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a $10 gift certificate to Two Peas. Easy! Enter before the end of next Thursday (the 29th of March) and the winner will be posted on the following Friday (the 30th).
Second, there are three giveaways that end tonight, so find them here, here and here so you’re in it to win it! Those will all be announced here tomorrow night.
Third, your next stop on the way is Jill Sprott. Go, go, go!
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.
Scraps have been a pretty hot topic on the message board recently – including this discussion that inspired this week’s adventure, but also this discussion and this one, both about how to sort, organise and store all those bits of paper that end up left over after a finished project. Time for Glitter Girl to spring to action, and on her adventure this week she shares three strategies for page designs with all those scraps!
Each of these designs can be adapted to suit your style and photo needs, or used in slightly different ways on a variety of pages without every page looking the same. Always useful!
Take the example of a collection of one inch strips: the same idea can be used to cover the front of a card. It can be turned to become a vertical column of horizontal strips, which could be a rainbow of bright colours or make a great place for writing in paler colours. And it doesn’t have to be a big border – it could easily be a box or a circle instead. If I only had two 4×6 pictures for this page but wanted more space to write, I could move the collection of strips to take one of the photo spots and open up all that space at the top for as much journaling as I want to include.
This technique of repeating one shape in a contained explosion is one of my favourite techniques for scraps. This page from a few years back uses the very same idea and it’s still one of my favourites, so I was excited to try it again, this time with punches and dies rather than cutting everything from a paper with scissors. However, I know this kind of embellishment overload isn’t everyone’s style. Just take it back a bit: fewer, larger shapes to cover that same space will be less chaotic, as will repeating a few patterns more rather than trying to cut every piece from a different design. The same can be limited to a smaller part of the page, either for less embellishment or to dedicate more space to photos or writing.
And this final strategy starts from something different: in the first two instances, I chose my paper scraps based on their colour. In this case, I was looking for the shape – all long narrow strips of paper. From that I could find a good mix of colours that would work but I was generally less fussy about the colours I was choosing. This page design is not dramatically different from many other pages I’ve made, but I would usually include at least one large block of paper in the middle somewhere – but in this case it is entirely strips with the single exception of the flower cut with scissors from a sheet of patterned paper. By starting with those strip borders at the top and bottom of the page, you can adapt the middle to any requirements – different number or size of photos, more or less embellishment, and so forth. You can also bring ribbons, tape and border punches into the mix. This older page does that with a larger photo too.
Now it’s your turn! This week Glitter Girl challenges you to put at least one of these three strategies to use with your own scraps and off-cuts. Make a page and upload it to Two Peas and check the box for the Glitter Girl challenge in step four of the upload process to share it with us all – and you’re also welcome to share a link in the comments here if you fancy!
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.
I snagged a Studio Calico kit from a friend this month as a special treat, so I could start cutting and pasting with the new Storyteller collection from Crate Paper. Perfect for a starting point!
For this starting point, choose a 12×12 single-coloured patterned paper for the background, then cut a 4×12 strip of a double-sided paper. From that, use a border punch and cut that strip apart – so the designs from both sides of the paper are on show on the left side of the page. Then a box just slightly smaller than 6×6 (I picked something with lines here so I could use that for the writing, but in the end I placed it elsewhere) and a die-cut or something cut from patterned paper. Then the rest is up to you!
Hmm… I should photograph this again in the daylight tomorrow! But here’s my finished version, with two 4×6 photos a few more die-cuts (Crate and October Afternoon) and letter stickers (My Little Shoebox, Sassafras and Amy Tangerine).
You can see all the submissions from last week’s starting point here, and here are four of my favourites if you want to drop by and share a little comment love!
1. Leanne 2. Daphne 3. Helen and 4. Deb.
Give this starting point a try and share it with us!
One more giveaway this week – and it’s a biggie: an all-access pass to True Scrap 3 – a $127 value. One lucky reader will win full admission to this online scrapbooking event, including fifteen workshops, a range of make & take tutorials and a keynote interview with Becky Higgins, plus all the bonus materials that are available to those who purchase the full event via my blog, including
…an exclusive video extension to the Starting Points series. Over this set of videos, I’ll take you through six brand new scrapbook pages from three starting points, so you can see just how varied one page starter can be. This series of videos is only available in this offer.
…a bonus PDF printable with a dozen page sketches, perfect for taking to a crop or scrapping at home. This is also exclusive to this offer and not available elsewhere.
…a class pass to your choice of either Pretty Paper Party, True Stories, Learn Something New or Love your Pictures, Love your Pages. That means you can take your pick of paper and design tricks, journaling inspiration, a month long album class or a photography project! Depending on what you pick, that’s up to a $24/£18 value. (And if you have taken all of those classes, you can gift it to a friend and be their favourite person!)
…a bonus $5 to spend at your choice of Two Peas in a Bucket, Amazon or Starbucks. (And if you’re not in the US, that can be your currency at the Amazon or Starbucks for your country if you prefer!) Just for fun.
At True Scrap 3, I’m teaching a workshop called The Perfect Collection. It’s all about taking a collection pack and getting the most from it – like eighteen totally complete scrapbook pages. The workshop includes a forty minute video that takes you through the core concepts I use for getting the most from one set of papers without needing to buy a giant stack of premade embellishments, and includes a printable accompaniment so you can refer to an entire workbook of easy-to-follow materials. That workbook includes a cutting guide to take the fear out of chopping up your pack of patterned papers, the starting point designs for each of the layouts created by using that cutting guide AND photos of all the completed layouts. The eighteen 12×12 pages include both single and double layouts, with a mix of 4×6 and 2×3 photographs plus one larger photo.
So many times I’ve been asked to share the details of how I just start and don’t stop until every scrap is used up, so that’s exactly what’s here in The Perfect Collection. There are so many opportunities to add your own style and personality to these ideas, from the choice of your papers to your favourite punches, stamps and other little touches – yet you’ll end up with a big stack of pages that rely primarily on paper rather than expensive premade embellishments. That also means it’s perfect for any older paper collections you’ve been saving for a rainy day, since you won’t bang your head against the table for not being able to find the matching accessory products in the store now!
This strategy works equally well for one complete album with matching supplies or for pages that fit all sorts of albums and themes, as you can choose if you want to use all photos from one big event or if you would rather pick pictures from all different topics and make each page on a new subject.
Any other questions on the workshop, drop me a line and I’m happy to answer!
And now for the giveaway!
To enter, visit the True Scrap site and take a look at the list of classes. Leave a comment on this blog post with a class or two that most takes your fancy! One comment will be chosen at random to win the all access pass as detailed above. Entries close at midnight UK time this Thursday and the winner will be announced Friday, along with the winner of the Cootielugs Handmade and American Crafts giveaways. (Still time to enter those!)
If you are considering True Scrap 3, do remember to sign up this month, as the price goes up in April to $147 – and that’s $20 you could have to buy another collection pack, you know!
Good luck!
xlovesx
PS: If the winner of the giveaway has signed up for True Scrap 3, she’ll get a refund! So you don’t need to wait to the weekend to sign up. If you sign up through my link remember to email me (shimelle at gmail dot com) a copy of your receipt so you can receive all the extra goodies! Thanks.
Today brings a little fun from the blog teams at American Crafts and Scor-Pal, with twenty-three brand new projects featuring American Crafts papers and embellishments and folding, scoring and pleating techniques that can be made with the Scor-Pal scoring board. (And a big welcome wave if you’ve just hopped here from Lilith’s blog!)
I am down to my last few sheets of the Campy Trails collection and there is no more where that came from: this line has now done its time and has been replaced by all the brand new lines, but I wanted to share at least one more Campy Trails project before I’ve used every last scrap. But how to include scoring in such a project?
My favourite scoring technique is the rosette or paper pinwheel (something Britta included in this five ideas with scoring post from the archives), but even I couldn’t quite put that together with what I wanted to create with this page. The beauty of a scoring board is that it is super-easy to get perfectly lined up creases so you can fold a box, a card or a design and have it come out just right every time… but what’s a girl to do with a scoring board when she likes to embrace the wonky? She ignores all the directions, basically.
I decided I just wanted to use the scoring board to create texture and dimension rather than something so rigid and parallel. I cut a wide strip of patterned paper and placed it on the board, then moved it this way and that, slightly angled to the right then the left and so forth. I did absolutely no measuring and just scored the lines until they covered the entire length of the strip then folded each one forward and backward to create some sort of folded mess, like if you asked an infant to try fan folding perhaps. And then flattened it all out on the table again, and placed foam squares behind the tallest points. From there on out, I added it to the layout like any other piece of patterned paper, but instead of a flat pattern, it’s covered in haphazard folds- and with the scoring board it took just a minute rather than ages of trying to fold back and forth by hand.
To follow the hop, head on to the next stop with Julie Koerber, who creates gorgeous hand-coloured cards. There are giveaways sprinkled all around the hop, so I hope you can find a minute to make the whole circle for projects and prizes.
Speaking of which – a little American Crafts giveaway for you right here! You know how this date stamp and this camera stamp from the new Dear Lizzy line are selling out so quickly everywhere? I have BOTH of them to give to a reader! To enter, leave a comment on this post. Easy! Entries close next Thursday at midnight UK time, and the winner will be posted on Friday.
This weekend, one commenter will win this charming ‘Queen of the Emerald Isle’ fabric bird from Clootielugs. Perfect timing for St Patrick day celebrations!
Clootielugs is a charming little shop, selling fabric birds, illustrations and embroidery, all of which are sure to make you smile. Jill lives in Scotland with husband, three children and an indulged terrier. “One of my most popular lines are my ever-changing flock of little birds. These are often made from colourful retro fabrics but also come in more natural shades and fabrics. I am very happy to take on commissions for weddings, christenings, birthdays, retirements. Birds can be personalised too!”
To enter, just leave a comment on this post describing the last lucky thing that happened to you!
Entries close at midnight Thursday UK time and the winner will be posted Friday evening, so be sure to check back to see if it’s your lucky day!
Good luck!
Congratulations to Whitney, who wins the brand new self-paced e-course, The Scrapbook Stamper’s Workshop by Jen Gallacher. Whitney, you’ll receive an email from Two Peas soon with all the info you need to get started. I know you’ll love Jen’s workshop!
So sorry if it wasn’t your lucky week – maybe it will be this time! But if you’re looking to get those stamps earning their keep instead of just taking up space in your stash, Jen’s workshop is just what you need! It’s divided into sections for different kinds of stamps, so you can go in any order as well as at your own pace – perfect if you have been collecting certain types of stamps and need to put them to better use. And I love that this is all specific to scrapbooking, as many stamping workshops are more aimed at cards and while the cards look fabulous, it can sometimes be hard to translate those ideas to a page with photos and pretty paper and writing. Definitely two thumbs up.
There’s a new giveaway every Friday night, so check back next week for another chance to win just by leaving a comment.
…Paper dulls needs faster than fabric (same goes for scissors, which is why it’s useful to have separate fabric shears if you do much sewing at all), so be sure to keep extra needles on hand. But you don’t need anything special – just the standard needle size for your machine.
…Adhesive is the only thing that can be problematic. It’s not a big problem, but if you’ve ever tried to clean adhesive off a table or other surface, you’ll be familiar with those stages of stickiness and residue and how it can see almost impossible to get right back to square one. Well… sewing through lots of adhesive will get all that residue on your needle and eventually it can transfer to the other working parts of the machine that surround the needle… or it can end up on the presser foot (the bit that clamps the paper/fabric down) or the feed dogs (the bits that move the paper/fabric along as you sew) and then you can wind up with glue on your next sewing project… which might be paper. Or it might be a wedding dress. Oh goodness. So less is totally more with adhesive on layouts you will stitch. You’re going to stitch things into place, so all you need is a little bit to hold things in the right spot while you sew.
…The tension might be different on your machine for paper versus fabric. Because paper is thinner and rigid, which could cause your stitches to look wonky on one side (or both) even when they look fine on fabric. No big worry: just adjust and try again on a scrap of paper. Or don’t stress and if it looks fine on the front but messy on the back, just don’t worry about it since that part won’t show anyway. Which is one nice thing about sewing on paper!
Anyway, time for a video adventure! It starts with some beginner sewing info then goes through three scrapbook pages, so if you already know how to use your machine and just want to skip to the layouts, zoom over the first six minutes and you should be on track.
If you think your sewing machine is broken, do yourself a favour and stop before you do anything else and change the needle. Needles are weird. They might look the same and you’ll swear it’s still sharp if you stick your finger with it, but it may be slightly bent, bowed or blunt. Any of those things can make your stitches a total mess or even make your machine stop sewing or show error messages. Yes, sewing machines need to be serviced now and then and sometimes they need actual repairs. But sometimes a new needle fixes all woes, and that only costs thirty pence. So try that first, okay? (Then if it still doesn’t work, head to an expert. A service will make your machine run like new again and it’s not all that expensive for most machines.)
Local friends, if you have never stitched and want to try before you commit to the idea of buying a machine, there are regular workshops at The Make Lounge and you can use their machines to get an idea of the experience. That’s for sewing on fabric, of course, but you’ll come away with a finished project like a patchworked pillow or a dress, so lots of good things in a couple hours in Islington.
For getting started, sewing each layer separately and then gluing it together like any other layout works well. If you’re worried that something will go wrong, you’re only working with one piece at a time – so the worst that could happen is you need to replace that single piece rather than fix a layout that’s nearly finished. Not that you’ll have any trouble with the stitching! But just in case you’re nervous. For this page, everything is stitched separately then adhered like anything else. Plus you can combine stitches and pop dots with this technique – and I do not recommend sewing through pop dots. I may have tried that out for experience in the past. It’s not the wisest move.
If you love layers, you can add stitching to each layer as you go. This is the same technique I used on this minibook cover and it works really well on cards too. That repeated stitching can transform a stack of scraps into something extra special.
Sometimes stitching is a great finishing touch to a layout that is just lacking a bit of something. In this case, I started with everything here except the stitching, but the lack of contrast made the page fall flat. The stitched frame and details in the high-contrast black thread help take it from in between to definitely finished.
(Also, don’t freak out but that is two weeks in a row that I have used themed supplies for their theme. Bicycles last week and cupcakes this week. Whatever will happen next?)
If you’re interested in more projects and information about using your sewing machine on your scrapbook pages, check out the Sew Happy Scrappy workshop at Two Peas – it’s self-paced, available any time and it’s just five bucks. (It’s taught by Jen Johner and you’ll find it listed with all the other supplies if you scroll down past the video here.)
This week Glitter Girl challenges you to sew on a project of your own! Upload it to Two Peas and check the box for the Glitter Girl challenge in step four of the upload process to share it with us all – and you’re also welcome to share a link in the comments here if you fancy!
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. She’s currently looking for a topic for next week. What should it be?
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