Trendy Tuesday – Pocket Scrapbooking Systems
By Colleen Harshaw

Have you ever heard of a little thing called Project Life?  It is everywhere right now.  Project Life is the brain child of industry expert Becky Higgins.  It started as a movement….encouraging people to embrace everyday life and all of its imperfections, coaxing people to take more photos and then to create quick and simple scrapbooks….but now, it has become a full line of products and has caught on with a fervor that is rather shocking (to me anyways)!

Project Life is supposed to be for the non-scrapbooker, the person who doesn’t have time, the person who thinks that she isn’t creative enough to scrapbook.  It is supposed to be simple.  You can dress it up if you choose, but it really isn’t necessary.

In order to get started all you need is a binder, photo pocket pages and a Project Life Core Kit.  The Core Kits contain journaling cards and title cards in standard sizes to fit into the pocket pages.

With the popularity of Project Life, many other companies are creating their own pocket scrapbooking systems.  Many of these other systems are also compatible with Project Life and are less expensive.  The best part is that there is a lot of choice!

Here are some samples of Project Life pages…..

www.aliedwards.com

www.shellybailey.blogspot.com

www.beckyhiggins.com

If you are looking for some ideas of what to put into all of those pockets in your album, this is a great list of ideas created by Jessica Turner of The Mom Creative.  It is called 100 Bits of Life for Project Life and you can download a free printable of the list here: http://www.themomcreative.com/2012/01/free-printable-100-bits-of-life-for-project-life.html

Other manufacturers who have pocket scrapbooking systems include:

We R Memory Keepers Albums Made Easy

photo courtesy of www.scrapbook.steals.com

October Afternoon Daily Flash Collection

www.scrapbookingabout.com

 Simple Stories Sn@p Life Collection

www.simplestories.typepad.com

……and Bo Bunny Misc Me Life Journals.

www.bobunny.blogspot.com

Next I have some products to share which are compatible with these pocket scrapbooking systems.  Some of these products are specifically meant to be used with Project Life, while others are just conveniently compatible.  There is a lot available on the market.  You shouldn’t have any problems finding things to include!

This first photo illustrates a line of embellishments from Elle’s Studio that are sized to be compatible with pocket scrapbooking systems.  The tabbed card design is very ‘on trend’!

photo courtesy of www.scrapbookupdate.com

Next I want to share some stamps from Glitz Design.  They are part of the Color Me Happy Collection.  The days of the week stamps would be perfect for a Project Life type album.

photo courtesy of www.scrapbookupdate.com

This punch is new from We R Memory Keepers.  It punches a card into the standard 3″x 4″ size that fits into the pockets of the divided pocket pages, while also rounding the corners.  It’s a great way to make your own journaling cards, or size your photos.

 photo courtesy of www.scrapbookupdate.com

This photo shows the Collectable Collection from My Mind’s Eye….also perfect for your pocket scrapbooking projects!

photo courtesy of www.scrapbookupdate.com

Lastly, I found this stamp set from Basic Grey on Pinterest.  These Hello Stamps include months, days, numbers and the ever-so-popular arrows.  These would be very useful for pocket scrapbooking too!

photo courtesy of www.pinterest.com

I have to admit that I may cave and finally embrace this trend.  I haven’t until now because I tend to be a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to my scrapbooking.  Now that we are located in Thailand, we are doing even more traveling and photo taking, and I am beginning to recognize these systems as a way of ‘getting it done’ quick.  I am a person who is never up-to-date in my scrapbooking, but when that is the case, I inevitably end up losing some of the memories that go with the photos.  I think I want to thoroughly document this experience in Asia, and this may be just the solution I need!

Until next time….happy scrapping!

Welcome to this week’s Free Project of the Week.  You may have noticed that over the last couple of weeks that this feature has been missing.  To be frank with you – we’ve had so many things going on in the “unseen realm” of the Paper Crafter’s Library business that we just didn’t have the time.  Right now we are in the middle of a site transfer. Over the last 6 months we have been working on moving the Paper Crafter’s Library content over to a new online “home”.  While we are excited about all that this new home offers our members – with over 1600 videos on our site, I’m sure you can imagine what a huge job it’s been. On June 4th we launched a HUGE membership special along with beginning the transfer of our existing members and as that is currently underway, so until it’s completed – which should be in early July – our Free Project Feature may be a little sporadic.

Today’s card is an easily reproducible design that doesn’t require a lot of materials – you can pretty much use any image in place of the butterfly, and swap out the sentiment for whatever is relevant to the occasion you are creating for.  You can watch a video on how this card was made and download a pdf handout below.

Download the pdf handout here

If you enjoyed today’s project, you enjoy our style of teaching and would like to learn even more I encourage you to check out the benefits of becoming a Paper Crafter’s Library member.

Today on the Paper Crafter’s Library blog, we’re continuing our weekly featured artist spotlight whereby each week we spotlight a different artist/designer in the paper crafting & mixed media world and introduce you to their fabulous work.

Today we’re thrilled to welcome – Debby Hughes

Before we show you Debby’s fabulous projects, let’s get to know her a little bit more…

Hi, I’m Debby Hughes, living in Scotland with my husband, I’m a stay at home Mum to our three children. I have a science background but have always been making something in my spare time. My crafty pursuits became a more prominent part of my life after my children were born and I found that creating was a great antidote to running around after little ones all day. Now my children are older and at school my main role seems to be the family taxi service!

I started blogging in 2010 so that I could join in with the card challenges I enjoyed. You can find my blog here (http://limedoodledesign.com). Since those first days, when I wondered if anyone would pop by my blog, it has been a wonderful creative journey involving Challenge Blogs, Splitcoaststampers Dirty Dozen, Company Design Teams, Online Classes and the thrill of seeing my cards in print. Currently I am on the CASE Study Challenge team (http://casestudychallenge.blogspot.co.uk) and design for Clearly Besotted Stamps (http://www.clearlybesottedstamps.com), Lil’ Inker Designs (http://www.lilinkerdesigns.com) and Simon Says Stamp (http://www.simonsaysstamp.com).

Card Projects

I am delighted to be here at Paper Crafter’s Library today! I thought for my projects I’d look at using different heat embossing and colouring methods for my images. My first card uses gold embossing for this wonderful Hero Arts flower from their Pattern Hearts and Flowers set.

After embossing I coloured the flowers with Copics before fussing cutting out and foam mounting onto a card base with the lower third covered with patterned paper and a sentiment strip added above. The sentiment is also heat embossed with white powder. A few gold sequins were the final touch.

Supplies:

Clear Stamps: CL596 Pattern Hearts & Flowers set by Hero Arts, sentiment from Tilted Banner Sayings set by Simon Says Stamp
Inks: Versamark by Tsukineko
Card: Neenah solar white, Taffy by Bazzill, Rock Candy by Bazzill
Paper: The Sweetest Thing Tangerine 6×6 pad by My Mind’s Eye
Sequins: Ebay
Copics: R02, R05, R08, G94, G99, BV00, BV08
Embossing Powder: Super Fine Detail Gold by Ranger

For my second card, I white heat embossed the flowers and leaves from Clearly Besotted Stamps ‘You Are’ set and then stamped the images again onto masking paper and created a negative mask. I placed this over the images and then used a foam applicator and Distress Inks to colour them. Once I removed the mask I used the matching dies to cut them out. I mounted the flowers with leaves tucked under onto a die cut note page, stamped with the matching journaling lines. The little journaling card was clipped to a card base decorated with subtle patterned papers. This time I added a twine tied button and a few enamel dots as a finishing touch.

Supplies:

Clear Stamps: flower and leaves from You Are set by Clearly Besotted Stamps, journaling lines from Notebook Doodles by Lil’ Inker Designs, hello sentiment from Handwritten Sentiments by Simon Says Stamp
Inks: Versafine Onxy Black and Versafine Smokey Gray and Versamark by Tsukineko, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss and Peeled Paint Distress Inks by Ranger
Card: Neenah Solar White, Butter Mints by Bazzill
Dies: You Are set by Clearly Besotted Stamps, notebook by Lil’ Inker Designs
Enamel Dots: The Sweetest Thing Tangerine by My Mind’s Eye
Embossing Powder: White by Hero Arts
Paper Clip: Idea-ology mini paper clips by Tim Holtz
Twine: Harvest collection by Hemptique
Button

I hope I’ve inspired you to get out your heat gun and try heat embossing. It is after all one of those wow techniques; when you see the embossing powder melt and become smooth it really is amazing! Thank you Paper Crafter’s Library for having me join you today

We hope you have enjoyed today’s projects courtesy of Debby Hughes. Also, be sure to stop by Debby’s blog to see even more of her beautiful work (and let her know we sent you).

Today we are excited to welcome back this week’s Featured Company May Arts and to share a beautiful creation from one of their designers using some gorgeous May Arts Ribbon.

Here at Paper Crafter’s Library we’re ribbon lovers – you’ll find ribbon on almost all of our projects – which is why we’re so thrilled to bring you another fabulous May Arts project. You haven’t seen ribbon until you’ve seen May Arts Ribbon – they offer a multitude of different colors and styles of ribbon to suit any preference and taste – and all of it, top quality!

And, we also have a give-a-way for you!! Two lucky winners will receive a “winners choice” of 2 spools of Ribbon from May Arts. One winner will be drawn from all the comments left here on the Paper Crafter’s Library blog to win AND one winner will be drawn from all the comments left on the May Arts Blog to win. You certainly have a lot to choose from

Remember, each comment you leave is one entry, so be sure to visit today not only for the great project idea, but also to enter your name into our give-away.

About May Arts

Where to Buy May Arts Ribbons

The May Arts website is their wholesale site for online and brink and mortar retailers. We’ve linked to it so that you can easily view their entire product line in one place. There are numerous places where you can purchase May Arts Ribbons including many local scrapbook stores as well as online stores. Two of the online stores that carry the biggest selections that we are aware of include Amazon, who carry the complete May Arts Ribbon Line (plus you can qualify for free shipping). Click on the link we provided and it will take you to our May Arts Ribbon Search Results. To find a particular ribbon, go to the May Arts website, find the name of the ribbon and color and then enter that into your Amazon search results. Please note that through Amazon you’re buying by the roll. Most other online and local scrapbook stores sell May Arts Ribbon by the yard. One of the online stores that carries a great selection is Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.

I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to Faber-Castell and their guest designer Mou Saha  for sharing such a wonderful project and for their generous give-away of two packs of the 3 count Stamper’s Big Brush Pens in the colors of your choice shown below.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…….the winner is……Julie Camell !

Congratulations Julie!! Be sure to email us at customerservice@papercrafterslibrary.com to claim your prize. Please be sure to put “Fancy Pants Designs” in the subject line of the email, and then in the email itself, be sure to include your full mailing address and phone number.

For those of you that didn’t win, each week on PCL we feature a different company, and each of those companies generously sponsors a prize. Join us next week for our next feature.

Trendy Tuesday – All About Dad
by Katherine Elliot

Masculine theme cards abound this time of year as we approach father’s day.  I have friends that say they have a difficult time making “man cards.”   Fortunately it was my experience that dad was always pleased with anything hand made.  So even if you feel you struggle with a macho style, never fear making a card for dad or the father figure in your life.  Today I’ve pulled out some of my favorite images celebrating fathers and masculine themes.  Many of the projects highlight trends from previous Trendy Tuesday articles.  You can use today’s post to review some articles you may have missed, just look for the hyperlink words as you read along.

The chalkboard style is still a hit with many stampers and that style works great for a masculine theme card.  Check out Joan Erwin’s card with a sentiment that says it all.  Her card features a new stamp from Taylored Expressions that is perfect for the chalkboard style.  Gotta love that chevron touch as well, as those shapes are still very hot.

Card by Joan Erwin, featuring  Graphic Greetings, Dad, stamp from Taylored Expressions, image source Stamping with a Passion

Clocks and time pieces are a trendy theme and the images can create a great background for that dependable man in your life.   Shani Thomas created a detailed, time-honored card using images from Inspired by Stamping.

Card by Shani Thomas, featuring stamps from Inspired by Stamping, image source Paperesse

Go ahead, dare to make dad cry with a sentimental silhouette style card like the one Christine Okken created using stamps from Flourishes.  A couple wood buttons also make great manly accents on her card.

Card by Christine Okken, featuring stamps from Flourishes, image source Christine Creations

Father’s Day stamp set from Flourishes

Rustic charm and a fishing theme decorate this next card created by Makiko Jones featuring another Fathers Day stamp set from Flourishes, What a Catch.

Card by Makiko Jones, image source Flourishes gallery

What a Catch stamp set from Flourishes

More fish decorate this next card using a background stamp from Unity Stamp Company.  The straight forward layout incorporates some distressing, brads and twine, all great details to add to a masculine style card.

Card by Lisa Henke, featuring Somethin’ is Fishy stamp from Unity Stamp Company

Images with a sketchy vibe look very hip on this next project perfect for any occasion for the handy man in your life.

Card by Angie Blom, image source Unity Stamp Company

Alex Guy stamp set from Unity Stamp Company

More tools, some cool dots, and a wrench charm tied to the string on this card by Chris Veneruso show details that would surely impress dad.

Card by Chris Veneruso, featuring images from Paper Pretties’ set Handyman, image source Easily Amused

The Handyman stamp set from Paper Pretties includes many great man-themed images and sentiments.

Paper Pretties stamp set Handyman

Hard to forget the golf fanatic this time of year, too.  Dawn Easton’s card looks clean and simply “par-fect.” What a great card to include some banners that are still very popular, too.

Card by Dawn Easton, featuring stamps from Taylored Expressions,  image source Treasure Oiler Designz

The Boys Will Be Boys stamp set that Dawn Easton used is another set that includes a wide variety of images and sentiments.

Boys Will Be Boys stamp set from Taylored Expressions

The witty, yet slightly more formal father figure, may just love a chic, bright card like Mary Fish’s card below.  The little mustache and tie looks super sweet.

Card by Mary Fish, featuring stamps and papers from Stampin’ Up!, image source Stampin’ Pretty

Lines and graphic shapes are great for any style masculine card.  Cathee Anderson created a mini-album that shows off several fresh shapes and colors from Stampin’ Up!  She used a fun tutorial from studionoeight for her project. The trendy arrows help focus your attention on the man of honor.

Father’s Day mini album by Cathee Anderson, image source My Life in Color

It’s a couch potato’s delight with this next stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  You don’t have to be a dad to appreciate this one… this has my brother written all over it…

Polka Dot Parade #3 stamp set from Papertrey Ink

And who says that polka dots are not manly?  They look great on Heather Nichols card below.

Card by Heather Nichols, featuring stamps and die from Papertrey Ink, image source Pine is Here

Hope you had a chance to sit and relax while you read today’s post and revisited a few of our previous ones.  Enjoy creating for the man in your life.  Happy crafting, everyone!

I’m so excited to bring you to this week’s Featured Company and a returning company: Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft! In today’s spotlight you’ll learn more about Faber-Castell, see a fantastic project by one of their designers and have the opportunity to win a prize package consisting of two packs of the 3 count Stamper’s Big Brush Pens in the colors of your choice.

About Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft

Founded in 1761, Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft is a leading manufacturer in high quality crafting supplies.

The 8th generation behind Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft: Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell.
2011 was a milestone year for Faber-Castell USA as we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of Faber-Castell. We are proud of our longevity and what it represents – consistent delivery of a quality experience in all areas of business. In keeping with Lothar von Faber’s quote, “to rise to the highest rank by making the best that can be made in the whole world” Faber-Castell USA is committed to staying true to this vision of quality, tradition, and innovation now and in the future.

Product: Paper Crafter Crayons ™ are highly pigmented wax crayons that can be used on all types of crafting surfaces such as cardstock, chipboard, canvas, embossed paper and wood. The unique twist-up design also allows you to sharpen the crayons. Available in 24 brilliant colors.

Special Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Guest Designer

Designer Project:

I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to Splash of Color and their guest designer Marah Johnson for sharing such a wonderful project and for their generous give-away of their prize package shown below.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…….the winner is…… Jonia Smith!

Congratulations Jonia!! Be sure to email us at customerservice@papercrafterslibrary.com to claim your prize. Please be sure to put “Splash of Color” in the subject line of the email, and then in the email itself, be sure to include your full mailing address and phone number.

For those of you that didn’t win, each week on PCL we feature a different company, and each of those companies generously sponsors a prize. Join us next week for our next feature.

Trendy Tuesday – Weather Themes
by Katherine Elliot

While extreme and stormy weather makes news headlines, our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the severe forces of nature.  These are times we feel humbled by the dramatic force of nature rather than awestruck by its beauty.  At least the healing benefits of creative inspiration are not far away, and it’s no surprise that many of the latest paper crafts incorporate weather themes.  Today’s paper craft forecast is partly cloudy, but there are plenty of rays of sunshine in these talented artists’ projects to inspire you.  Enjoy new stamp sets, products and embellishments to suit your fancy, too.

Card by Heather Hoffiman, image source Houses Built of Cards

Trendy sequins adorn Heather Hoffman’s beautiful card shown above and includes weather theme dies from Lil’ Inker Designs.  You can find many fun shapes in this product line of steel rule dies, including sun, clouds and rainbows.

Sunshine die from Lil Inker Designs

Sun and cloud shapes can be paired with many favorite sentiments, like the cheerful card Dawn Easton created below using a new stamp set from a brand new company, Reverse Confetti.

Card by Dawn Easton featuring stamps from Reverse Confetti, image source Treasure Oiler Designz

 Scrapping an every day moment is a fun way to celebrate life, even something as simple as the rainy day puddle play shown in Deb Duty’s scrapbook page. Trendy weather themed wood chip embellishments from Freckled Fawn are featured on this fun loving page.

Puddles scrapbook page and image source from DebDuty.com

Freckled Fawn wood embellishments, image source Simon Says Stamp

Paper Crafts Connection recently featured many more products that have the weather theme in mind. Washi tape, stencils, punches and paper make up just a few more of the weather themed products out there.  Gray skies are gonna clear up when you work with any of these fun paper craft toys.

A multitude of cloudy themed products, image source Paper Crafts Connection

Find images suitable for all seasons and all kinds of weather like those found in stamp sets offered by companies like Lawn Fawn and Gina K Designs.

Card by Mariana Grigsby, image source Lawn Fawn.com

Lawn Fawn Partly Cloudy stamp set

Lee Murphy shows off a new stamp set and a great layout with awesome handcut and adhered embellishments in this rainy day card…

Card by Lee Murphy, image source My Reality, It’s All Good

Gina K Designs’ new set, Weather or Not, includes more great combinations of sentiments and all the gear you’ll need to shelter your project from a rainy day.

Weather or Not stamp set from Gina K Designs 

Clouds in particular crop up in many projects as a signature weather theme shape.  Unique texture and patterns of cloud shapes make them particularly attractive in these projects featuring stamps and images from Unity Stamp Company and Stampin’ Up!

Card by Jennifer Roach featuring Written in the Clouds stamp set from Unity Stamp Company

Treat bag by Peg Coombes featuring Stampin’ Up!’s Cloudy Day embossing folder, and Rain or Shine stamp set, image source Peg Craft a Lot

Love this cloud paper from Simple Stories… Are these clouds cumulus, nimbus or what?  I don’t know which kind they are, but the colors and patterns on this paper could look splendid on many projects.

Feel the Breeze paper from Simple Stories, image source Two Peas in a Bucket

Last but not least, Lisa Johnson shares a wonderful uplifting card using many pretty weather shapes.  The sentiment she used comes from a stamp set she designed for My Favorite Things.  The sentiments coordinate beautifully with any type of project you have in mind to bring cheer to someone who may need a lift of spirits of simply feel under the weather.

Card by Lisa Johnson, featuring Rainbow Die-namics and sentiment from My Favorite Things, Cheerful Blessings, image source Poppy Paperie

A special thanks to all the creative talent featured on our Trendy Tuesday posts, both today and in past articles.  If you have been inspired by these projects, don’t forget to check out the links included below the images that will take you to any of the blogs and sites where you can share your appreciation, too.

May your day be filled with sunshine.  Happy crafting, everyone!

After months of planning and work we’re thrilled to be able to finally announce that Paper Crafter’s Library has a new home!  We’ve completely re-designed our site and moved all of our content to a new software platform which allows us much greater capabilities than we currently have. We’re excited about all the possibilities that this new site offers.

In order to celebrate our move we are offering a NEVER BEFORE SEEN MEMBERSHIP SPECIAL of 50% OFF of  both monthly and yearly memberships until July 5th! After July 5th prices will go back up to regular price and will NEVER be discounted to such a level again!

When you sign up before July 5th you will lock in the SPECIAL MEMBER RATE OF either $9.95 a month (regular price $19.95) or $100 a year (regular price $200) for as long as you are a member.  That means that for as long as you are a member your price will NEVER go up!  *If you are a current PCL member please log into the PCL member area and sign up from there as there is an additional bonus for you.

Here’s what a membership to PCL offers:

• Instant access to a video library containing over 1600 paper crafting video tutorials including card making, scrapbooking, stamping, 3D items, altered art and mixed media.
• Instant access to a Stampin’ Up! video gallery containing over 300 SUO videos (and our Creative Inspiration Sheets)
• Instant access to Club 52 – a technique club featuring over 100 different techniques
• pdf handouts for all projects
• exclusive templates
• New content added monthly
• Member Forum & Photo Gallery 
• Online class discounts

You can read more about what Paper Crafter’s Library and sign up for our special member rates HERE. Remember, these fantastically low rates are only available until July 5th and then they’ll be gone forever!