Two Peas in a Bucket

10 Ways to Use Vellum Paper

1. TONE IT DOWN Vellum is a great tool to use when you want to include something on your project, but you want to prevent it from being the first thing you see.  Kristina Nicolai-White wants the subject of her photo library to take precedance over each individual photo in the collage she scraps on her layout, "78862." Vellum was a perfect solution.

Another example is by Two Peas member tcochonneau.  We love how she covered her background with washi.  Vellum helps keep the colors from overpowering the focal point of her page "Washi Love." A stitched border secures the paper in place, while splatters of paint add another layer of interest.

2. CREATE A TITLE WITH IT Corrie Jones tucks pieces behind and on top of a custom title she created for her layout "Sweet Summer Friends", the assembly of which she shares on video.  Concerned about how to hide adhesive? You'll notice she just used a stapler.

3. MESS IT UP!  The fearless and artistic Wilna crumples her vellum and sews down the middle of it on her layout "Hello Summer."

4. JOURNAL ON IT Vellum allows for a pattern to show underneath without your text getting lost in the design. It looks like Marie Pea ran her vellum through a typewriter, or used a typewriter font, at the lower portion of her page "Tea & Honey."

Nancy also typed on her vellum, as well as cut out a center of the paper for her title.  This page has a coordinating video tutorial; check it out here.

5. PAIR IT WITH WHITE  Jennifer Kinkade combines it with white cardstock for a dreamy look on her page, "Beauty in Simplicity."

6. CREATE DEPTH By staggering vellum speech bubbles and geotags between layers, Lilith Eeckels gives a sense of depth to her layout, "Love This."

7. USE IT TO "ARCHIVE" NON-SCRAPBOOKING MATERIAL Biochemipea was able to include a leaf in her altered mini book "What She Found."

8. INVITE THE VIEWER IN Journaling pieces carefully tucked in vellum envelopes hint at there being something more for the viewer to discover.  Jill Sprott demonstrates how she used a variety of envelopes and pockets, including vellum paper pockets, in her video tutorial here.

Lexi Bridges also found a vellum pocket to be the perfect holding place on her page, "To the Stars and Back."

9. USE VELLUM LIKE A SHAKER BOX Favorite trinkets and treasures can move around freely under a sheet of vellum that has been affixed to a page.  Lilith does this in her layout "Looking for a Good Book."

Nancy takes this approach also for her page assembled on video: "Christmas Tradition."

10. COMBINE IT WITH MORE VELLUM! Shimelle pairs a printed vellum pattern with a plain vellum pocket on her page "Teachers Too."  In fact, "Vexed by Vellum" is the topic of this Adventures of Glitter Girl video episode where different vellum products and ideas are discussed.

We hope you feel armed with more ideas on how to put this specialty paper to use.  If you're looking to add vellum to your stash of paper supplies, see our selection here.

Scrap Mad Men Style

Any Mad Men followers out there?  The popular television drama series set in 1960's New York follows the life of creative director, Don Draper, working for an ad agency off Madison Avenue, as well as the lives of the people in and out of his workplace.  The show's styling and costuming are partly why a few of us here at the Two Peas office enjoy it!  If you like the show too, and are drawn to a retro 60's style, check out these products we have in the store:

Brand new to the store is Basic Grey's Hipster collection.  It combines a masculine color palette with all kinds of fun patterns that have a retro vibe, mixed with playful accents like casette tapes and mustaches.

October Afternoon's 9 to 5 collection looks as though their designers were watching this show while creating it!  And good news - many of these pieces we have on sale right now, some at 50% off.

Here's a look at a mini album Two Peas member jskahn created using this line:

And finally, Glitz Design's Cashmere Dame has bits and pieces you'll love if you enjoy this style.  It too is on sale now.

Check out how Two Peas member Gogo put this collection to work in a mini album here.

That's a wrap for today! Have a great Wednesday. :)

10 Tips for Scrapping with Mason Jars

We admire them on our tables and on pretty patterned paper, but we've seen discussions on the forum, "I'm stuck. What do you do with mason jars?"  Well, today we've rounded up 10 clever and inspiring ideas.  Here's how we've seen this motif show up in our paper projects and in the Two Peas member gallery:

Mini album by suzyplant

1. Fill in your jar with journaling.  List the treats or recipes you love. Your journaling doesn't even have to be food-related; a list of favorite things works too!

Happy Birthday by Jill Sprott

2. See how far you can stretch this supply by altering it.  You don't have to simply stamp or stick it down and call it done. Jill placed a number inside and added a bow.  Then, she stitched lines coming out of it and placed dimensional circles on the end.  Look to your other embellishments for clues on how you can do this; I'm willing to bet Jill's idea stemmed from the birthday balloons on the left. 

Love by mpcapistran

3. Repeat the motif.  Repetition is a design principle that will work every time.  Don't be afraid of overlapping them. Try creating a border like the one above or even a grid design with multiple jars. Mpcapistran's journaling reflects on how love cannot be measured; how appropriate then that the paints, hearts and butterflies are not contained within the jars but are floating out of them.

Just Peachy by stwing2

The Good Stuff by Jill Sprott

4. Use it literally!  If you have a layout about canning or cooking in the kitchen, consider using this as an embellishment.

Farm Girl Mini Album by shellyemcdaniel

5. Use its shape as a base for a mini album.  Shelly's cute country style shone through in this project using October Afternoon's Farm Girl collection.

If I Could Bottle Your Love by KJ Starre

6. Fill the jar with stuff!  We've seen such great ideas from the Peas including confetti, sequins, lightning bugs, stars, hearts, stamps or a combination of various shapes like the layout above.  Shannon Tidwell did an entire video tutorial on using glitter with stamped jars here.

Flower in a Jar by sweetpea778

7. Use the jar as a paper "vase." Create your own flowers like this one or use premade embellishmetns and designs like die cuts, stickers, stamps or florals. Pressed and dried flowers would be neat too!

Ladybug Hello Card by msdixie

8. Create a scene within a jar.  Try stamping, doodling or even using rubons. A winter scene with snow would be beautiful.

Sometimes by SJ

Jar of Memories by cdheeren

9. Use jars as a frame for photos.  They make the most unique homes for photos.

Gift tags by lintsi

Vintage flower jar tags by mypapercrafting

10. Create unique gift tags!  They make a stand-out embellishment to a gift or package.

Inspired to try this for yourself? Browse some of our favorite mason jar designs here!

Pinterest to Page with Paige

Hi, my name is Paige, and I’m addicted to Pinterest! I could spend hours every day scrolling through all of the amazing creations, recipes, painted fingernails, different hairstyles, and done-up celebrities. But my favorite part about Pinterest is the inspiration it provides me for my scrapbooking! Lately I’ve been into quilts and have made a few pages based on quilts I’ve found on Pinterest (keep reading to see!). And most recently, for my first Scrap Your Stash video, I came across this image:

I was immediately drawn to the woven lines of paint and thought, “Hey! I want to try that with paper strips!” And so, I based my layout on this Pinterest image and here’s what I came up with:

Instead of paint I used paper strips and wove them diagonally, just like the image. It made a fun and dynamic background for my pair of photos of my son Fox in a shirt that says “Cool Like a Fox”. BONUS – all of the Ready Set Go products by Amy Tangerine/American Crafts are 25% off!

Here are a couple more examples of images I’ve found on Pinterest and how I interpreted them:

I LOVE that triangles are trendy right now and they’re so easy to make with a square punch or paper cutter – just cut the square in half diagonally!

I used the Soho Garden line by American Crafts to make this layout based on the Pinterest image:

And finally, another quilt, and what do you know, triangles again!

Here is the layout I made inspired by this image, using all brand new Elle’s Studio product from the You & Me line:

I hope you’ve been inspired by my Pinterest finds and would love to see some of your layouts that you’ve made based on images found on Pinterest!

p.s. Don't forget our Art Class giveaway is still open!

Scrap Downton Abbey Style

Are you a fan of Downton Abbey?  We not only enjoy the storyline of this popular period drama, but are inspired by its delicate fashions, lavish gardens, tinkering teacups and stately setting.  Here is how one might achieve a "Downton Abbey style" for their scrapbooking:

Shop the Downton Abbey style here - we've had so much fun putting together this shopping list for you!

20 Packaging Ideas on the 20th + Webster's Pages Challenge Winners

We've scoured the gallery as well as Pinterest to create a little collage of eye candy for you.  Christmas is just around the corner and chances are you have a few gifts yet to wrap.

Get out your twine, buttons, tags and washi and have fun!

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Congrats to leetazzie, mjmarmo + artfulscrapbooking - you are the winners of our Webster's Pages challenge!  The prize pack from Webster's will be sent to your Two Peas account shortly.

A moodboard...

...just for fun!  Because lately I've been dreaming of painting a dresser kelly green...  Drool with me admire along with me the ways this pretty, pretty color, combined with peacock blues and other cooler hues, has been used!

Chair, shoes, Hello card, Delightful Moments layout, January layout, Collection of greens, Green hutch,  I Love You layout

I've created a collection of products based on this moodboard in the Two Peas store here.  That was tooo much fun to create!  Now, who's new favorite color is kelly green besides me?  - Jamie

 

Today at Two Peas:

* Our class spot giveaway for Jen's new workshop "Words Unsaid" is still open!

* I've got a new Personal Shopper video that will go up this afternoon.  This week I'm sharing 15 bargains in the Two Peas store.  :)

Our Summer Surprise at Two Peas

It's a good thing our warehouse stays cool as our crew has been hard at work pulling your many orders!  We've got a fun little free gift we're adding to each order you place.  Just our way of saying thanks for shopping with us this summer, and every season! 

Speaking of Summer, we've added a new board to our Pinterest profile.  Here's a little of what's inspiring us lately:

See our board for image sources

Have a happy Sunday, Peas!  - Jamie

10 Scrappy Things to Do on a Rainy Day (or any day!)

Sources: 1, 2 & 3 by Shannon Tidwell , 4 by kristinanw on Instagram & 5

We woke up to a little rain here in PeaTown this morning and I thought it'd be fun to put a helpful little list together for you.

1.  Organize your photos!  Go through photo boxes, albums or the library on your computer and file them.

2.  Write down your thoughts.  Whether you're catching up on Project Life, needing to get down a memory you don't want to forget, or just that last little bit on a layout, now is the perfect time to do it.

3.  Clean off your scrap desk.

4.  Create something with the scraps of paper and embellishments you have lying on your table.

5.  Put your layouts in an album.  You know, that pile you have over there in the corner. It will feel so good to give your pages a home.

6.  Print photos.  Upload them to an online service or print at home, you'll be glad you did!

7.  Make a card.  That someone you've been thinking of will be touched.

8.  Catch up on Two Peas.  You know we have to throw this in here. :)  Browse the latest products.  Catch up on the Design Team projects or a video.  Take a workshop. :)

9.  Try something new.  A new technique, new product, new topic to scrap, anything.

10.  Start from scratch.  You may have a handful of other projects you've started.  It's okay to begin something else for a change of pace.  Then watch the creativity spark!