It's so fun to browse the gallery and stumble upon pages that were Garden Girl video - inspired!  Here are just a few recent ones that caught our eye:

"Sisters Together" by todido | Inspired by Wilna

NYC by mandalika | Inspired by Paige

"Bella Roma" by jenandtricks | Inspired by Corrie

"She's My Favorite" by delveelove | Inspired by Corrie

Keep sharing those pages!  We love seeing them. :)

Here's a look at what you'll be seeing in the Design Team section July 1st!  We love what the girls have up their sleeves!  If you haven't seen them already, check out this month's Milestone-themed projects here.

It's no secret that I love creating handmade cards.  No matter what the occasion or sentiment, a card made by hand conveys the underlying message to the recipient that they are cared for.  I especially love creating cards to celebrate the milestones in people's lives.

Here are some cards that I've created to celebrate some of my loved ones' big days, along with some tips on customizing cards for all of the milestones in your life.

1. Birthdays

Nautical 40th Birthday Card

This is a card I created recently as part of my Trendy Trios card making video series.  It's easy to customize birthday cards with alphabet/number stickers or stamps.  You can even make birthday cards in advance to have on hand, leaving a blank space for the recipient's age until you're ready to use it.

2. Weddings

Going To the Chapel Card

Wedding cards are some of my favorite cards to make!  If you know the couple's wedding colors, create a custom card to coordinate!  For this card, I used plain veneer icons & dressed them up to create a bride & groom.

3. Babies

Welcome Baby Card

New babies always give me an excuse to pull out all of those sweet papers & embellishments in my stash.  You can create with the traditional blue or pink hues or mix it up for a little added interest.  I wanted to keep this card neutral enough for it to work for either gender.

4. New Home

Home Is Where You Are Card

This card is from my Journey Into Card Making Workshop.  Send a heartfelt greeting to a friend who's moved into their new home.  Change the sentiment up a bit to say "Welcome to the neighborhood!" to greet a new neighbor.  Bring along a plate of freshly baked cookies with a coordinating tag for an added surprise.

5. Graduation

Let's Celebrate Card

Don't forget to use your photos!  There's nothing more customized than including a photo of your recipient on the front of their card.  With all of the fun photo frame embellishments, stamps & dies found in the Two Peas store, adding photos to your cards has never been easier!  You can find more ways to use photo frames on your cards here.

I hope you're inspired to create a handmade card to celebrate the milestones in others lives this year.  Be sure to upload your cards in the gallery for everyone to see!   - Julie

This week 1) If you haven't already, check out June's edition of Trendy Trios; Julie plays with the nautical theme in 3 different cards! 2) Céline prompts you with five new challenges, including splitting a photo collage in half. 3) Kristina is inspired by mint, navy and stars. 4) Glitter Girl takes on the challenge of scrapbooking night shots. 5) Paige reaches for the 6x6 paper pads in her stash and uses a rolled paper technique. 6) Lisa plays with pre-made die cuts on a layout and card. and 7) Marcy reminds us it's okay if some Project Life spreads don't come together as easily as others. 

Today's edition of Get the Look is inspired by Two Peas member a2kate and her page "You."  We love its golden Summer yellows and repetition of circles.  The column of embellishments on the side balances that gorgous photo!  Here's how one might achieve a2kate's look:

Milestone Labels Freebies

Project Cards Freebies

We can hardly believe we're nearly halfway through June. Have you downloaded this month's freebies yet?  You'll want to scoop them up, as well as purchase any of the other kits this month that catch your eye.  The freebies as well, as those marked 'June only,' will retire at the end of the month! 

Washi tape has the versatility of patterned paper and can be used in very similar ways, and yet its functionality as tape and transparent quality makes it an especailly fun supply to use!  Here are 10 interesting ways we've seen our members use this popular product:

By lisafisa

USE IT TO ATTACH SOMETHING. The diagonal orientation of the tape here reminds us of a bulletin board look or an idea saved in a Smash book.  There's no need to add adhesive if you don't wish; the tape does the work for you.

By stacitaylor

Washi tape is used to attach this scalloped fabric piece; the edges hang off the page adding a nice sense of depth.

By missy whidden

CREATE A MOOD. A green polka dot or black chevron tape might not scream Christmas to you, but Missy has paired them with red patterned paper to create a festive feel.  By combining the washi with paper and stamping she has created a whole range of texture on her page.

By michelle hernandez

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ITS TRANSPARENT QUALITY.  One shade of washi tape can create different looks!  Layer pieces or sections on top of each other to create darker patches. Michelle has even layered other designs behind the pink to mute them a bit.  Cool!

By whimsicalnature

LOOP & LAYER IT.  What an eye-catching design!  We love how this member has challenged herself to use her tape stash; check out more fun ways she's used washi from her profile here.

By auntieklm

CREATE A PATCHWORK FRAME.  We love the quilt-like look of this page.  A great way to give your project a homespun feel!

By lydiaink

DIVIDE UP YOUR PAGE.  Lydia has used the most simplest of design elements, the line, in an effective and clever way!  Washi tape serves as dividers for a pie chart, while serving also to give a small dose of extra pattern.

By Melinda Spinks

STITCH OVER IT.  The thinness of our favorite masking tape makes stitching through it a piece of cake.

Project Life lesson by Lisa Truesdell

MAKE A HINGE.  Lisa Truesdell uses washi tape to make a hinge for a tag; beneath a tag there is memorabilia and hidden journaling.  This gives her the ability to squeeze more in on a Project Life spread!

By adogslife13

HAVE FUN WITH IT!  This layout just looks like it was a blast to create, don't you think?  She's not only had fun with different patterns and colors by alternating the styles that come in a washi tape set (a great place to start!), but she's stamped on top of the tape, placed stickers and enamel dots on top all the while balancing her group of photos on the left.

What do you think? How will you use washi tape next?  Browse our selection here while our embellishment sale is still happening!

We asked the Garden Girls to describe what products they're drawn to when selecting items perfect for their scrap style. We'll be sharing what they had to say once a week or so on the blog, starting with Amy Tan!  Here's a look at how Amy puts her favorites to work:

Love Amy's style?  Try the following for yourself: mix alphabets in your titles, cluster layers of embellishments around a stacked photo mat, have fun with hand-stitching and reach for bright colors.  Browse some of Amy's favorites here!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7

If you like the romance of a summer day at the fair and enjoy the intricacies of circus-inspired typography, you'll love the Find Your Wings and Fly collection by Rhonna Farrer for My Minds Eye.  Here's a look at this colorful and whimsical line:

Happy Tuesday, friends!  And in case you missed the announcement, check out our Spring Embellishment Sale!

Milestones. They are why most of us started scrapbooking. Important events and dates that we don't want to forget. Of course now that we've been scrapping for a while we start adding in the fluff, the daily life....but milestones are still the basis for most of our scrapbooks. You might not think that you scrapbook many milestones, but I bet if you start turning the pages in your books you'll realize you do. That's what I love about scrapbooking, you capture life, make it pretty, and have that memory frozen in time....even when your mind forgets. 

Here are a few layouts I found of mine that are different milestones in our lives...

High School Reunions

Back to School

Different Ages

Anniversaries

Birthdays

and here's my most recent layout for the Milestones Theme....First Cut & Mani....

One of my favorite ways to capture reoccuring milestones is to make an album of them. Each year you can add a page...or work backwards and dig out those older photographs. The extra time is worth it! I want to share a couple albums I've made that are featured in my Sassy Scrapping Workshop. The first one is a 'Through the Years' album of my husband and I. 

Instead of spending hours on the computer going through CD's to have older pictures printed I looked through my scrapbooks and snapped pictures of pictures with my phone. I edited the photos in Instagram, and had them printed. That way they all had a similar look even though the pictures span 15 years.

To see the rest of the album as well as 4 additional chapters check out Sassy Scrapping!

The second peek into Sassy Scrapping I want to share is a look at the School Memorabilia Album I designed. The idea is to create an album that caputres each year, the picture, the grades, the awards, the art, the work. But, not all of it. Only the most important and special. 

I used different sized page protectors and inserted my favorite work/art from each year.

Those school photos that you don't know what to do with...

To see the whole album as well as the video that explains my complete thought process check out Sassy Scrapping! 

Happy Scrapping!

This week 1) Corrie Jones provides four more challenges to add to our 213 creative prompts list 2) Janna looks to art to inspire her page 3) Glitter Girl shares the final installment in her mini wedding series & provides a special Q&A feature 4) Jill Sprott creates a his + hers page while equiping you with ideas for designing with journaling cards 5) Laura Craigie pulls in metallic on a layout and card and 6) Melissa Stinson shares tips for squeezing in extra photos in a project life spread

Yesterday we took a look at the star and constellation theme that is trending.  We talked about how this current favorite is more than just a trend, but can be a symbol of love, destiny, milestones, achievement and more (see that post here).  Today we'll explore more ways for how the star can be used in our projects!

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Along the same lines of hopes and wishes are personal goals and dreams.  Stars help create the mood for documenting these.  Michele De Leon celebrates the realization of a dream she's worked hard for in her page "She believed..." The star accents are subtle here - a circular die cut tucked behind her photo and a grouping of wood veneer stars.

Jen Kinkade uses Pink Paislee's gorgeous Luxe collection on her page "She decided..." We love the monochromatic approach and that piece of vellum holding a collection of shimmer.

Stars can help us express the pride we have in our loved ones and even our country!  Margrethe uses tiny gold stars to surround and embellish the title on her page "So Very Proud of You."

Because we admire them when they shine brightly at night, our minds link stars to sleep.  Use them to help record your evening routine, favorite bedtime stories, or even a sleeping baby like Erin Stewart has done on her page "Sweet Slumber."

Remember to try unexpected colors and color combinations for a twist like a2kate has done on her page about her daughter, "Love You to the Stars."

And finally, we leave you with a sneak peek of Kristina's page and video tutorial coming up this next Tuesday in our In the Mood to Scrap series!  We can't wait to share with you how she's drawn inspiration from this trend to create her layout.  For more on stars, check out our selection here!

The star: this timeless shape and element of nature is truly the star of the show in the papercrafting world right now.  It shines in the form of constellation patterns and glitters in metallic golds and silvers.  Here's a look at how this trend can be more than just a pretty accent, but an aid in sharing the memories we hold dear.

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Stars can help symbolize love.  The die cut card "Love You to the Stars and Back" in the popular Dear Lizzy Luck Charm collection has been a favorite pick for many.  ltllea23 has used it as the sentiment for her beautiful card - perfect!

Stars can mean fate and destiny.  Garden Girl Laura Craigie used our June constellation cut files to tell the story of how blessed she is to be the mama of her three boys on her layout "I thank my lucky stars."

When sharing her recent layout, Jill Sprott says milestones "...are stars that form the constellations of our lives."  She uses this shape on her page "A Life" to document the milestones in the life of her beloved grandmother.

Stars remind us of sports; we use them on the pages about our very own athletic stars that live under our roof.  Melissa Stinson uses this shape to record meeting a sports goal of her own on her page "Achievement Unlocked."

Phrases like "Wish Upon a Star" have us closely linking our hopes and dreams with this element in the sky.  Nancy Damiano told the story of clinging to hope when faced with the fears brought by her son's prematurity.  Check out this powerful and touching page here.

Stars are so prevelant in the scrapbooking world right now we decided to split this feature into two posts!  Check back tomorrow for more ideas.  In the meant time, browse our star selection here if you'd like to try using them in your next project:

Thanks to everyone who entered our class challenges in May; we love seeing what you do after watching our videos!  Here are the winners of a $10 gift certificate to Two Peas!

criscristina, scrapnt720, cengland, askyles, wrightaud, anitatina & judithmara

Interested in playing along with our challenges?  Just play along with any of our video classes here, upload your project and check the challenge checkbox on Step 4 of the upload process.  You'll earn a badge to your profile and automatically be entered to win!

A sweet, sleeping baby, a sprinkling of stars, a pairing of gold and blue... there is so much to love about this layout by jbarksdale!  Her page is digital, but we've gathered some supplies here if you'd like to create a similar look:

Just a few shots behind the scenes here at Two Peas.  Have a lovely Wednesday, friends!

We're shining the spotlight on talented Two Peas member Norcha!  Each page Norcha shares has something unexpected and special about it, whether it's an infusion of neon or a unique design. You'll notice she likes to stack layers of patterned paper, many with uneven edges, play with mist and paint and journal with her own handwriting.  A finishing touch to many of her pages? Twine and thread.  Here are just a few pages that caught our eye:

May 4th

All You Need is Love

Ready Set Go

Je Tadore

Ontario Beach

Thanks for sharing your work in the gallery with us, Norcha!

One day I look forward to every month is the 28th. Why? Because that's when my baby girl Jane is another month older! Before she was even born I went to JoAnn Fabrics and picked out 12 girly and fun yards of fabric as backdrops to photoshoots I wanted to take every month leading up to her first birthday. I'm proud to say I've kept up with my monthly goal so far - we're up to 9 months! And what are photos for if not to be scrapbooked? One of my very favorite topics to scrap is my children and their milestones/accomplishments. I hope one day they'll love looking through their albums and seeing their first time eating rice cereal, first steps, monthly updates, travels, holidays, and such.

This week: 1) Shannon provides four more creative prompts - including combing patterns and using gold 2) Wilna is inspired by all things Summer like string lights and pinwheels 3) Glitter Girl solves a color palette predicament 4) Michelle creates a dreamy layout and card and uses a map design on each 5) Lexi documents her Mother's Day in the next installment of Project Life with Two Peas

Welcome to June!  We love the start of a new month because it means both a brand new batch of Garden Girl projects, as well as the day we get to reveal to you our latest digital designs! 

 See how the Garden Girls scrapped with the subject of milestones here, documenting everything from a child's breakthrough in letting go of achieving perfection, to weight loss, to dreams come true.

And along the lines of dreams coming true, it's the star and constellation trend that was the inspiration behind our cut files and printables this month.

You'll see lots of designs that celebrate all the big and important days in our life stories.  We've added some non-themed, basics in the store too!  These June releases are available through the end of the month, while the additions to our basics are available forever.  See the June digital release here.

You could win this month's cut files and printables!  Show us how you're using these files or scrapping your own milestones.  Just mention us (@2Psinabucket) and use the hashtag #2Peasmilestones.  You have through the end of the month; if you win we'll refund you any of your June digital purchases.  Good luck!

The photo frame: Polaroids, slides, Instax, we'll never tire of them because they are staple motif for the memories we treasure.  For our final post in our Focus on Photos series, we'll be looking at inspiring ways we've seen photo frames used.

Party by Shannon Tidwell

Create a gallery!  This is a great way to bring order to a page featuring multiple photos without overwhelming the viewer.  Shannon Tidwell uses frames in different colors and styles to showcase the details of her daughter's birthday party.

The Good Life by Ali Edwards

Go big!  Ali Edwards frames a full page photo with a polaroid design she's made out of printed vellum.

My Love for Bread by danielle2108

"Sandwich" a frame by layering on either side of it.  danielle2108 stamps beneath the frame and embelleshes on top with stitching and buttons.

You Rock by Laura Craigie

Build on pre-designed frames.  There are so many collections that incorporate frames; Laura has put her own spin on this Simple Stories design by adding touches of glitter, a flair button, stickers and tape.

Polaroid Interactive Card by Julie Campbell

Create an interactive element.  Julie used an exacto knife and slipped in this polaroid housing a sentiment.  How fun would it be to receive a card like this?!

Polaroid Mini Album by cdheeren

Make a mini album.  Every page in this mini album by cdheeren uses a polaroid design.  This takes out the guess work of "What should I do next?" while tying each page together.

End of Year Holiday by Vinnie Pearce

Fill a background with them.  There are patterned papers with designs like this already; one could use them as a shortcut, or you could create your own with die cuts.  Change the orientation of each frame and vary the color and style for added interest like Vinnie Pearce has done.

Words I Love Today by Lilith Eeckels

Frame other stuff!  These aren't just for photos, but anything you'd like to bring attention to - think memorabilia, a favorite sticker, a title, etc.  Lilith Eeckels has zeroed in on words that are meaningful to her and framed a definition pattern.

Staycation by Jill Sprott

Highlight an element.  By placing colored frames over photos, Jill Sprott adds depth and dimension while highlighting fun aspects of her story.

For more on scrapping with frames, see Jen Gallacher's video tutorial dedicated to using this product, Julie Campbell's Trendy Trios card lesson and more Garden Girl projects using frames.  Shop our frame selection here, and don't forget this is the last day of May and the final opportunity to scoop up our May digital kits focused on photos!

See more on our May focus of photos by checking out our May Garden Girl project release, our inspiration board on Pinterest, our previous post on scrapping with filmstrips and our post on scrapping with View-Master reels.  It's the last day to play along with this theme for yourself by using the hashtag #2Peasfocusonphotos on Twitter and Instagram for your chance to win a generous prize pack (details here).  Have fun!

I Will Not Sink by Marnel

Today's edition of Get the Look is inspired by this digital page from Marnel; she played with the nautical trend to create this gorgeous page!  We love all of the patterns she's used, mixed in with cork, stitching, splatters of mist and a bold type design.  One could easily achieve her look with the products we've pulled together here.

We're eager to share with you the latest projects we're seeing members create after being inspired by our video tutorials!  Let's take a look:

Cristinac uses the same grid-based design Corrie teaches in her video tutorial here where she provides multiple creative prompts to jumpstart your creativity.

Triciaromo1123 takes Céline's challenge to divide your page into two sections: one using neutrals and the other using color.  Notice she's flipped the elements; where Céline used photos Tricia has used papers and embellishments and vice versa.

Whimsicalnature creates a heart filled with photos after seeing Paige's Scrap Your Stash video.  She makes the design her own by filling the heart with photos, and by adding the colorful border of texture at the bottom!

Here we see another layout and tutorial by Paige scraplifted.  Andreakuenzel uses the design to document the story of her flower girl - adorable!

How are you inspired by our video tutorials? We want to see! Play along with one of this month's class challenges yourself!  You could win a $10 gift certificate to Two Peas when you do.  Have fun!

Congrats to anmolhai - you are the winner of our Tool School workshop!  We'll send you an email shortly welcoming you to the class.  Thanks to everyone who followed along in our Gardeners' Digest blog hop.

Hey, everyone! Welcome to my craft room. If you ever need some motivation to clean up your scrap space, just plan to share it online. Seriously. Talk about movitation. I tend to be a bit of a messy crafter, so it took hours to get this room to this condition. The nice thing is now that everything is back in its place, I'm excited about keeping it this way. It's a clean slate, and I'm feeling so much more motivated.

My Organizational Philosophy: Keep everything within reach!

I have main desk that sits in my room, and everything I use regularly is placed within that small space. Less used items reside in my closet on the other side of the room. I have wheels on my chair so I can easily roll from one spot in this workspace to another. This ensures I can work quickly while the creative juices are flowing.

My Video Tour: Below is a video tour of my space. In it I show you some of the ways I used my scrapbooking supplies to decorate and personalize the space. I also show you how I divide things like die cuts, stamps, patterned paper, cardstock and embellishments. My system is both organized but loose, which fits my style perfectly.

My Photo Tour: In case you want to look at a few close-up photos of my space, here are a few photos of the space.

The bulletin board contains a die cut phrase cut with my Silhouette Machine. The board is from Joann's. The card spinner is from Pottery Barn and holds vintage books decorated with punches, twine, and buttons. The candle holders are from Ikea.

I curate little vignettes through my space that sometimes end up in my project photography. I visit antique and second hand stores to find little treasures like my typewriter and antique skates. The pin board was an old brass frame that I spray painted black and filled with burlap. The letters were cut from black vinyl. The typewriter holds a vintage dictionary page.

This stamp storage unit is from Making Memories. The drawers hold my mist. I select my prettiest wooden stamps to reside here. The dark letters are vintage, letterpress numbers.

Buttons and like embellishments that I use frequently are divided by color. While other items are divided by similar items such as stickers, or die cuts, or wood veneer shapes.

Paper is divided by color. With one folder for multi-colored paper. Some products I keep in their baggies to find them more easily and to remember who makes them.

I buy adhesive in a bunches at a time, especially when there's a sale. This saves me a lot of money over time.

Hopefully this helps you think through where your most used items are located. I suggest moving your favorite items closer so you're not spending half your time looking for things.

If you have additional questions about the items you see in the video or in the photos, please let me know. I'd be happy to answer them for you. Thank you for visiting my creative happy place today!

We are so grateful for those who have served our country and sacrificed for us.  Have a beautiful holiday!  We'll leave you with this card by Garden Girl Laura Craigie:

This week 1) Lilith challenges you to add texture, as well as provides you with three other prompts 2) Wilna shows you how you can make your own enamel dots 3) Glitter Girl works with 5x7 photos as she continues her mini wedding series 4) Jennifer Kinkade inspires us to work with a collection pack 5) Jen Gallacher incorporates frames on both a layout and card 6) Amy Tan uses 1 collection for a new Project Life spread in her album

Sources: 1 & 2

The thin cardboard discs holding images that depict the scenes of our favorite characters have not only won a place in our hearts, but have snuck into our scrapbook layouts as well. This favorite childhood toy was an instrument in storytelling; now it's an aid in telling our own stories as we use it in our pages and projects.  We couldn't leave it out of our Focus on Photos series this month!

Master View by Nancy Damiano

Nancy has used a large-scale View-master reel to hold photos that help tell the story of her family in 2011.  One perk of a digital cut file is that you're able to scale it to the size that works for your project.

Happy Hour by Kasia Tomaszewska

Kasia leaves the windows open to her viewmaster reel.  By cutting it with a specialty glitter paper, the die cut is a strong accent piece all on its own.

Toy Time by Marcy Penner

Marcy pulls from this icon's original roots to contribute to the toy theme of her page.

Loud & Clear by Jossiah

Jossiah tucks two of the circular elements behind her photo mat; their shapes help pull your eye in to the focus of the page - the photo.

Life is Good card by Julie Campbell

A reel makes a playful and unexpected card design like the one Julie demonstrates on video here.

My Viewmaster Life by lynniemariepea

Lynnmarie reflects on her childhood, journaling how this toy made it possible for her to go exciting places and see new things.  She's used an actual vintage View-master reel to embellish her page.

SK&B by Kinsey Wilson

And finally, here is one more way we see this icon used as a photo frame.  Kinsey describes this layout as the most closely inspected layout she's ever done.  We love how her journaling and title are placed in the center!

You'll spy a few View-Master products in the Two Peas store here; our cut file kit is taken down at the end of May - you'll want to hurry and scoop it up!

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See more on our May focus of photos by checking out our May Garden Girl project release, our inspiration board on Pinterest and our previous post on scrapping with filmstrips.  Play along with this theme for yourself by using the hashtag #2Peasfocusonphotos on Twitter and Instagram for your chance to win a generous prize pack (details here).  Have fun!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

If you like listening to stories around a crackling campfire, gazing up at the stars and spending time playing outdoors with your loved ones, you'll love the outdoors-inspired collections we have in the store:

The Lakeside collection by Pebbles

The Saltwater collection by Elles Studio

The Happy Camper collection by Echo Park

The Happy Campers collection by We R Memory Keepers

The Outdoor Adventure collection by Imaginisce

The Take a Hike collection by Simple Stories (currently on clearance!)

Whether you're a fan of the great outdoors or not, we hope you're inspired to scrap your adventures this summer.  Happy weekend!

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.

Welcome to another Gardeners' Digest, our monthly blog hop with the Garden Girls!  Each stop along the way will share sneaks, favorite products, current inspiration and more.  Scroll down for our special giveaway!

We blogged our June project release sneaks and you had some great guesses!  Here is another hint at our theme for next month.  Anyone have another guess?

(Pictured: Chipboard stars by Pink Paislee)

We're seeing midreleases pop up in the store and are inspired by how scrapbookers are using them.  Mou (Spicemix) uses the new Travel Girl collection from October Afternoon:

Walesk scraps with the Cameron collection by Elles Studio:

And Lisa works with the Atlantic collection from Studio Calico:

1. Camera Bag paper by October Afternoon 2. Retro frame by Hero Arts 3. Our new printables! 4. Our digital cut files 5. Our exclusive arrow clips

We're giving away a spot to the class that's been in the What's Hot section for weeks: Tool School with Jen Gallacher!  If you're ready to dive into the lessons and videos covering over 100 ideas, just leave a comment below with your Two Peas username.  We'll draw and announce a winner next Tuesday, May 28th.  Good luck!

You'll want to hop on over to Shimelle's blog next; here is a list of the Garden Girls blogging this month for the hop in case you get lost along the way.  Enjoy!

Shimelle 
Melissa 
Paige 
Jen K 
Lilith 
Lexi 
Michelle 
Jen G 
Marcy 
Jill 
Janna 
Lisa 
Shannon 
Nancy 
Céline 
Wilna 

We love seeing how you take inspiration from Two Peas and use it in your projects, whether the inspiration be video tutorials, or products - like these projects created using our newest digital cut files and printables by our members and Garden Girls:

Strike a Pose by Ashley Horton and 78,862 by Kristina Nicolai-White

Project Life by mrscraftyadams

See Lilith's layout go live on June 1st from her profile.

Signs by Kristina Nicolai-White

We love seeing these designs show up in the gallery! Don't forget to share yours and to relate the products on the last step of uploading - your layout could be featured next!  Don't forget you have just a little over a week to grab the May only printables and cut files.  Browse our entire digital selection here and happy scrapping!

Hi peas. I'm here today to share with you how I organize my photos... and more specifically how I organize and use my photos in relation to Project Life.

I use Lightroom for my photo organization.  Whenever I'm ready I import the photos from my SLR and my iPhone into Lightroom.  (I mix my SLR photos in with my iPhone photos)  I don't have a scheduled time when I do this... just whenever I think of it.  I import my photos into dated folders.  Lightroom does this for me automatically.  Photos from the current month just stay in their dated folders.  Dated folders from previous months go into Monthly folders (when I remember to make them and move them over).  I only store the current year of photos on my iMac.  Previous years are stored on an external harddrive.  I can easily access these in Lightroom when I need too (but obviously for Project Life I don't really need to).  

I add keywords when I remember so I can find things easier.

That's a quick overview of how I store them.  Now... how I use them for Project Life.

I'm pretty current with project life and can easily find which days I'm needing to pull photos from by looking in my Project Life planner.  I go through the photos in those seven folders and mark photos I like or think tell a story so that they go into the Quick Collections folder.  This folder doesn't move your pictures over or anything... it just places a copy of them in there.  Once I've gone through all the daily folders I can open the Quick Collection and see all the photos I've chosen in one glance.  From here I can "unclick" on the ones that I don't think will work, or just eliminate some due to space.

For this particular week (you can find a video of me putting this week together in the Project Life Video Series) I'm only dealing with three days so I don't have a lot of photos.

While I'm here I'm looking at my planner and memorabilia... marking photos down and narrowing things down and making adjustments in my template.  When this is all done I'll have the photos I need, a spot for memorabilia and maybe even a calendar and a week in review card.

From here I edit the images.  Usually I do this right in Lightroom and just brighten them up a bit. Sometimes I drag them into Photoshop and run some actions.  I usually leave iPhone photos alone because I've already edited them in my camera.

I like a border around my photos.  To do this I made some custom cropping measurements right in Lightroom.  I'll resize them with once click into either 2.75x3.75 or 3.75x5.75.  If I want it a square I'll just select 1x1.  This just really changes the ratio of the photo.  When I'm getting ready to print I'll have to enter the correct amount.

I print the photos I'm using for scrapbooking in Photoshop, but I print my photos for Project Life in Lightroom.  This is because I can drag in multiple photos and move and resize them all on as many pages as I want and with ease.  No layers. No new canvases.

I start dragging my photos into the "Print" section.  Here I can quickly add more pages, rotate, resize, and so on.  This is a HUGE timesaver for me.  HUGE!  

Once everything is good to go I hit print.  Usually I'll use three 8.5x11 sheets of photo paper for one week of Project Life.

A quick trip to my paper trimmer and I'm all ready to go.

I'm happy to say I've found a system that works for me.  I have it streamlined enough that getting ready to create a Project Life spread does not seem like a chore.

So, how about you?  How do you organize your photos?

This week 1) Céline offers four more creative prompts 2) Kristina documents her library of photos based on a collection-themed mood board 3) Glitter Girl takes on the challenge of planning and starting a wedding album 4) Paige shares how she uses a collection pack to easily bring a layout together 5) Lisa uses Project Life journaling cards on a non-PL layout and card 6) Marcy assembles a Project Life page leading up to a vacation

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Stripes...we'll never grow weary of them.  If you like a class pattern you can reach for again and again, you'll love our selection of stripes:

Happy Friday, friends!

Today's edition of Get the Look is inspired by this digital page from Claudiaharvey; we can see why this page has so many views in our gallery!  We love the mix of framed and un-framed photos attached by clothespins alongside tickets, die cuts and accordian folded flowers.  One could easily create this look with the paper supplies we've pooled together here!

Spring Snapshot by Lexi Bridges

In our digital age, it's not often we handle actual strips of film, but we love to scrapbook with this motif as it represents something we hold very dear to us - our pictures!  Our focus in May is on photos and today we're talking about scrapping with filmstrips.  Here are some inspiring ways we're seeing this icon used and some ideas you can try for yourself.

- CREATE CONTRAST and PLAY WITH COLOR.  The weighty black design of a filmstrip makes the perfect bold contrast against the Springy colors we see in Lexi's page.  Contrast creates interest; experiment with different colors and patterns and have fun!

Proof by jennimoc

- DISPLAY A SERIES OF PHOTOS.  A filmstrip is a perfect solution when you can't narrow down the photos you want to scrap.  Jenni directs the attention of the viewer to one photo in a series by placing a die cut circle over it.

Project Life spread by lorybucaria

FILL IT IN WITH GOODIES.  A column of windows just begs to be filled with not only your photos, but stamping, word stickers and other favorite embellishments.  (We actually see filmstrips used this way in many of the examples in today's post.)  We love how Lory incorporated it in her Project Life spread.

In Spr(i)ng by ankekramer

USE IT AS A BORDER The long rectangular shape naturally makes a great line element on a page.  Ankekramer uses it to anchor her photo and embellishments.

Vacation Diaries by Nancy Damiano

LAYER WITH A FILMSTRIP Nancy splits the strip in half and uses it to bridge the sides of her double-page spread.  She's placed it over top of two larger photos, tucked a miniature photo inside, and finally, layered her title over top of it.

Eyebrow Lift Gene by Jill Sprott

REPEAT IT Why not add another when the first one was so fun?  Jill Sprott uses the design principle of repetition to document her daughter's unique talent; not only is this approach pleasing to the eye, but it gives you more opportunities to play with your supplies as you fill in each "window."

Bring on the Sun by Laura ODonnell

Autumn Bliss by helpmeronda

 SET THE SCENE. Fill in your filmstrip with landscape photos or embellishments depicting the "where" in your story like we see in the card above by Laura ODonnell and the seasonal page by helpmeronda.

Ready to add a filmstrip to your next project?  Browse our hand-picked filmstrip favorites here:

Have you used a filmstrip in a project? We'd love to see!  Have a happy Tuesday, friends.

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See more on our May focus of photos by checking out our May Garden Girl project release and our inspiration board on Pinterest.  Play along with this theme for yourself by using the hashtag #2Peasfocusonphotos on Twitter and Instagram for your chance to win a generous prize pack (details here).  Have fun!

We hope you all enjoyed playing along in our National Scrapbook Day challenges!  Congrats to all the winners:

Challenge #1: Focus on Photos - momm

Challenge #2: Member-based sketch - passion4scrappin

Challenge #3: Use 5 tools - ashleyhorton010675

Challenge #4: Member-based color combo - danibuttons3000

Challenge #5: Down with the downloads - shopgirlaudi

Challenge #6: Scrap this list - janetm

Challenge #7: Be Inspired by a Garden Girl - sunshinestate

Challenge #8: Be Inspired by YOU - lonr

Challenge #9: Use the NSD freebie - supertoni

Challenge #10: Refer to your bookmarks or pins - frootfoot

If you're looking for our Pinterest challenge winner, check out the thread here!

Please ensure the address in your Two Peas account is up to date as we will be sending prizes midweek this week.  Thanks again for playing along!

Hello everyone, it´s Janna here. In May, Two Peas in a Bucket is focussing on photos. Therefore I would like to share a short video about my Instagram related photo editing process today. I have a rather strict routine how I am editing my photos - there might be better and/or easier ways, but maybe this helps you a bit with editing your photos :)

You might already know that I am a huge (huuuge) fan of Instagram - for me, it is the best social media tool ever. Why? Because it allows you to get in contact with other (crafty) people very fast and to see snippets of their daily life (you know this saying .. I am not curious, I just like being well informed?! *hehe*). All joking aside, for me it feels as if I get to know people better and it is a great way to share my passion for scrapbooking with crafty people from all around the world.

Here are the links to the photo apps I am using:
Snapseed - free
Pic.Tap.Go. - 0.99$
Instagram - free
Picfx - 1.99$
PicFrame - 0.99$
Whitagram - free

...and what I also love about Instagram is that it encourages me to take more photos. There are lots of great photo challenges on Instagram - photo a day, for example, where you have a theme for each day of the month. This does not only let you take more photos, but to see the world around you with different eyes. Furthermore I am using a lot of my Instagram photos on layouts, please click here to see some of them in my Garden Girl gallery.

I would love to know which apps you are using to edit your photos - do you have any favourites? Any editing apps you can´t live without?
And did Instagram (or any other photo sharing program) increase your scrapbooking?

Have a great day, everyone - wherever you are!
Janna
xo