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Allison Davis

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Online Scrapbook Classes: True Scrap 3 Individual Classes … Shimelle Laine

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Yay, July 1 and payday is here!! I get to sign up for some True Scrap 3 classes :) {If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, here is where I explained True Scrap 3 individual classes}.

I know you may have questions about what exactly is included in these classes before you fork over the dough for them. I’ve been wondering the same thing. So I did some research into the class I’m MOST interested in – Shimelle Laine’s “The Perfect Collection” – and here is what I found out.

First of all, in all True Scrap 3 classes you get PERMANENT (as in … forevah!) access to the class video. Just make sure to bookmark the page after you purchase so you can always find it. I have a folder in my bookmarks for Online Classes like the SKETCH SUPPORT one I took from Allison Davis and can refer back to them whenever I need to. The videos with True Scrap 3 are usually 30-40 minutes long and then you also get a .pdf file that you can keep forever … and ever :)

Here is what Shimelle says on her blog about “The Perfect Collection” class:

Last spring I shared my workshop for getting the most out of a collection pack with the crowd at True Scrap 3 – which is always great fun and a sort of online scrapbooking convention with so many different classes and ideas to take in. I know the whole shebang is a rather big purchase and not everyone’s style, so if you really fancied just a few classes, then now is the time for you! All the True Scrap 3 classes are now available individually.

My workshop, The Perfect Collection, is all about taking one collection pack and using it until it’s all gone – and I walk you through my process for making a full album from a collection pack. The video is just shy of forty minutes, plus there is a PDF with cutting guide diagrams and pictures of how those pieces of paper became the finished scrapbook pages. Other workshops available cover all sorts of topics, from embellishment and page design to writing, photography, creativity, stamping, symbolism, Project Life, digital and hybrid crafting and mixed media art techniques. You can sign up for any number of classes you like.

OMG, I get so excited reading that description! I know exactly which collection I’m going to start with … and you’re SO going to laugh at me because I’ve been hoarding this for a loooooong time. YEARS, I tell ya’! Have you been around the scrapbooking world long enough to remember the “WILD SAFFRON” collection by K&Company?

K & Company wild saffron

HA! I fell in love with this collection right off the bat and gobbled pieces of it up whenever I could. I would say a stack of 40% Michaels coupons were spent on it for sure. I would buy the paper pad, a set of letter stickers, or an embellishment pack each week until I had virtually every piece. Yes, I love it THAT much.

To see how many years I’ve been hoarding this stuff, look at these old entries and note the date they were posted: Hating the Scrap Lull and Michaels Finds. EEK! How embaraskin’. The only time I ever used any of it was to make an EXPLOSION BOX for my mother-in-law … but she’s pretty dang special :)

I’ve always thought that Wild Saffron would be perfect to make an entire album with. The theme is so open and easy to use, and the colors go with the kinds of photos I tend to take – lots of primary colors mixed with browns and aquas. So … I *NEED* to take Shimelle’s class, don’t you think? My mind is just spinning with the possibilities ~ vacation albums, a year in review, a series of sports season layouts, etc. Do you have any kits or packs you’ve been wanting to use, either as a whole album or for a variety of layouts … so you just USE it? Instead of admiring it time after time in it’s clear plastic wrapper? LOL

From what I’m reading on the message boards, Shimelle’s class is VERY popular and people are loving it. They’re pulling out the paper packs, monthly kits, and theme sets THEY’VE been hoarding, cutting ’em up, and making tons of layouts! That, to me, is the best recommendation you can get!

If you’d like to join me in Shimelle’s class or any sign up for any of the other fabulous True Scrap 3 classes, click here to view more details.

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Scrapbook Generation: Super Sketch Club

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I’ve talked here many times about my love for the sketch books put out by SCRAPBOOK GENERATION called “SKETCHES FOR SCRAPBOOKING.” For instance, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I’m the proud owner of Sketches for Scrapbooking, Volumes 1-7. I like to pull the books apart and sort the sketches into binders by number of photos per sketch. I keep a binder on my desk at all times in a cookbook holder (landscape side) so it’s super easy to flip through. Then when I’m ready to scrap, I grab a stack of photos and head to that section of my binder. Luvs it.

What I think of as the “Allison” way of scrapbooking is exactly the way I’ve always scrapped – mostly 2-page layouts, lots of photos, and great journaling. But the thing is … Allison and her group do it oh-so-much mo’ betta’ than I ever could. So I basically just scrapbook following their sketches now, LOL. I mean, cut out the middle man right?

Scrapbook Generation also has several MONTHLY KITS. I’ve drooled over the layouts from these kits for, gosh, it must be 2 years or so by now. I don’t get any other kits and have always chosen to spend my scrappy budget on the cool new things that come onto my MEMORY WORKS SITE.

But after much hemming and hawing (I swear, I actually went “Hemmmm!” And then I went “Haaawww!” Kid you not). And much chewing on the inside of my mouth in deep thought … I decided that 2012 is the year that THE SUPER SKETCH CLUB WILL BE MINE!

Ahem! Erm, I mean … I will finally join the SUPER SKETCH CLUB. And I did. And my first kit (the MARCH one) came today. I had to take the kids somewhere straight after the post office and, okay, I admit it: I kind of sped a teensy bit in my car to get there sooner so I could open the stinkin’ kit!

When we got there and I let them off, I sat in the car and opened it. For the record, it was packaged very nicely in a flattened box and then a big plastic ziplock-y type bag. The invoice was on top, then the first sketch, with all the papers and cardstock to make the first 3 layouts. Then the other sketches and papers organized perfectly.

They post photos of the layouts every month on their blog so if there’s a kit you don’t care for, you can just send it to me. Or I mean, cancel it for that month. What-EVER!

Here are the March layouts from the blog:

So you get 5 double-page layouts (and there will be nice leftovers you can make cards from if you like) for only $26.99 including shipping. Amazing.

Is it too soon to declare that I’m in love?!?!? I mean, we just met and all but – sometimes you just KNOW, right? Yeah, I KNOW.

So then I looked out my car windows to make sure no one was looking and … well, you know what I did next because you have the same sickness I do.

I took a deep breath and smelled all that paper.

Don’t look at me like that! You know you would’ve done the same thing. Don’t pretend you’re all better than me, all holier-than-thou, “ooh, I would never inhale paper sitting in a car alone, ew!” Because you know you would.

So I got a little sidetracked there but I just wanted to tell you that I totally recommend the Super Sketch Club from Scrapbook Generations. You should sign up. Today.

But get your own kit! I’m going to marry mine ;)

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“Stretch Your Scrapbooking” DVD by Scrapbook Generation

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As I have written in the past HERE and HERE, I *heart* anything by ALLISON DAVIS, SKETCH SUPPORT, and SCRAPBOOK GENERATION. In one of my past entries, I mentioned the DVD they were working on and gave a link where you could pre-order it.

The DVD was something I was going to get “someday” … the same someday I ever got around to ordering Volumes 6 and 7 of the “SKETCHES FOR SCRAPBOOKING” books and Volume 2 of “Sketches for Cardmaking.” Yeah, like, SOON.

But I guess the DVD will have to wait awhile … I read THIS THREAD today on 2peas :( Here is what Allison Davis posted:

Sadly, the DVD turned into a big mess. We (the SG gals) and the producer could never come to an agreement on the way the DVD should look. To make a long story short, we just didn’t feel that the end result was “us”. We were promised a certain look and quality and what we got was not up to our standards, not even close. There was no way that we were going to release an okay product and expect people to pay for it. We want each product we present to be the best that we can make it. Needless to say it’s been very frustrating and exhausting to deal with. We finally came to the conclusion that moving forward with the DVD and the producer was not an option.

I am so sorry that we haven’t let anyone know of this situation until now. Speaking for myself, it has been a very embarrassing. However, I feel that releasing the DVD would be even more embarrassing. We have been trying to come up with a way to use the material we have for the DVD (25 sketches and 75 layouts that we love!) minus the instructional segments. We are currently looking into turning it into a CD to view on your computer and then you can print the sketches and layouts as you please. We are hoping that this is something we can do in the near future.

If anyone has any questions about it, don’t hesitate to ask!

And this is what I posted on the thread in response:

I’m so sorry that happened to you guys, Allison. Thank you for letting us know. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You did the right thing, not putting out an inferior product that doesn’t represent SG the way you want it to.

I look forward to whatever you choose to do with the sketches and layouts. Your whole family and what you share with us has been a huge blessing to me also. I’m a busy working mom and you have me turning out amazing layouts so quickly!

I went over to the DVD PAGE at Scrapbook Generation and it still shows the DVD but no release date and no way to order. I do hope they find a solution they’re happy with very soon!

By the by, I think Volume 8 of “Sketches for Scrapbooking” comes out on July 1, 2011.

Anyhow, just wanted to give you an update on the DVD in case you were looking for it! Oh, and if you’d like to give your input to Allison/Scrapbook Generation on whether you like the idea of the CD instead of the DVD, please let them know! You can add to that thread I linked earlier; the SG girls are wicked smart and they stayed tuned to what the Peas have to say, LOL. Or you can contact them HERE.

Happy Sketchy Scrapping!

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Scrapbook Sketches Organization

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I didn’t get any scrapbooking done this weekend, but I still feel like I accomplished something good … something that will help me scrapbook mo’ betta in the future. I printed and organized a bunch of sketches and sample layouts.

Let me backtrack a bit: Please read THIS ENTRY first so you’re up to speed :) Since I wrote that post last April, ALLISON DAVIS and SCRAPBOOK GENERATION have come out with Volumes 6 and 7 of layout sketches, along with a Volume 2 of card sketches. ETA 3/21/11: Their Sketch DVD has also been released. Man, I hate it when I’m wrong! The DVD was never released and I just blogged an update about it HERE. Sorry for the misinformation, folks!

Alas, I haven’t purchased any of them yet although I plan to.

In the meantime, I’m still getting much use from Volumes 1 through 5, and I’m so loving the way I pulled the books apart and have filed them into a binder. They’re in order by number of photos and they’ve been SO helpful to the way I scrapbook. To add to my beloved sketch binder, I go to Allison’s blog and take advantage of her monthly Sketch Weeks. It’s where she takes a sketch and shows a week’s worth of layouts based on that sketch, including helpful notes about variations she used and how/why she did them.

If she uses a sketch from Volumes 1 through 5 ~ since I already have the sketch filed in my binder ~ I print out the sample pages and file them behind the sketch. If she uses a sketch that I don’t have, I print the sketch along with the sample pages. Those go into my sketch binder, too, based on the number of photos used.

I hadn’t printed any since last spring when I started my binder so I had many months of printing and filing to do. In the sidebar of Allison’s blog you’ll find all of her Sketch Weeks broken down by month and even by Day 1, etc. I would click open Day 5 since that’s when she posts ALL of the layouts from the week in one post, which is ever so helpful.

Now she also has a blog called SKETCH SUPPORT which has even MORE sketches to print and play with! I’m in Sketch Heaven, I tell ya’. {I’m a 2-page layout girl so I only utilize that part of Sketch Support}. I guess the only problem is … now I have so many sketches printed out … I’m going to need a second binder, LOL :) Such a problem to have …

I keep my sketch binder on my desk at all times. It sits horizontally (which is the way the sketches are printed) on a cookbook stand like THIS:

I flip back my binder to the sketch I’m using … easy peasy. The stand is really nice because it makes it easier to see the sketch while I work and it also doesn’t take up as much room on my precious scrap desk real estate.

Sooooo … did you get any scrappy organization done this weekend?

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Allison Davis Sketch Books and DVD

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ALLISON DAVIS has always been one of my favorite scrapbookers. Ali was a member of the 2008 and 2009 Dream Teams for CREATING KEEPSAKES magazine. I always enjoy her layouts in CK and my eye immediately goes to them because she scraps like I scrap. In fact, when she was a guest BLOGGER for CK in July 2009 and described the way she scraps, I could have written the exact same thing about myself:

“I am a two-page, multiphoto kinda gal. Mostly because I take too many pictures and have way too much to say for any other format. I try to fit lots of pictures on my layouts. This can be blamed on my complete lack of control over the photo selection process. It’s just so hard to narrow it down to only a few!”

Her books are called “Sketches for Scrapbooking” and here is more about them, from Alison’s website:

“Each volume of “Sketches for Scrapbooking” contains 30 exclusive sketches designed by Scrapbook Generation’s Debbie Sanders and Allison Davis. All sketches have a key that indicates which areas are stripes, small patterns, large patterns, contrasting cardstock, etc to make paper selection super easy. Photo sizes and paper measurements are included on each sketch.”

You can purchase them HERE. As of now, there are Scrapbooking sketch books, volumes 1 through 5 ($12.99 each) and even a sketchbook for cardmaking ($12.99). The sketchbooks are by Allison Davis and Debbie Sanders, and the cardmaking book is by Stacey Atchley, all from the SCRAPBOOK GENERATION store.

What finally reminded/convinced me to purchase some of these books was THIS thread at 2peas. I love the idea several Peas have posted about how they tear the books apart and sort them in binders by the number of photos per sketch. And here are a couple reviews that really sold me:

“Not only does she give photo dimensions, but also the dimensions for the various paper pieces that are used on the layout along with positioning information.”

“I so love these sketch books! I think I have almost every sketch book made these are the easiest to use and the layouts are so good when completed. They are also the quickest to finish, I have probably finished about 40 pages in the last 6 weeks which is alot for me.”

Holy scrapbooking, Batman! Forty pages in 6 weeks!?!?! That totally rocks. These books remind me of my beloved EASY PATTERNS for SCRAPBOOKING by BRENDA ARNALL that I’ve mentioned MANY TIMES. Of course, I admire and adore the work of those scrappers who can spend hours on one layout and create an artistic masterpiece, but that’s just not how I scrap. I might look at their layout and take one element to use on mine, like a paper flower, a photo arrangement, or a color scheme. But I take so many photos and have so many events, vacations, and other projects I want to scrap, I need to keep it moving. It sounds like these sketch books will be perfect for me.

You can see a preview of her upcoming DVD “Scrapbooking with Allison Davis” HERE and PRE-purchase it HERE ($19.99).

The shipping is ONLY $2.99 no matter how many books you order, so why not order several at once? I just purchased all 5 of the sketchbooks, and plan to get the cardmaking book and DVD in the future. How about you? Do you have these books already or plan to get them?

ETA 4/5/10: I noticed that Melissa/Scrappy Jedi, who left a comment on this entry, has also written a review of these books. Go check it out HERE.

ETAA 4/5/10: I started a THREAD on 2peas to let the girls know they totally enabled me to buy these 5 sketchbooks, and one of the Scrapbook Generation girls posted this: “Is this a good time to tell you that we’ll have volume 6 ready for sale on July 1?” So there’s a heads up for you Allison David sketchbook fans!

ETAA 7/12/12: The plans for the DVD were “scrapped” {bwahahaha … scrapped!} but they have added lotsa’ more sketch books. There are now:
Sketches for Scrapbooking (all two-page layouts): Volumes 1 through 8
Sketches for Scrapbooking: One Page Sketches: Volumes 1 and 2
Sketches for Scrapbook: Travel Sketches
Sketches for Cardmaking: Volumes 1 and 2

Now instead of $12.99, each sketch book is $15.99. They’re still very popular and very much a part of my own scrapbooking. Here is an update from one of the Scrapbook Generation team, who posted it at 2 Peas on 06/17/12:

Several of you are right!

— Of the “regular” Sketches for Scrapbooking double-page books, volume eight is the most current.

— The most recent books are volume one of travel and volume two of Allison’s one-page series, both of which came out in January of 2012.

Our schedule in the past has been to do at least one book every six months, coming out with new books in January and July. We will not be publishing new books this July because we are working on a huge project involving sketches that requires every bit of our time and energy right now. That’s why we’re cutting back on some other time-consuming activities like retreats.

I’m actually dying to tell what the newest project is, but we have to pass a few more hurdles before we do a big announcement. (We learned our lesson with the DVD disaster a couple of years ago!)

When we do finally get to let you in on the secret, I think it will have been worth the wait!

Sounds exciting!

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