Why is journaling on your layouts important to you? Despite taking hundreds of photos every week, there are so many details in my life that can’t be captured on film: Things my kids told that made me laugh uncontrollably, the nervous energy I felt the first time my son competed in a swim meet, the way my heart broke just a bit the first day I sent my daughter to preschool. Even in the photos that seemingly tell the whole story (you know, the countless birthday party photos you shot, capturing every detail of decorations, cake and presents and guests??!) there are still details and perspectives that are missing. So I rely on journaling to fill in those missing details. I want to record the feelings behind the events, because it’s those emotions that make my life (and my scrapbooks!) meaningful and poignant.
Do you try to include all the details in your journaling? When I first started scrapbooking, I was very caught up on documenting every detail of the events in my photos – the who, what, where, when, etc. But I quickly got bored with just stating these facts on every page. I wanted my scrapbooks to be more than just a historical timeline of our life’s events. I realized that documenting the personalities, the stories, and the emotions behind the events were so much more important to me than just dates and places. Now, I don’t stress about getting all the facts down on the page. I concentrate on preserving the memories and stories surrounding the event. And if I can’t get all the details onto one page, I can always create another!

Does every layout you create contain journaling? Not always -I think it’s OK to sometimes skip the journaling and just create a page for art’s sake. If it’s relevant to my photo, sometimes I’ll include a favorite quote as both title and journaling for page.
Take us through your journaling process: I usually have a rough idea of what I want to say before I start a page, but I almost always write my journaling last, once the design of the page is complete. I’ll guesstimate how much room I need for words, and factor that into my design choices. I try to use my handwriting on about 50% of my pages, but I always write it in pencil first and then go over it in pen. I love my Tombow Mono eraser for getting rid of the pencil lines! The other half of the time, I use my computer for journaling. My favorite technique is printing the journaling on cardstock and cutting it into strips to adhere to the page. The strips are easy to fit into any space because you can cut to the size of the space you need to fill.
Any tips or techniques you’d like to share with us? (1) Don’t let the photo dictate your journaling. Just because you have a photo of your son on the first day of school doesn’t mean your journaling has to be about going back to school. You could write about how much you’ll miss spending lazy summer days with him, or how he has changed & grown in the past year, or the hopes and dreams you have for him as he embarks on a new adventure.

(2) Use list-style journaling. This is one my favorite ways to journal! It’s a quick and easy way to get information on a page without stressing about proper sentence structure.

(3) Pull text directly from your blog entries. All the hard work is already done – you can just copy and paste. Then you’re free to concentrate on the fun part of creating!
Supply List: Almost Five • 12 x 12: cardstock (Bazzill Basics) + journal cards: Birthday, Details and Granny’s Doily (Elle’s Studio) + sticker (American Crafts) + ribbon (May Arts) + pen (American Crafts) + pearls (Basic Grey) + font (Bohemian Typewriter)

ABOUT LISA: Lisa Dickinson is a graphic designer living in Colorado with her husband, Mike, and children, Hayden and Riely. Her scrapbook designs have been published in various magazines, including Creating Keepsakes; Scrapbooks, Etc.; Scrapbook Trends; and the former Simple Scrapbooks. She currently designs for KI Memories, Jenni Bowlin Studio, Creative Charms, and is a contributor at Write.Click.Scrapbook. You can catch up with Lisa at lisadickinson.typepad.com, where she blogs about scrapbooking, motherhood, running, and her deep-seated hatred for the Comic Sans font. You can also find her on twitter!

Have you heard of using the 5 W’s for your journaling? What is means is covering the five basic W’s (who, what, where, when and why) in your sentences or paragraph. Sometimes this method works great and is just enough and… sometimes it can be just plain boring and monotonous.

What about how you felt, what it smelled like, sounded like, made it special? What were you thinking, doing, seeing? Who said what, what did you say back? Including some of the smaller details will make your journaling more interesting to read and can take you right back to that moment, no matter how many years have passed, when you re-read it.

Let’s try it! Here’s the journaling I had before on this layout:
Journaling reads: Love my Smart Start, toast and coffee in the morning!

Well… that’s great, but why do I love it? What makes it special enough that I felt like photographing it and making a layout about it? Because, let’s face it, if I’m going to this much effort to scrapbook it, it must have a deeper meaning than the fact that I just “love it”, right?
Let’s brainstorm! It usually helps me to do this while I’m scrapbooking – think about the photo, the events that happened around it, how it made you feel, why it is important, etc. Jot down little words and sentences here and there on a scrap piece of paper. Then, when you are ready to start writing, you can take your list of words and start forming sentences!
After brainstorming and thinking about what is really important about this photo, and the reasons behind why I really wanted to scrapbook it in the first place, I’ve re-wrote the journaling to read: My morning toast is not complete without my grandma’s homemade raspberry jelly – She makes it from scratch every summer with the berries from their garden! Yummy!!

Forget talking about the Smart Start and coffee – we can see it in the photo and really, it’s not that important! What was really important in the photo was talking about the jelly my grandma made. Ten years from now, looking back at this layout, my family members and I will be able to remember that about my grandma… but maybe without those words, we, or the person viewing the page, would have forgotten (or never even known) her love for making jelly, and it would have been a page just about my breakfast.
Details like this are so important to write down – Try to focus on them while brainstorming to help you create more meaningful journaling!

Along with our details and words, photos are also an important part of scrapbooking – and because of this, we have an amazing giveaway for you, today!

Maggie Holmes Studio is giving away a spot in her next online photography workshop beginning August 30th. This is for the beginner/intermediate class in which you will learn the basics of photography, including how to shoot in manual mode, composition, lighting and much more!

Maggie is passionate about all things creative, especially when it comes to preserving her family memories. She is an avid and acclaimed scrapbooker that has been in the industry for many years. Most recently she was named one of the 9 Most Influential Scrapbookers of 2010 by Ella Publishing! She is also a professional photographer who now offers 2 different online photography workshop courses in which she teaches her students not only how to master their cameras but how to create magical and meaningful images as well.

You can check out what she is doing on her blog. You can find out more about her photography workshops here. If you live in the Arizona valley and you want to hire her to capture your family or special event you can find out more about her photography services here.

Leave a comment below, telling us who your favorite person to photograph and scrapbook is, to be entered into this giveaway – winners will be drawn and posted here at our blog on August 15th! Check back then to see if you’re a winner! *One entry per person, please.

Also, if you have not entered our other big giveaway here, hop on over there and enter that one, too!

Why is journaling on your layouts important to you? Journaling to me is just as important, if not more so, than the photos. The journaling provides context to the photos and tells quite a bit more than a photo alone. Journaling on my layouts is also important to me because there are things I want my kids to know, things I want to write to them both as a record of their experience and of how I feel about them. Another reason journaling is important to me is because I feel I have gotten to know myself better through expressing myself more often through the words I include on my projects.

What is the most important thing about capturing the story? I think the most important thing is actually doing it. For me one of the most important things is writing often – actually taking the time to jot down story ideas or the details of a story when they come to me rather than just when I sit down to scrapbook. I keep a document on my computer for storing away story ideas I don’t want to lose.
Do you try to include all the details in your journaling? I’m not overly concerned with trying to include every little detail in my journaling. One of the things I really like to do is include a balance between specific facts (where we were, what was happening) and the feelings that are evoked from remembering the event or moments. Having both facts and feelings combined in my journaling is important to me.
How do you decide how much or little of the story to tell? Sometimes I tell a really long story and other times a story can be told in just a few sentences. Recently I’ve been finding myself telling longer stories – the less pages I create the longer my journaling becomes on the pages I do make.

Does every layout you create contain journaling? These days, yes. When I first started scrapbooking back in 2002 I had some pages with just a quote or very few words. Last year I went back through all the layouts I had created up to that point and found that the ones I loved best and cherished the most were the ones that told the most complete stories. That’s what I am striving for today.
Supply List: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Journaling Tags: Elle’s Studio; Embellishments: American Crafts; Circle Punch: Marvy Uchida; Pen: American Crafts

ABOUT ALI: Ali Edwards is an internationally recognized scrapbook blogger, author, product designer and instructor. Her passions are words + photos and bringing the two together to tell the meaningful stories of our lives. Learn more about Ali at http://www.aliedwards.com. You can also find her on twitter and facebook.

What is the most important thing about capturing the story? Saying something real. It can be five words or five paragraphs, the important thing is to put something down worth reading. While I’m not against “cute girl: age 5” layouts, my favorites are those I can go back and find something that I forgot or haven’t thought about in a long time. Quotes, details, things we were into doing, routines… there is so much of both ordinary life and special events and we’re never in the same place twice.

Do you try to include all the details in your journaling? I believe that my stories work in combination with my photos. If we’re standing in front of a sign that says where we are I don’t feel the need to journal that too. I look at the photos to see what obvious details there are, and then I look for what details are not told. What bits of conversation or interesting stories there are that tells more about the photos than simply looking at them.

Does every layout you create contain journaling? Absolutely!! I can’t imagine not putting some words down. It might only be a few select words, or a simple sentence, but I am adding something. I’m also making sure the date is in there somewhere so I can remember when. If I don’t want journaling then I do some kind of home decor art with my photos – on a canvas, in a frame, or some other format that lets me get crafty and is meant for display.
How do you decide how much or little of the story to tell? There are so many factors here – if it’s a vacation and I’ll be making a dozen layouts about it, I pick what specific details or tale I want to weave for that particular page. If it’s more of a moment, then it might have a lot less words involved. Sometimes there are unhappy or unpleasant details. When deciding whether or not to share those I think about the story. Is it important? Or is adding (for example) the fact that Aunt Edna was being a raging drama queen important to my 4th of July story? Since I am a ‘look for the bright side’ type of person, I choose not to breathe more life into those kinds of tales when they aren’t really a part I want in my story.

Then again, if there is something unhappy or unpleasant that does take place (like the time we all got H1N1 on vacation!) then obviously I do include it – because it changed the whole story and was an event we’ll remember. Do I dwell on it? No, but I did mention it in a layout.

Finally, I think about my photos. What photos I have available and what story I’m trying to tell help me decide. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I tend to agree. A photo of my daughters under the Christmas tree says so much about their ages, looks, what they were wearing, what our tree looked like… there’s less I need to write.
Take us through your journaling process: My journaling process starts the moment I decide to make a layout. Either I’ve thought of a story to tell, or I’ve got photos in front of me and I’m thinking about the story. For me, the journaling + pictures determines everything about the page. What colors to use, what embellishments, what mood to set, how to design it – I wrap it all around the story told through words and photos.

Since I think out my journaling (at least in general terms) before I ever make a single cut or adhere anything that means that I plan where/how I will put my writing on the page in advance. Whether it’s in a pre-made tag or paper, on a stamp, or direct on my page I have my ‘how’ down before I get going too far.

I will think or say aloud my journaling and then I put pen to paper most of the time. If I have lengthy journaling with a story that I feel I’m going to need to revise I’ll turn to computer journaling. Otherwise, I just like to write. I love that my pages are very real, imperfect, and from the heart.

Any tips or techniques you’d like to share with us? Write often, just because, and practice all you can! I like to pretend “if I was writing what’s going on right now, how would I do that?” and then say it to myself in my head. Practicing what and how I’d journal things means that my journaling muscles are kept well practiced. Just like anything – it takes plenty of practice to get good at.

Write in your voice. Don’t try to write like someone else or copy a style that isn’t you – write in your voice so that when others look back at the pages they can hear you telling your life stories.

I was once told to write a pearl you must start with a grain of sand. In other words, take something very specific, small even, and weave your tale around it. Whether it’s a holiday or vacation or just an everyday moment, the more specific you get in the ‘why’ behind your layout, the more precious a treasure it will be.

Supply List: Candyshop Tags, Reading Tag, Summer circle journaling tag, pinwheel stamp, mini papers by Elle’s Studio; Patterned paper (Girls Paperie), title stickers (American Crafts), Butterfly rub-on (Jenni Bowlin), Tape (Tim Holtz), adhesive (scrapbook adhesives by 3L), unknown source for buttons, rhinestones, thread, and sequins

ABOUT MAY: Who is May Flaum? Well I wear a lot of hats from design team member to author to long time instructor for www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com and contributing writer for www.scrapbookupdate.com. I have been crafting my entire life and working in the scrapbook industry since 2003. I love being able to teach classes, share my ideas, and get to know fellow scrapbookers from all over the world. What am I outside of scrapbooking? I’m a mother, firefighter’s wife, scrapbooker, wanna-be sewer, set on auto-mode photographer, avid reader, animal loving, and one happy woman. I live in Northern California and try to find the bright spots in each day. When I’m not at the gym or chasing my two daughters around you might find me in my studio and sharing my adventures on my blog.

You can also check out May’s class that she is teaching at Big Picture Scrapbooking!

Welcome to our three week journaling class, exploring the way others journal with tips to help you with yours! This class will take place at our blog, right here, for the next three weeks, with a new post everyday. So make sure you check in each day to see what’s new! Besides the amazing Sponsor’s Giveaway, we will also have some giveaways throughout the three weeks!

Let’s get started!

Do you know the best part about journaling besides capturing your memories? The best part about it is that there is no right or wrong way to journal! Journaling is all about capturing your memories in your own voice and writing style. Our journaling captures all those moments and details that we tend to forget about in or behind the photo, making them memories that will last forever.

The hardest part, when I first started scrapbooking, was that I always found myself judging what I wrote, how I wrote it, and if others were going to like it. It never felt good enough. It took awhile for me to understand that when others are reading my journaling they aren’t critiquing it! They are just thankful I took the extra time to sit down and record the details in writing!

After I stopped judging my own writing, I felt like I had been set free! I could write whatever I wanted, how ever I wanted… but what did I want? This is where goal setting comes in. You’ll need to decide what will make you happy and satisfied with the journaling on your layouts. To some people, it might just be the “date, place and reason” wrote in a sentence or two. Some people might decide that they don’t mind just having just the photos. And others might decide that they want enough journaling so when someone picks up the page 10 years from now, they know every detail and feel like they shared that moment with you.

The goal I set for myself was: a couple sentences on a page (or on the back) that explain what is going on in the layout, or behind the photo. And, to never put the page away before the journaling is finished. I tend to save the journaling portion until the very end and if I got stuck, I’d say that I’d do it later, but the truth is, I never did and now have a book full of layouts with no journaling, and memories missing.

Once you have your goal in place, start practicing! The saying practice makes perfect is true – the more I wrote, the more I became comfortable with my own writing. I still do not think of myself as a great writer, but I’m noticing that the stories are flowing on to paper a lot easier than they were a couple years ago. And, I’ve begun to enjoy the process of journaling, instead of dreading it. Practice also takes time – make sure you set aside extra time for you to journal. If you don’t, you’ll easily push it to the side. Hold yourself accountable!

Sounds pretty simple, right? Stop judging what and how you write, set a goal and practice!

How do you practice? Well, you can start simple! You don’t have to hold yourself to practicing just on your scrapbooking layouts – Here are some great ideas for practicing, that you can get started on today!:

-Keep a daily journal, jot down a couple sentences every night, before you go to bed, describing your favorite part of the day or what you are thankful for that day.

-One of my favorite apps is called “Gratitude Journal”. Everyday you can write down five things you are thankful for, rate the day and now you can even add a photo! It’s only 99 cents and 10% goes to charity! After I used this app for over a week it really made me start thinking about the little details in my day-to-day life, because I didn’t want to write the same five things everyday. I’ve also found myself referring back to it for a certain day a photo was taken and it’s helped spark some fun things to write about!

-Start a blog! If you don’t have a blog, this is a great way to get started with writing. It keeps you motivated to write because you’ll want to keep it updated.

-When you get your photos back, take time to run through them, quickly writing down short memories or words that you can use for journaling jumping points later on.

-Make weekly Top Ten Lists or, Top Five Lists!

Don’t wait until tomorrow to set yourself free, think about a goal and start practicing. There will never be a better day to get started, than today!

We want to start off with a HUGE thank you to our sponsors! With out these sponsors, this event wouldn’t be possible! Our sponsors also have some amazing giveaways and coupon codes for you! Make sure you read about and visit each sponsor below, then come back here and leave a comment to be entered to win one of the giveaways featured below! Winners will be drawn and announced August 28th!

Apron Strings is a monthly kit club offering up three delicious kits each month: A scrapbook page kit, a bigger scrapbook kit and a card kit. Each of the kits are filled with scrumptious papers and embellishments; the only thing they need is you. Starting at just $16 (on the commitment-free autoship) the club is a wallet-friendly way to get samplings of all the newest treats on the market, stay within budget, and still enjoy your craft. And, like sitting in the kitchen with friends sharing recipes, there’s a community to help you use your kits. You’ll gather inspiration from other scrapbookers at the Apron Strings blog where you can participate in weekly challenges, contests and cyber-crops with enticing Cookie Jar Treats (fat free of course) for playing along. You can swing by the Apron Strings Group to chit-chat. And there’s the monthly online, full color newsletter with wonderful examples by the design team. Joining Apron Strings is much more than just great kits, it’s about keeping you inspired to use your kits.”

GIVEAWAY: Apron Strings is giving away one Bigger than a Breadbox July kit to one lucky winner!

COUPON CODE: During this 3-week class Apron Strings is also offering the Elle’s Studio participants a 20% savings on purchases. Drop by, check Apron Strings out, sign-up and then stock up and save. Enter: ELLES during checkout. Coupon expires August 28th and is not applicable towards autoship memberships.

3 Scrappy Boys is a kit club and online store. We produce 3 kits per month-the main kit, an add-on kit, and the trio kit. The main kit and add-on kit feature one line with embellishments to match. The trio kit features 3 different lines with embellishments. Subscribing members receive a 10% discount on their monthly kit and can purchase products throughout the month to be shipped with their kit, saving them on the cost of shipping. A limited number of kits are available to purchase each month for those who do not wish to subscribe.

In addition to the store, we have a fabulous community of extremely talented ladies who chat on our forums and upload projects to our gallery.Visit our forum to come chat with us and the gallery to see all the great projects. There are also lots of challenges to help get you moving on your own projects and layouts. We would love for you to come join us!

GIVEAWAY: 3 Scrappy Boys is giving away an August main kit, valued at $29.50. August’s main kit includes: 6 sheets double sided Fancy Pants roadshow paper, 6 sheets of coredinations cardstock, 1 Jenni Bowlin bingo alphabet, 1 Jenni Bowlin banner alphabet, 1 pack of Hambly lace border rub-ons, 1 pack of Kaiser Craft wood flourishes, 2 assorted Fancy Pants diecut journaling pages, 1 My Mind’s Eye ticket diecut, assorted Jillibean Soup canvas flowers, 2 Elle’s Studio details journaling tags, 3 Bazzill modern buttons, 2 Maya Road flowers.

COUPON CODE: Use coupon code ellesblog and receive 20% off any order! Coupon expires August 28th.

BIC Mark-It^tm Permanent Marker Color Collection Available in Fine or Ultra Fine

The BIC Mark-It^tm Permanent Marker Color Collection is available in fine or ultra fine tips, making them perfect for a variety of craft projects. All BIC Mark-It^tm Permanent Markers have acid-free ink (no added acid, no measurable pH), feature a rubber grip for comfort and control while marking, and will mark on almost any surface including glass, metal, plastic, coated paper, etc.

The 36-count BIC Mark-It^tm Permanent Markers with fine or ultra fine tips come in a convenient carrying case– making travel and organization easy, and feature vibrant colors with fun names including: Adobe Orange, Dessert Rose, Peach Parfait, and Tranquil Teal. Certified by the Arts & Creative Institute the suggested retail price for the BIC Mark-It^tm Permanent Marker Color Collection (for Fine or Ultra fine) is $20.99.

You can purchase BIC Mark-It^tm Permanent Markers at a variety of retail outlets such as mass merchandisers, office super stores, drug stores, and grocery stores.

Find us on Facebook by visiting www.facebook.com/bicmarkit to learn more about the BIC Mark-It^tm line of permanent markers and access a variety of great craft projects.

BIC is a leading international distributor of stationery products, lighters and shavers in more than 160 countries around the world. For more than 50 years, BIC has honored the tradition of providing high-quality, affordable products to consumers everywhere. Through this unwavering dedication, BIC has become one of the most recognized brands in the world. Visit BIC USA Inc. at www.bicworldusa.com.

GIVEAWAY: I received six 36-count packages of BIC Mark-It™ Permanent Markers from BIC to give away to six lucky winners!

Northridge Publishing is the premier publisher of Scrapbook Trends, Cards, and Simply Handmade magazine – not to mention the Create: series of idea books. Northridge is a popular online destination for all things crafty. Their recently redesigned Create:blog are popular with creatives all types. Be sure to stop by for lots of creative inspiration, challenges, contest, giveaways, and more!

GIVEAWAY: Northridge is giving away three prizes! They are as follows: Grand prize – 6 mo. print subscription and 1 year digital subscription with the entire idea vault. Second prize – 1 year digital subscription with entire idea vaultand print copy of idea book of choice. Third prize – 1 year digital subscription with entire idea vault

COUPON CODE: Just for our dear Elle’s Studio friends! Get 25% your entire order here! Just use coupon code “elles”.

We, at Scrapbook Circle, have been creating our kits for 4 years and have loved every minute of it! We love sharing our ideas and getting to know other paper lovers on our blog, in our idea gallery and on Facebook. We love scrapbooking and love getting to share our passion with others!

Unlike many other kit clubs, we do not require a long commitment to be a subscriber. You just commit to receiving 2 consecutive kits to get them at our subscriber’s price. We also offer single kit purchases.

We include custom Scrapbook Circle product in addition to a coordinating digital download included with a kit your kit each month. Stop by our site and see what we have to offer!

GIVEAWAY: Scrapbook Circle is giving away one of their August kits!

Starting September 2, 2010, Long time Big Picture Scrapbooking Instructor May Flaum will lead students in a four week workshop designed to get you making the most of your stash and scrapbooking! Through layout examples, sketches, presentations, and a lot of interaction students will find the class to be both highly interactive and easily workable for their stash and time needs. The materials presented in class remain available forever – as Big Picture classes all do – and the ideas designed to be used and re-used again and again.

Not only will their be layouts and encouragement from May, but she also offers video chatting via skype as a part of her class. When taking a May Flaum class you can always expect a friendly and accessible instructor who struggles with shopping more than scrapbooking just like so many of us.

For more information about class visit Big Picture Scrapbooking, and for more about May visit her blog.

GIVEAWAY: A seat in May’s class “Adventures in Scrapbooking: Use Your Stash”!

I’m Tara, the creative dreamer and creator of With a Twist, my colorful little art and scrapbook store on Etsy. I love spending time in my studio, surrounded with baskets full of paper and trinkets and great lighting, creating my own handmade products. From gift tags to collage canvases, silk flowers to clay buttons, handmade arts and crafts will always have my heart! When I started scrapbooking, I wanted to design products that were pretty and girly, but products that also had a fun vintage charm to them. I adore creating with vintage papers and textiles, and turning the old into the new!

GIVEAWAY: Tara is giving away the kit featured in the photo above to one lucky winner!

My name is Danielle Thompson and I love crafting, kitsch, vintage, photography, designing, blogging and, oh, the list goes on. I have designed all sorts of things such as digital and printable kits, paper goods, clear polymer stamps, embroidery patterns, unique vinyl wall decals, accessories for Blythe and I also offer prints of my photography. My designs, no matter what they are, always contain a hint of kitschy and nostalgia. I try to keep all sorts of people in mind when I’m designing: the crafter, the scrapbooker, the blogger, the embroidery fan, you name it. I try to make my products relate to a diverse group of people that dabble in all sorts of hobbies (just like me!). You can find me at my blog, Thompson Family-Life, my digital products at Jessica Sprague and Two Peas in a Bucket and in my Etsy shop, Tiny Bazaar.

GIVEAWAY: 2 Digital kits to one lucky winner! The Granny’s Attic Kit & The Chalkboard Paper Collection Kit.

Helmar is an Australia based company who makes quality adhesives, aerosols, and craft mediums. Helmar USA, Inc. now distributes our products in the USA! Check out their blog to find some amazing inspiration!

GIVEAWAY: Helmar is giving away a set of adhesives to three lucky winners!

ScrapScription releases two kits every month. Both kits are project based mini albums including all of the supplies, embellishments, and full color step by step instructions to complete the project. The great thing about these kits is the amount of flexibility you have to use the kit to your liking – make the project exactly as shown in the directions, personalize it with your own designs or titles, or use the product to make 12×12 page layouts or cards and keep the mini album for another project. ScrapScription provides full sheets of patterned paper and coordinating cardstock. Many times you also receive an entire set of alphabet letters or pack of embellishments to give you tons of options!

ScrapScription’s release on the 1st of the month is a single purchase kit. Just go to the website on the 1st and purchase your kit individually.

The second release ScrapScription does on the 15th of the month is part of what they call their ScrapScribers kit club. ScrapScription automatically ships their 15th of the month release to club members for just $30 guaranteed (+ 5.95 shipping and tax if applicable – with an initial 6 month commitment). Club kits begin shipping out on the 12th of the month so members should have their kit before it even hits the website for sale. As a ScrapScriber, you also get every 6th kit shipped for free! And after 12 months, you will receive a special “members only” kit for free. For non-ScrapScribers, the 15th of the month kit will go up on the website as a “single purchase” kit on the 15th and will retail for anywhere from $35 – $40. So you can see it pays to be a ScrapScriber!

GIVEAWAY: ScrapScription is giving away one of their Summertime Fun kits!

COUPON CODE: ScrapScription would like to offer as part of Elle’s Journaling Class, the chance for any NEW ScrapScriber signup to also receive free shipping (a $5.95 value) on their first monthly shipment. The offer code you will need to use when you sign up to be a ScrapScriber is JOURNAL. This offer will last until August 31st. For more information on becoming a ScrapScriber, go here.

Which Crafts? is a small fairly new company started Christmas 2009 and based in the UK. We stock a range of items from a small amount of manufacturers of which Elle’s Studio was one of our first! Our main focus is on Kits, not just one monthly one but a range all year round. We have scrapbooking kits, cardmaking kits and project kits. Our newest kits include Embellish Kits which contain fabric, Elle’s Studio and Maya Road Journaling Tags, buttons, flowers, lace, die-cuts, pins, thread etc. We also have a shop section dedicated to Cupcakes, who can’t resist them, and an entire journaling section!

COUPON CODE: Use coupon code: Journalingclass2010 to receive £3 to spend in the shop! It can be used on its own or as part payment towards a more expensive kit. Our kits range in price from £3.75 up to £17.99 and we have ribbons, journaling goodies, embellishments and papers for much less! The code can be used to pay for any items in the shop including sale items!

Sisters by chance, best friends by choice (or because there was no one else to play with on the remote ranch in southwestern Montana where we grew up). And, all this in some way preparing us for our endeavor of “Raffia” (our gifts and home accessories store ) and “Sisters” (our scrapbook store). We’re married – with rugrats (Seth, Anna & Kenadie) and our husbands are both in agriculture. We are dedicated to promoting the rural life of agriculture, while maintaining what we think are two very hip, trendy & fun stores. With our blog, we hope to give you a glimpse of inspiration for your home, your paper crafting , and your hard work that goes into the craziness of this thing we call life.

COUPON CODE: If you happen to live in Montana, stop by our store and mention this Elle’s Studio Journaling Class! We’ll give you 20% off all Elle’s Studio merchandise!

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To be entered to win one of these amazing prizes from our sponsors, just leave a comment below! One comment per person. We will be drawing the winners on August 28th, 2010, so make sure you stop back by our blog to see if you’ve won and to claim your prize!

Also, be on the look out for every more giveaways throughout the next three weeks!