Scrapbook products

My last Two Peas in a Bucket order

July 9, 2014 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

The end of an era

I know there are people in the scrapbooking world who are incredibly sad about Two Peas closing and others who think that their end came as a result of negativity and cliquishness in their online community, which left unchecked pushed people away.

I have read many more accounts of crafters feeling their closing as a loss, though. And even though I wasn’t a frequent forum visitor, I did share my projects in their gallery and gain tons of inspiration from others’ work and the Garden Girls’ videos. I am one of those who is sad to lose Two Peas.

I didn’t place many orders from their store over the years. But it was me, not them. Until recently I have been terribly lucky because I didn’t need to buy my supplies online. I had local scrapbook stores and later a nearby Archiver’s. But over time the LSSs closed, and as everyone knows, so did Archiver’s. So when I recently won a contest where the prize was a gift card to the scrapbook store of my choice, I chose Two Peas because I had bought there before and had a good experience.

Oops. As soon as I heard about the big closing sale I hurried over to attempt to use my gift card before all the good stuff was gone. Wow, was that stressful shopping! It seemed like every time I put something in my cart it would fall right back out. Inventory was “flying off the shelves,” as they say. It was fast and furious, Tokyo drift! I was able to use my gift card, although my order was full of random, rather unrelated items. But I like it all and will be sure to enjoy using it.

Here’s to all the great things Two Peas did for the scrapbook community for 15 years.

The whole shebang

Just the papers

The 6x6 pads, stickers and embellies

The stamps

Tim Holtz Distress Markers 5-pack color lists

September 27, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 74 Comments

When the Tim Holtz Distress Markers by Ranger came out months back, I loved the idea. But rather than buying the whole set before even getting to try out one marker, I decided to look for ways to buy them in smaller chunks. So, when I started seeing 5-packs of these markers at Hobby Lobby and Michaels I excitedly bought them (with coupons, of course).

But I quickly became distressed (pun fully intended) at the lack of information on the product packaging. Some of the sets had names—such as Memories Past and Country Fair—but these were only printed on the store SKU tag and not the bubble pack, and not all of them even had names. Kind of weird.

But the bigger problem was that the color names of the included markers weren’t listed anywhere! It wasn’t printed on the cardboard backing. And the way the markers were packed in the plastic made it so that only one marker was turned up and readable.

Then, when I came home to look for the list online I still couldn’t find any details! The reason I was so diligent about finding this info is that I wanted to be sure, before opening the product and making it harder to return, that none of the sets had duplicate colors.

Well, I finally decided, after comparing all the sets and figuring that there didn’t look to be any color overlap, that I would just open them. It worked out because I now have 25 of the colors and I like the markers. But my frustration over not finding these colors listed anywhere turned into a little project to benefit my readers. And so I give you…

The Distress Markers 5-pack color lists:

Cluttered Cellar includes: stormy sky, forest moss, fired brick, spiced marmalade and dusty concord

Country Fair includes: peeled paint, barn door, mustard, faded jeans and black soot

Estate Sale includes: frayed burlap, weathered wood, shabby shutters, tattered rose and Victorian velvet

Memories Past includes: vintage photo, wild honey, crushed olive, tumbled glass and worn lipstick

Victorian Shabby includes: antique linen, broken china, bundled sage, spun sugar and picket fence

I really hope this is helpful to you. If you have found any other color collections of these markers, will you please leave me a comment to tell me the name of it and which colors are included?

Update

I’ve received a helpful update from reader Monica, who says there is another 5-piece set called Hillside, which has the following colors:
Aged Mahogany
Dusty Concord (also in Cluttered Cellar)
Pine Needle
Spiced Marmalade (also in Cluttered Cellar)
Walnut Stain

It sounds like Ranger isn’t going to make it easy for us to collect all the distress markers through sets, which is unfortunate because I think it makes them seem less customer friendly. It seems like a marketing ploy to force us to buy duplicates just so we can take advantage of the better pricing that bundles afford. Do you think you will buy the “Hillside” set even if you already have the others, or are the duplicates going to keep you from making the purchase?

Update #2 (2014)

Tim Holtz Distress Markers now total 49 colors (the original full set included 37 colors). The new colors are available as a 12-color set (in their own 2-inch storage tube) for those who bought the original full set and want to update to the new full set). You can also buy the whole updated 49-color set (in 4-inch storage tube). Or you can buy individual colors as open stock.

The colors included in the 12-marker seasonal set are:
Evergreen Bough
Festive Berries
Gathered Twigs
Iced Spruce
Mowed Lawn
Peacock Feathers
Picked Raspberry
Ripe Persimmon
Salty Ocean
Seedless Preserves
Shaded Lilac
Squeezed Lemonade

There are more sets to add to your watch list:
Boardwalk:
Evergreen Bough
Shaded Lilac
Salty Ocean
Festive Berries
Squeezed Lemonade

Marketplace:
Mowed Lawn
Peacock Feathers
Picked Raspberry
Ripe Persimmon
Seedless Preserves

Update #3 (2015)

Thank you to reader Katie, who left a helpful comment about finding the 12-piece tube with all the 2015 monthly releases at Hobby Lobby:
Mermaid Lagoon
Hickory Smoke
Cracked Pistachio
Blueprint Sketch
Twisted Citron
Abandoned Coral
Wilted Violet
Lucky Clover
Fossilized Amber
Carved Pumpkin
Ground Espresso
Candied Apple

Mommy gets a bite

June 22, 2012 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

I was 5-1/2-months old and trying to share my food with Mom.

Aren’t these photos wonderful? There are a few little details in here that I should point out as being meaningful:

For instance, how sweet my mom looks here; she’s a few months shy of 27 and just adorable! There are times when I look in the mirror and see such a strong resemblance between us, even though I really take after my dad’s side of the family more.
Mom wrote on the back of these photos, “Mommy gets a bite (thus, my title), 5-1/2 months.” That would date this photo as mid-April 1967, which means she was already pregnant with my brother!
We were in the house of one of Mom’s teaching friends.

I used this sketch from PageMaps for inspiration:

And most of the supplies I used were from the beautiful April scrapbook kit I won from Artful Delight:

Soo cute! Using bright patterns with a black-and-white photo

September 8, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo Leave a Comment

How cute is this photo of me and my little brother from 1969? I know: we were cute, our outfits were cute, the expressions on our faces were cute, the way the photographer had us positioned was cute. Cute, cute, cute! Now I will attempt to write the rest of my post without using that word even one more time (for your sake as well as mine).

So how could I fail to use sweet, colorful patterned papers to highlight all this adorableness? I wanted this layout to feel bright and colorful and young and fresh, so I turned to some of the older lines (Family Dynamix, Tail Waggers & Cat Naps) as well as one new line (Making the Team) from Bella Blvd.

And I think this got the job done, don’t you? The bright colors show off the black-and-white photo rather than competing with it. Also, portraits can sometimes feel a little stale, so by surrounding this one with fun banners, butterflies and buttons I kept the eye hopping and happy. At least I think so! What do you think?

I couldn't help myself from using lots of colorful patterns with this black-and-white photo.

Study shows high levels of versatility in scrapbook sketches

May 25, 2011 By Janice Daquila-Pardo 2 Comments

I want to let you in on a little secret. I am not only a scrapbook artist but also a scrapbook scientist.

When I don my lab coat (in a flattering shade of aqua and sporting The Constant Scrapper logo), it’s time to put some aspect of our beloved craft under the microscope. I want to understand either what makes a layout really work, what slight adjustments to the formula make the most difference or what makes this hobby so enjoyable. Please join me on this voyage of discovery. 🙂

First I thought it would be ~~fun~~ (ahem) scientifically relevant to test the effect that different product choices have on multiple layouts using the same sketch. Following scientific method, I will hypothesize, test and analyze three scrapbook layouts based on the same sketch and report the results here.

1. Define the question

It has been stated many times in the scrapbooking literature (add references here ;-)) that sketches add versatility and endless possibility to our crafting process. Yet, during interviews with scrappers who don’t use sketches in their design process I found that the most common objection was that their layouts would look too similar to other layouts completed based on the same sketch. This points to our main question for this experiment:

Do the products used on various layouts that all follow the same sketch introduce enough difference for each design to be seen by the community as unique?

2. Gather information and resources

I have chosen the following sketch and scrapbook products for this test. The sketch is one I drew after seeing a layout I liked in the Scrapbook Trends Quick & Easy special edition a few years ago.

This sketch is from a layout I saw in a Scrapbook Trends magazine.

To further limit the variables in this experiment, I chose to work exclusively (except for just a few bits and bobs) with products from Echo Park (the Little Boy, Walk in the Park, Springtime and For the Record collections):

3. Form hypothesis

I predict that the difference in the products chosen will be sufficient to make each of the layouts look unique and not directly connected to the beginning sketch.

4. Perform experiment and collect data

Excuse me while I go to my craft lab and conduct the design portion of this experiment. I’ll be back with the results!

5. Analyze data

For this first layout about our cat, Oliver, I used mostly products from the Walk in the Park collection because of its bright but not primary color scheme and its sweetly simple patterns. The light in the photo was warm, so I played that up with the brown and gold cardstock I chose to use with the patterned papers. The button and sock monkey embellishments are meant to highlight the laundry theme and the comfort Oliver takes in curling up on a fresh pile of clean towels. I give you sample #1:

This design uses mainly papers from Echo Park's A Walk in the Park collection.

For specimen #2 about all the men in my husband’s family working together to renovate his mother’s house, I selected most of my products from the Little Boy collection because I wanted a bright and playful, obviously boyish feel for the layout. I added some Bazzill and Coredinations cardstock, a paper-pieced house and die-cut frame and clouds.

In this layout I used mostly pieces from the Echo Park Little Boy collection.

For the vintage photo in sample #3 I chose to work with the patterned papers in the sophisticated For the Record collection. I thought the vintage yet slightly modern feel of these papers worked well with this one-time-event photo (my grandparents getting together to meet my new baby brother). The simple embellishments I used were stickers from the collection, a “family tree” die cut from paper from the Walk in the Park collection and polka dot letter stickers from Hobby Lobby. Again, I followed the same sketch as in the other two examples.

This layout uses mainly the For the Record collection by Echo Park.

6. Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis

The look and feel of these three final projects is measurably different, based on the products chosen for each theme. I submit that even the well-trained eye of a scrapbook artist would not pick up on the fact that these layouts shared a common sketch (and certainly our non-scrappy friends and family won’t notice). My conclusion is that scrapbookers should find sketches that really work for them and then call on them repeatedly to help turn out designs they’ll love. No one will know they came from the same sketch but us. And really, we should feel more clever about that than guilty!

7. Publish results

Done here!

8. Retest (frequently done by other scientists)

Would you be interested in conducting a similar experiment and sharing your results? I ask only in the interest of furthering our scientific understanding of our hobby, of course. If you do repeat this experiment, please leave a comment so I can read your test results!