Styroartist

I had these pictures developed when I got a big batch developed for Project Life.  Well, I have this "issue" with putting vertically-aligned pictures in the Project Life album horizontally.  Just.  Can't.  Do.  It.  So I figured these, and a few others, would be good 12 x 12 DPS layouts.

There was a degree of scraplifting for this page, so, without further ado, let me give credit to Rebecca Cooper, whose book Real. Life. Scrapbooking. helped give birth to this page.  Here's the layout that inspired it all:

 ...and here is my "styroartist" page that came from it...

I used 12 x 12" textured cardstock from Stampin' Up!  Not sure about what color that might be... Maybe Groovy Guava...  Alpha-stickers are Basic Grey's Mini Monogram Stickers.  The patterned paper was something I won from The Scrap Review: Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Collection - Current.  I could not believe how much it matched Max's pattern when I was going through my paper stash.  The brown hues of textured papers are also SU! Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa.  The blue base is Enchanted Evening from Papertrey.  The stamp used for the journaling came from Autumn Leaves Stampology clear stamps designed by Katie Pertiet.  I used SU! Buckaroo Blue ink.  I used it to do some inking on the edges, as well.

There are some subtle differences between Rebecca's layout and mine, but her page anchored my design elements.  Had to make it a bit more "dude-like."  In all, I like it very much.  It's tough to come up with your own design for 4, 6 x 4" photos.  I like how one of the photos gets to "stand out" from the others.

DigiMessing

I love "real" scrapbooks.  I love my kids being able to look through a book.  Something tangible.  I loved looking through photo albums as I grew up.  It's like comfort food for my mind.

I must say, though, I really love the ease of digital scrapbooking.  It feeds my need for design... everything looks cute in digital.  With Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements), I can make a page in minutes, with the right elements saved on my computer.  The image above I made in maybe 5 minutes, not counting the time for downloading.  It's three layers: background paper and two .png files, all layered in Photoshop.  And it's cute.  And the elements for it were free downloads from Scrapbooks, Etc.  Crazy, right? 

The thing about digi is I need a kick-butt larger printer, like a beautiful Epson (to the tune of $300-$400) to print them out in a fashion is worth the ink.  I can use my 8 1/2 x 11 HP Scanjet, but now that I saw what the Epson can do, I am, yes, coveting it.

For now, I think I am what one would call a hybrid scrapper.  I still like the layered elements in real life.  But digi is quite fun indeed.