and these samples of what to do with it...
They also have some awesome giveaways. Check it out!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
One of My Favorite Sites
Have you been to write. click. scrapbook. ? This site is one of my favs. I love when they provide some digi-templates for your use. For example, they offered this Photoshop template...
Sunday, October 2, 2011
World Cardmaking Day 2011
A glorious day. Great weather. Great food. The stamping ladies. And lots of awesome cards prepared by my dealer, Karen.
Some photos:
 |
| Ashley and I working on replicating one of Karen's creations |
 |
| Kate and Julie working on a delightful Christmas card |
 |
| Ah, the intensity! |
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Freebies
I love when things are free. Every now and then, you can pick up some awesome digi-elements that are free.
I thought I would use this post to share some of the freebies from the past few issues of Scrapbooks Etc. I really love this magazine, as it is filled with all sorts of crafty goodness. When I say filled, I mean FILLED. I always find at least one thing that I want to use when I get an edition of this. I have pared down a lot of my magazines, especially ones that were straying from my own personal style and into shabby chic craziness (not that there's anything wrong with that...just not me). This is the one subscription I won't let pass.
Freebie #1 Citrus Digital
I thought I would use this post to share some of the freebies from the past few issues of Scrapbooks Etc. I really love this magazine, as it is filled with all sorts of crafty goodness. When I say filled, I mean FILLED. I always find at least one thing that I want to use when I get an edition of this. I have pared down a lot of my magazines, especially ones that were straying from my own personal style and into shabby chic craziness (not that there's anything wrong with that...just not me). This is the one subscription I won't let pass.
Freebie #1 Citrus Digital
Endure a few pop ups for subscribing (or take them up on subscribing!) and click for a download of each element. There are 28 different elements to download, including alphabet brushes, etc.
Fourteen different elements, mostly digi-patterned paper. Very cute and generously free.
So much easier than back in the day when you had to have a great template and a steady hand for cutting! All sorts of ways to include multiple pics into a layout.
This is what Scrapbooks Etc. is known for. Each edition has templates for some really nice paper pieced embellishments for pages.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Scrap Challenge
A new store opened in Bloomington where the former Scrapbook Friend'Z used to be: The Scrapbooking Studio. Of course, on day 1, it was urgent that I go over and check it out. I didn't realize anything was going in there until the Facebook post of a fellow scrapper/stamper drew me in. Lo, and behold, at the same moment, Karen Kelly was thinking the same thoughts...we ended up there at the same time. As we left, we half-joked that we should challenge ourselves to use what we were buying there today. Challenge myself I did!
This was a really hard page to take a decent photo of, because it is on embossed vellum. I bought this vellum AGES ago at a scrapbook store in town (may have been Pocketful of Memories, for the locals). I just love it. The photos are from Max the Brave's climbing wall excursion at the Irish Pumpkin Festival this weekend. I had to stand back and take pics because I think they were close to ejecting me (I crossed the "no parents" line once for fear he was going to smash himself against said wall...needed to leave it to the professionals!).
I used some of my favorite lyrics from the song "The Climb," made popular by Miley Cyrus. I used the ever so tall Maple Thickers that I had seen on the American Crafts blog hop this weekend. The lyrics of the refrain I scribed by hand along some of the leaves. Not sure I am in love with the haphazard nature of how they fell on the page, but maybe that's a tie in to life's haphazard nature. Unplanned, but I am sticking to it. I backed it with a neutral textured 12 x 12 sheet from SU!...not sure of the color.
This was a really hard page to take a decent photo of, because it is on embossed vellum. I bought this vellum AGES ago at a scrapbook store in town (may have been Pocketful of Memories, for the locals). I just love it. The photos are from Max the Brave's climbing wall excursion at the Irish Pumpkin Festival this weekend. I had to stand back and take pics because I think they were close to ejecting me (I crossed the "no parents" line once for fear he was going to smash himself against said wall...needed to leave it to the professionals!).
I used some of my favorite lyrics from the song "The Climb," made popular by Miley Cyrus. I used the ever so tall Maple Thickers that I had seen on the American Crafts blog hop this weekend. The lyrics of the refrain I scribed by hand along some of the leaves. Not sure I am in love with the haphazard nature of how they fell on the page, but maybe that's a tie in to life's haphazard nature. Unplanned, but I am sticking to it. I backed it with a neutral textured 12 x 12 sheet from SU!...not sure of the color.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Holding on
How I do so love summer. I didn't always. The years when summer meant Scott and I were separated for months were filled with counting down the days until we were back together in lovely Central IL. They were spent sweating my rear off on the city playgrounds and then working at Bon Ton at night. They were spent with phone calls where we talked about nothing because all we really wanted to do was hang out with each other. The days before Skype and cell phones and e-mail, when every mile of an 800-mile distance was acutely felt.
Now, I adore summer. Contrary to popular opinion, it is rare that teachers have "off" over the summer. First, it is not a paid vacation. I am not given money for days I am not required to attend. However, having a schedule that is a bit more flexible is nice. And I love spending time with my own kids. Some summers feel wonderfully long, and others feel horribly short. This one is somewhere in between. We have had LOTS of time, ending the year prior to Memorial Day. During that time, some of my friends and I have helped each other realize that the time we have is a wonderful gift. We truly need to seize the day.
One of my pals called August 1 "July 32nd", and it stuck with me. All day today, I kept calling it July 33rd. A scrapbook page was calling.
I took the photo today at Fairview Pool. It doesn't look like 100 degrees, does it? When I printed it and went to trim it, I thought that it looked cool trimmed like a Polaroid. So, I kept it that way and wrote the date on it like I used to write on the bottom edge of a Polaroid. The crocheted flowers were a last minute thing. I felt like something was needed in that space, but there was no more substantial room for words. Then, I wrote phrases of things I was holding on to, cut them, inked the edges, and adhered. It really did not take long at all, and I love that I have archived the things I have. I was hesitant about a patterned paper background, but I think the Cosmo Cricket paper works the idea of summery pool days well. Now, I can go to sleep. Maybe.
Now, I adore summer. Contrary to popular opinion, it is rare that teachers have "off" over the summer. First, it is not a paid vacation. I am not given money for days I am not required to attend. However, having a schedule that is a bit more flexible is nice. And I love spending time with my own kids. Some summers feel wonderfully long, and others feel horribly short. This one is somewhere in between. We have had LOTS of time, ending the year prior to Memorial Day. During that time, some of my friends and I have helped each other realize that the time we have is a wonderful gift. We truly need to seize the day.
One of my pals called August 1 "July 32nd", and it stuck with me. All day today, I kept calling it July 33rd. A scrapbook page was calling.
I took the photo today at Fairview Pool. It doesn't look like 100 degrees, does it? When I printed it and went to trim it, I thought that it looked cool trimmed like a Polaroid. So, I kept it that way and wrote the date on it like I used to write on the bottom edge of a Polaroid. The crocheted flowers were a last minute thing. I felt like something was needed in that space, but there was no more substantial room for words. Then, I wrote phrases of things I was holding on to, cut them, inked the edges, and adhered. It really did not take long at all, and I love that I have archived the things I have. I was hesitant about a patterned paper background, but I think the Cosmo Cricket paper works the idea of summery pool days well. Now, I can go to sleep. Maybe.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
InstaLove Free Template
Cathy Zielske, new owner of an iPhone, has recently shown an interest in camera apps (small, happy shriek). She designed and shared a digi template (for free) specifically designed for pics snapped and edited with Instagram and such. I made this page in no time flat, thanks to the template. Fun, fun pics. I am having a great time snapping them! Even though this looks stark white, the page is intended as an 8.5 x 11 page.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Kindergarten
A few years ago, Cathy Zielske, after the demise of Simple Scrapbooks (moment of silence...), jumped into the wonderful world of creating digital scrapbooking templates. I have been what is considered a "hybrid" scrapbooker for several years. I still love cutting paper and adhering photos and such. What I have learned, however, about the traditional form of scraopbooking, now that I have had books for a few years:
#1 Pictures printed from my printer, even though it's a photo printer, fade. I LOVE off-sizes of pictures, so getting the ol' 4 x 6" huge discount processed photos does not mesh with most of my scrapbooking design desires. I find it limiting. I believe that I have probably acquired a better printer and better paper over the years, but my earliest self-printed photos are fading. Sigh.
#2 Embellishments like to come unglued. Adhesives are not always true to adhering. Things fall off pages.
#3 Embellishments dislike page protectors (or vice versa?). Scarpbooks that are bumpy and lumpy do not like to store well.
#4 D-ring scrapbooks, which I love-love-LOVE, are not friends of gravity when they sit on a shelf for a while. Ever had a binder that just sits on a shelf fora while? And then you open it and everything's crooked? Yep. That's what I mean.
#5 No matter what, my craft storing areas in my house have been merciless. When it was the basement, it was too humid. Now it's the loft, and the afternoon sun is brutal.
#6 Traditional scrapbooking always requires lots of room for me to spread out. I don't always have the time to tidy up after myself.
Enter Designer Digitals,with a HUGE selection of everything digital including designers like Cathy and Ali Edwards. I would buy a few things, like paper and such, and then still print them out in the end.
A bit ago, I purchased this template after seeing what Cathy did with it. It was a while ago, and I can't find Cathy's blog posts on it, but as soon as I saw what she created, I bought the template. I decided that I would use this to document Max's schooling and perhaps go back and place some of what I can find of Ignatius' schooling in there as well.
So, what do you need to do this digi stuff? Some sort of photo editing software, such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, or, for the budget-consious, Paint.Net (freeware). You also need a relative comfort level with these or the ability and desire to learn. Once you know a few simple steps to the programs, you are golden. No graphic designer degree required...I promise! Designer Digitals has tutorials, I took a community education class at Heartland Community College, Cathy puts tutorials on her blog, and Jessica Sprague has excellent online classes.
I am still on the fence between digi and traditional. These few pages were a LOT quicker to produce than would have been so for a traditional scrapbook. They look great, very clean, very simple, very Cathy. Some digital elements look JUST like embellishments, such as brads and ribbons, if preferred. Cathy presented this as a hybrid when she did it. It could easily be printed for an 8.5 x 11" book if I wanted to go that route. We shall see. I have these pages saved as a PDF file. Please click on the images for a larger view.
#1 Pictures printed from my printer, even though it's a photo printer, fade. I LOVE off-sizes of pictures, so getting the ol' 4 x 6" huge discount processed photos does not mesh with most of my scrapbooking design desires. I find it limiting. I believe that I have probably acquired a better printer and better paper over the years, but my earliest self-printed photos are fading. Sigh.
#2 Embellishments like to come unglued. Adhesives are not always true to adhering. Things fall off pages.
#3 Embellishments dislike page protectors (or vice versa?). Scarpbooks that are bumpy and lumpy do not like to store well.
#4 D-ring scrapbooks, which I love-love-LOVE, are not friends of gravity when they sit on a shelf for a while. Ever had a binder that just sits on a shelf fora while? And then you open it and everything's crooked? Yep. That's what I mean.
#5 No matter what, my craft storing areas in my house have been merciless. When it was the basement, it was too humid. Now it's the loft, and the afternoon sun is brutal.
#6 Traditional scrapbooking always requires lots of room for me to spread out. I don't always have the time to tidy up after myself.
Enter Designer Digitals,with a HUGE selection of everything digital including designers like Cathy and Ali Edwards. I would buy a few things, like paper and such, and then still print them out in the end.
A bit ago, I purchased this template after seeing what Cathy did with it. It was a while ago, and I can't find Cathy's blog posts on it, but as soon as I saw what she created, I bought the template. I decided that I would use this to document Max's schooling and perhaps go back and place some of what I can find of Ignatius' schooling in there as well.
So, what do you need to do this digi stuff? Some sort of photo editing software, such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, or, for the budget-consious, Paint.Net (freeware). You also need a relative comfort level with these or the ability and desire to learn. Once you know a few simple steps to the programs, you are golden. No graphic designer degree required...I promise! Designer Digitals has tutorials, I took a community education class at Heartland Community College, Cathy puts tutorials on her blog, and Jessica Sprague has excellent online classes.
I am still on the fence between digi and traditional. These few pages were a LOT quicker to produce than would have been so for a traditional scrapbook. They look great, very clean, very simple, very Cathy. Some digital elements look JUST like embellishments, such as brads and ribbons, if preferred. Cathy presented this as a hybrid when she did it. It could easily be printed for an 8.5 x 11" book if I wanted to go that route. We shall see. I have these pages saved as a PDF file. Please click on the images for a larger view.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)