2010 Summertime

It has been FOREVER since I've posted two pages in one day - although this barely counts as one set was 95% done and I used a template for this set - but it feels good to have some more pages done and these happy photos scrapped for their books.


Template - August 24 Take Out Tuesday from Dana Attlan at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Kit - Melty Pops Freebie by Libby Weifenbach at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Stitching by Traci Reed at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Ribbons by Flergs MTFreebie
Cardboard action from Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Susie's Hand, 4990810

Anticipation │ A view before Birth │ 2004, 2005

So much for my goal of getting something posted here once a week.

I really had good intentions this year to try and get more done on the digital scrapping front, and my good intentions will continue.

This is a redo of some of the only hybrid pages I did when I first started their baby books and which prompted me to make the leap to digital. I got one set of the pages done and then never got the other scrapped (printed and cut, all it needed was to be put together and it never got done).

So here are my sweet babies during their 38 week journey in my tummy. The sonographer was really sweet about getting us pictures until the very last US when there was just no room left in there for you to wiggle about and for her (Lisa was her name) to do more than get the necessary measurements.

Flergs was one of the first designers I found when I started my digi-scrapping journey and I love her stuff still 3 years later. She is a very talented designer - her flowers are always my favorites.



Kit - DayDreamer by Flergs
Fonts - 2Peas Evergreen & Blackjack
Actions - inked edges & torn by Atomic Cupcake

December MOMs

Here's December's installment of MOM newsletter pages. As a historian didn't step forward this year and I couldn't really think of another way to showcase all the photos that everyone sends every month I've just been scrapbooking them to include in the newsletter so I guess I'm the "unofficial" historian for the club too. They always bring me great joy - but I'm ready to go back to working on just stuff for us/me.

Template 8 by Yin Designs (modified) Kit - Feeling Festive by Eve Recinella Fonts: BoysRGross, BlackJack, CK Journaling	Border from Around the World by Ilona Havenaar Black paper from Backs the Dark Side by Amanda Heimann Fonts: Amazone, CK Journaling
Kit - Whimsical Wonderland 2 by Monica Guerra Leiria Font: CK Journaling	A Very Merry Unbirthday by Amanda Slagle
Template 20 by Yin Designs (modified) Kit - Merry by Designs by Krista Stitches by Britt-ish Designs Bobby Pin by Mira Designs Fonts: Wide Latin, Brush Script, 2 Peas Evergreen
Template 47 by Yin Designs Pattern Paper from Winter Gifts by Summer Driggs Bow from Bow Beauties 6 by Royanna Fritschmann Action Tear & Ink by Atomic Cupcake Fonts:Santa's Sleigh, CK Journaling

All I Dreamed Of

This is a redo from paper to digital - another one of those LOs where I got one paper one scrapped and got all the pieces cut to do the second LO and just never got the second one done.

In addition to my MoM newsletter duties, I've also decided to try and teach some (so far 14 have joined our little group) of our mom's of multiples how to digital scrapbook. So this page is also serving as the first "lesson" of that process. I'm trying to lead the whole process on-line cause it's hard to get together without kids and with computers, but hopefully I'll be able to do some hands on stuff too.

I was finally able to scan in some ribbons, extract them and have them keep their translucence (sp?). Not something I want to do a lot of, but I did want the ribbon to be similar to the ones that I had on the original LO.



Template 06 by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Pattern Papers from Festival by Shabby Princess
Solid Papers from Sugar & Snails Mini by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Glue Blobs from Glue & Glitter Blobs by Flergs
Actions - Inked Edge by Atomic Cupcake


HERE is the folder with the mini kit & tutorial - take what you wish
HERE is the template

I won't be around much the rest of the month - we're close to halfway so it's time to start the newsletter and my internet browser keeps crashing every 5 minutes, so its not a lot of fun to be on-line and its practically impossible to get anything done. If I do have any spare time I'll be working on things for the OK, Just a Few Boys kit.

Easter Cutie

Ok, once again I don't feel like this is my best work, but these pictures have been out there for a while waiting to be scrapped and it feels good just to have the LO completed. Only this Easter to go (I think I only got one or two good photos this year too) and then on to Birthdays.

I had to spend some time with this LO recoloring everything. I really liked the designs in this kit, but the colors didn't coordinate with the photos. It took the longest to get the background paper changed from teal dots to green dots - it isn't really difficult, you just use the magic wand selector and select the color. Since it has a slight grunge effect the tone isn't 100% all over so I just had to select a bunch of times to get most of it, and then I enlarged the dots just a smidge and recolored.

If you'd really like some inspiration for this template check out these two LOs. This one by Tracyfish is a Spin A Lift - you'd hardly recognize the template. I think Dani Mogstad is a fabulous scrapper (and designer) and this LO is no exception.








Template #31 for Cookie Decorating 101 at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Kit - Trendy Pop Addon by Cori Gammom (all recolored)
Flowers from Promise by Shabby Princess (recolored)
Actions - Painted Metal, Colored Glass by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Mandingo, CK Journaling

RAK for Heidi

Last night I picked my DigiShopTalk member kit and it was from Shabby Princess. She just has these fabulous free kits on her site, and it me think of her last free release and the pages that my friend Heidi had done with them. Heidi is dear to me for many reasons, one of them is that we are both twins with twins and our twins were born on the same day and the same gestational age - so the twin factor is overwhelming between us. We've never seen each other in person, but her spirit is with me every day. She posted this beautiful picture of her twins from the July 4th holiday, and I had just gotten this wonderful kit & I felt tempted to enter a LO in the DST Featured Designer Contest where you are limited to only the items in the kit. That was a bit of a challenge for me as I'm usually grabbing stuff from everywhere. Heidi is a very talented scrap artist herself, and would probably do this photo more justice than I, but this one's for you Heidi.

I modified the photo a bit by adding an aged photo layer and then changing the opacity so that it had a bit of a sepia feel like the papers.





Kit - Summer Cottage by Shabby Princess available to Gold & Diamond DST Members
Page Idea from Beautiful Spirit by Vanessa at Your Favorite Pair
Actions - scalloped dot & inked edge by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts Amazone BT, Century Gothic, Times New Roman

The Perfect Pair

I've found the perfect song to scrapbook to - Bon Jovi's (You Want To) Make a Memory. My husband has this aptitude of turning to HDMusic and finding some Bon Jovi special and first it was Jon's duet with Sugarland and now his duet with Leanne Rhimes that he likes, but I like everything about Make a Memory. ok, enough with the side-bar.

A few weeks ago (or possibly a month) I mentioned Ann from The 3 Chickens found me and I'm so glad she did. Her blog is so fun to read and its such a time saver for finding the best freebies & sales. She posted this wonderful template and I just took these fab photos of the girls - so I had to make them work together.

I got to use some of the things I picked from from my April win over at the Digi-Chick. Can you believe I just finally finished my shopping spree? Now I need to go purge my freebies folder cause I'm just getting too much stuff to remember and I'll need the extra memory sooner than later it seems.

My computer is really dragging these days - don't know if I need to increase RAM or video memory or both - as long as I don't need a new computer - DH would probably flip at that thought. I wish one of us was more computer geekish - I don't know how much I trust those guys at Circuit City or Best Buy.

I'm hoping to work on my new kit soon, so no freebies for a little bit yet. If you haven't picked up a July desktop yet, the one from Shabby Princess is too adorable to pass up.



Template 03 by The 3 Chickens
Background Paper, frames & tags by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Graph Paper from Spring Denim by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Bird Element from Tweet Love by Fei-Fei's Stuff
White Lace from White Lace by Gunhild
Orange Lace from Crocheted Lace Collection Two by Shannon Lee Designs
Date Tag from Pinned & Dated by Fei-Fei's Stuff (modified)
Swirls from GXEmbellishments by Abneil Software Ltd (Andrew Buckle)
Glitter Swirls from Swirl Therapy by Jofia Designs
Flowers from Kayleigh's Kleidescope by Flergs (recolored)
Glitter Style from Glitter Freebie 1 by Flergs
Stitched sequins from Sequins by Sarah J Designs
Brush from Point to Grain by Sheishido
Actions - Distressed Edge by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Century Schoolbook, Century Gothic

Out in the Rain - redo

If you're a regular reader, first you're probably asking "what the heck happened to her?" and second "didn't I just see those pictures?". As to what happened to me - I think the answer is three year old twins - they are just awake longer than ever and just need me, and then my obligations to my twins club are big this time of year. For the rest of the month I'll be busy putting together my first issue of the twins club newsletter. It fun to do some newsletter design, but its hard because the info from all the club members just trickles in - so nothing is "done" until I send it out. We don't have a historian this year so I'm scrapping for the club too. At least with that I'm doing double duty - once I get the page scrapped I'm just going to include it in the newsletter.

And yes, you did just see these pictures, and as much I like the original LO, I decided I wanted to include the 2nd picture and so I went back and rescrapped. Since the background paper is lighter I added a border of glitter to the acrylic letters so they would stand off the page a little more.



Page Idea from Silly Girl by Tracey at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Papers from Bohemian Summer by Michelle Coleman
Rain from Diamond Rain by Jofia Devoe
Alpha from Acrylic Alpha by Vicki Parker (A Work in Progress)
Glitter from Glitter Freebie by Flergs
Actions - pinking shears & scalloped dot by Atomic Cupcake
Font Problem Secretary, CK Ali's Writing

Happy Birthday Sweet Girls

Seems like its been forever since I've scrapped. It's been a busy past two weeks between the girls birthday followed by a trip back to Missouri to visit all our family. Good news is that I my scrapping juices came back quickly - the first 5 minutes or so I got a little scared because I was actually having to think about PSE commands.

I finally made my own scalloped mats - I just made a circle brush and drew the outside and then filled it with a rectangle - a littler easier than I thought it might be. Then I made the template, so it was easy then to find some papers that coordinated with the picture and then just clip away. I fiddled around some with the elements - didn't have anything that just "went" so I had to do some creating and modifying there. The paper kit I used was a Christmas one and I made the black papers using an overlay and brush. Right after I finished the template I thought, I'll be able to do this with just a few things, but now that I've finished the credits I realize that it didn't end up very simple.

I have two bits of "news" that I need to share. Originally this blog was just for me, but I have a few loyal readers now and hopefully they will be excited for me too.

I try to participate in at least one challenge each week at the digichick. In April, anytime you completed a challenge your name was entered in a drawing where the prize was a $10 gift card from 19 digichick designers - and I won!!! I found right before we left on vacation so hopefully tonight I'll be able to go shopping and get lots of fantastic stuff. So head over to the digichick challenges - they really do provide lots of inspiration. My favorites are the color challenge and scraplift challenge.

The other tidbit is that I'm going to be part of a design team at Benevolent Boutique designing kits for charity. The first kits are scheduled to be released in June, benefitting the Make a Wish Foundation. There are going to be two kits - one each for boys & girls, with toddlers in mind since June is National Potty Training Awareness Month (who knew?).



Page Idea from You are so Handsome by ZaCola3 at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Kit - Silly Seasons by Zoe Pearn
Sequins from Sugar in Heaven by Jeann Gaidecki
Brush from Paper Damage by Adobe
Overlay from Grungy Overlay by Misschifis Scraps
Glitter Styles from Chocolate Berry by Flergs
Stitching by Circle Stitching by Natali
Button ties from Lots of Button Ties by Designs by Shannon
Buttons - scanned in & edited by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Actions - Pristine Chipboard by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Tangerine, Pea Kate

Our Little Tomboys

I really took some shortcuts with this LO. During one of my earlier visits to Sweet Shoppe Designs Gallery for inspiration I noticed a LO and added it to my favorites for a future "lift". To my great surprise, the LO was chosen to the the cookie (template) of the week, which made it even easier to lift. It's almost an exact duplicate of the original because I already had the same kit that Kay Miller used in the original LO. So no originality here on my part - just knocking out another LO using one of my favorite pictures. I think its the outfit in the picture as much as anything - I loved those brown cords and that jean jacket, and they still love to wear Daddy's ball caps.

I did want to share a little tip I use for naming files. I start each file with the year the picture was taken followed by the month then a title. So this one is filed as "2006 10 Our Little Tomboys" In this way all the files are orderly and I can use the files to quickly organize a book since they are already in chronological order.



Template by Aggie Adviso for Cookie Decorating 101 at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Kit Haute Spring by Zoe Pearn
Demin from Spring in Denim by Dnadryad
Glitter by Flergs
Actions - inked edge by Atomic Cupcake
Font - Mom's Typewriter

Dripping with Goodness

I finally made a LO using a bracket thingy - they are everywhere in the galleries and so I had to use a template to get inspired, but I did it!

I also don't think I've ever done a LO just using two colors - it almost seems Valentine's Dayish, but I wanted to use some of my next kit I'm working on to make sure it would work for LOs. I always start these things with one idea and then they just seem to morph into something a little different. This was a good test, even though its a simple LO, I'm going to go back and add a few things to the kit.








Template - Template Challenge #10 by Chrissy W
Kit - Little Athlete by Scraps from Sarah Belle (available soon here!)
Actions - Chalk by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Aubrey, CK Ali's Writing, IKHIOOGLA3

I did another little test with the kit - I made some desktop calendars. I had hoped to get these done before May 1st, but my kids had other plans. There is so much more than is showcased in these two desktops - but still a little more to complete before I roll it out.


You can pick up the desktops HERE

Packing up the Pappis

WOW - is that red or what? When I first got supplies (paper ones back then) to start the girls baby books I only bought pink & green papers, now their books are full of color.

A few firsts for me on this LO - I've never used a B&W photo. Others do it all the time and it looks awesome, but when I try I just feel like the photo gets lost. This time it was the perfect solution since the photo wasn't that great and the focus needed to be on the pacifiers anyway. Doing the spot color was pretty easy - I just created a copy of the photo, changed it to B&W, and then erased the B&W photo so the pacifiers could show through in color.

Picking a font for this LO was hard for me - it had to be something that could withstand the bold red background, but not bring the focus away from the picture. I ended up using impact and then playing with the size after simplifying the layer. Then I ran the sponged canvas action on it and then embossed it to make it more 3D.

Made more custom shadows using the liquify tool, I'm getting pretty speedy with those and I just really like the unique results. I struggled trying to decide whether I needed to add a fastner of some sort to hold down the notepaper or picture, and tried a few things that didn't feel right, so in the end I left them off.



Notepaper from breathe easy freebie by KSharonK Designs
Grunge Overlay from Grungy Overlays by Misschifis Scraps
action - sponged canvas by Atomic Cupcake
fonts - cac futura casual, impact

And now for what I'm sure some folks have been waiting for - the next part of From a Little Baby. My computer time has been limited this week as we moved the twins into big beds, and I have to guard against them escaping before they fall asleep. Thanks for the comments - I hope you like this next part. About 100 more folks downloaded part 1 than part 2, so they either didn't like the kit or they missed the 2nd part - it's still available in the previous blog entry.


Pick up Part 3 HERE

Friend for Life

This LO consists of 5 components - background, frame, picture, quote & date. I tried to make it snazzier (is that a word), but ended up deleting anything I added, so I decided just to leave it simple.

I did edit the photo with a filter plug-in for PSE from Optikverve Labs, its really neat (and free!) and you can get it HERE



Papers from Organic by Kay Miller
action - inked edge by Atomic Cupcake
font - CAC futura casual


Now for Part 2 of From a Little Baby. I have a few ideas for some things, so an add-on will definitely come as well. I really appreciate those that cared enough to leave a comment - those are truly inspiring, and make it feel as if the effort is worth while to someone.


Pick up Part 2 HERE

Like a Little Chick

My first LO without a picture. Seems a little strange, but I didn't have a good picture to go with the LO, and I couldn't come up with a way quickly to add one, so I just did without - besides, their MDO teacher, Ms. Debbie does these great sketches. I have another spring one with their fingerprints I need to scrap yet too.

Funny, I bought these Straight Set ribbons a while ago and wondered if I'd ever use them and now I can't stop using them.

The color challenge over at the digichick this week was orange, which inspired me to get this LO done - their challenges have been great for getting my most current LOs completed.








Folded Paper Brush from Paper Damage by Adobe
Ribbons from Straight Set by Natalie Braxton
Stitching by Manu
Grid Overlay from Basics Overlay by Pton Designs
Knot by Knotted Stitches by Katie Hadfield
Alpha by Dirty Feet Designs
Heart Brush from Endlessly by Seishido
Actions - inked edge by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - 2peas chatterbox, stamp act, kid print
chick sketch & saying by Ms. Debbie @ MDO

Now for another little freebie. Last week I revisited one of my older LOs that I had done in Powerpoint and wanted to do in PSE. Decided to make a small kit which I have broken into 4 pieces and one template. By the time I give it all away I'm sure I'll have an add-on too. Here's a preview of what I have so far - 14 papers, and elements in all the colors, the labels go all the way to 10 years. You can click on the image to see a larger version, some of the items I had to make smaller to fit in the preview.

Pick up Part I of From a Little Baby HERE

Stayin' Cool at the Pool

This LO was inspired by the weekly scraplift challenge at The Digi-chick. Somehow have a deadline makes me more creative.

Challenges are aptly named it seems, in addition to getting me to create another LO, they also challenge me to learn new things - this week I was able to use the Distort-> Polar Coordinates to turn straight ric-rac into circular ric-rac, the trick is to make sure your object is 200% taller as somehow it shrinks when it turns into a circle. I haven't been able to really make it work with text yet. I'm also really pleased with the gel action that makes it look like there is water sploshes on the paper - at least I hope it looks that way to everyone else.








Page idea from I Love U by Jennilyn at The Digi-Chick
Kit Happily Ever After by Mary Fran
Stitching by Natali
Flowers from Funky Flowers by Flergs
Ribbons from Straight Set by Natalie Braxton
Split Splat Brush by Stephanie Shimerdia (obsidian dawn)
Graph Overlay from Basics Overlays by Pton Designs
Grunge Overlay from Grungy Overlays by Misschifis Scraps
Actions - gel by Atomic Cupcake
fonts - CAC Norm Heavy, Retro Rock Poster, CK Ali's Writing

Bubbles

I suddenly seem to have a fascination with using black as the background paper. I guess it really sets off the bright colors in the photos.

I was browing galleries today looking for inspiration as I want to get some LOs done this month - what I really need to do is 3 Easters and 2 Birthdays, but instead I find something that looks neat and I know I have a photo to do something similiar and off I jaunt down a different road.

Today I used a gradient for the first time to create the two colors on the black paper using an overlay. A few custom shadows for the ribbons and then I "cut" the strips for the journaling.



Page idea from Bubbles by jak8396 at yourfavoritepair
Polka Dot Paper from JUMP by Digitreats
Overly from Dirty Overlay by Sugarplum Paperie
Ribbons from Set Straight by Natalie Braxton
Circle Stitching by Natali
Straight & Zizzag Stitches from Basic Stitches by Britt-ish Designs
Date from Date Bits 2 by Misty Cato
Actions - inked edge, pristine chipboard by Atomic Cupcake
font - the blue cabin

I couldn't help myself and made just a few more things for the Spring Denim kit, so here's a few more papers, flowers and cardboard borders to add to the collection. You can click on the image for a larger view.



I've disabled comments in 4shared. If you've really liked the kit and use it somewhere I'd really appreciate a comment back here someday and a link to your LO so I can leave some luv and see my kit used in another way.
You can pickup the Add-On HERE

And to Pam F who asked for suggestions on how to get started designing.
I use PSE5 so I think anything is possible - I won't ever be able to do what those with a doodle pad and PSCS3 are able to create, but I'm constantly amazed at what PSE5 is capable of doing. For me, purchasing actions from Atomic Cupcake has enabled me to create things that would take me an eternity (or longer) to figure out and those little touches add so much to elements. After that, it's just about slowly accumulating commercial use resources to modify and find things that inspire you. I am not planning on ever selling my creations - I don't want a job, I just want to enjoy my hobby and be able to make things for others to enjoy as well.

Texas Wildflowers

This LO was inspired partially by my desire to create a kit called Denim Spring and the design was inspired by the pictures chosen for the LO - hence a circle since the whole thing just kept feeding itself. I'm really happy with some of the papers & elements - still trying to work on the right ratio of items when creating a kit. I love how the floral sheet turned out and I figured out how to make ric rac - at least for today using Distort->Wave, we'll see if I can remember the next time I want to do it.








Glitter Frame from Paper Bag Frames by Lindsey Jane Designs
fonts - Jane Austen, Death, 2Peas Hot Chocolate
Papers, Elements, Word Art from Spring Denim by Scraps from Sarah Belle

this kit was made possible by the fabulous
designer resources of the following people.
Andrew Buckle
Atomic Cupcake
Misty Cato
Pton Designs
Robyn Gough
Seishido Brushes


And it's a great day, because I'm giving it all away - a kit and a template! Happy Friday! (I'd love it if someone could tell me why all this white space shows up when I use a table to put photos side-by-side.)








Download the template HERE
Download Papers 1 HERE
Download Papers 2 HERE
Download Elements 1 HERE
Download Elements 2 HERE

I'm not a huge fan of 4shared, but until I have time to figure something else out, it's my choice. The files are big, but I didn't have the patience to break them down further.

You Sparkle

55 Layers - FIFTY-FIVE layers - that's too many layers right? This page was inspired by the scraplift challenge over at The Digi-Chick - and it has SO many layers. It's always amazing to me to see these LOs that look so casually tossed together with all these elements and then I try to scraplift it and it's this HUGE task. Just the little details, like putting a french knot on the gem flowers - 3 more layers. Custom shadows, just so the picture & the scalloped accent aren't perfectly flat - 2 more layers. Soft Light blending mode for the photos to make them pop - yet more layers. End result - worth it.

So I didn't try a lot of new stuff with this LO - I did practice using the eraser, and having it limit what is erased by selecting the borders of one shape and then deleting something on another layer (used for the YOU in the title) - I was trying to layer stuff back in December and knew there had to be a way to restrict what you deleted, and then saw a tutorial that did something similar, and today I fiddles around long enough to figure it out - and of course - easy once you know what you're doing. Very clever - you just have to watch how your shadows come out - I ended up having to simplify some layers so I could delete shadows that were in the wrong spot because I couldn't really "weave" the letters like they needed to be in the layers.








Page Idea from That Face is Too Cute by cindys732003 at The Digi-Chick
Kit - Dreams Do Come True by Britt-ish Designs
Flower Gems from Sunshine Sweets by Britt-ish Designs
Straight Stitching from Basic Stitches by Britt-ish Designs
Cardboard from douceurenivrante by Petit Moineaux
Flower shape from Sunshine Sweets by Amanda Kay
Paper Texture by Heather Bostian
Circle Stitching by Natali
Sequin Knots by Scrapgirly
Tied String from Knotted Stitches by Katie Hadfield
Glitter Sparkles from Funky Stars by Flerg's
Layer Styles - Glitter by Flerg's
Layer Styles - Brown Bagging It by Misty Cato
Actions - med bottom tear, frosted glass, gemstone by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - pea reese, 2 peas tattered lace

Now this doesn't haven't anything to do with my current LO, but I realized that my Bouncing Baby (I'm an engineer so names don't come easy - this was named after the bouncy seat that was in the picture) was slightly "girly", so I wanted all my twin mommy friends with Boy/Girl twins and everyone else that has one or more of each to be able to create complementary pages in their books.


Pick up the Add-On HERE

Please be kind and leave some love or constructive criticism. Enjoy!