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.

Hands Down

whoo-hoo - I got a LO completed during 1 nap!!!! I don't think I've ever done that. This LO really isn't that complicated, but I think I have more people to credit than I have items on the page :-).

This page will always be special as these are my girls little handprints at 31 months. I love it when they do this type of project at Mother's Day Out. I certainly haven't figured out how they do it and not get prints smeared everywhere - years of experience I guess.









Black paper from Vintage Oreo by Summertime Designs
Shape Template from Decorative Templates 04 by Keley Lopes
Sequins from Kimmy by Raspberry Road Designs
Staples from Dreams Do Come True by Brit-ish Designs
Paper Overlay Notebook from Basics-Overlays by Pton Designs
Paper Texture from Commercial Use Grunge by Pineapple Plantation Designs
Layer Style from Brown Bagging It by Misty Cato
Scotch Tape by Mellykat
Font - Pea Sarahloo, Pea Reese

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!

Beautiful

Plunking a photo down in the middle of the page still seems a little odd to me, but it works for this LO. Once again, I tried at least 20 different things for this one. I loved this picture when I took it - the girls were outside running around and the evening colors with their dresses just seemed to pop.

I'm learning how to use more of the built in stuff in PSE - that and with Atomic Cupcake's actions are making me attempt a bunch of different stuff before I'm satisfied. On this one I used stroke (for the letters), dodge (to make the corner fold) & soft light blending mode on the photo. I have loved the Emma kit since I found it back in Nov, but mostly I just used little embellishments I've collected along the way. I guess eventually I'll have to get the scanner going to make some of my own.








Page Idea from Do You Love Me by Kate Nakajima at the digichick
Striped Paper from Emma by Amy W
Photo Frame by Manu
Swirls by Fryske
Stitches by Jasmin-Olya
Staple from Serenity by KSharonK
Date Brushes by Misty Cato Designs
Actions - inked edge & velvet by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Highland Perk, 2 Peas Evergreen