Dance Scrapbooking – Back to the glue and paint

As I said in my last post Thursday was the first day of class for the latest May Flaum class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Its all about using the products you have on hand – not a problem I have a room full to play with! The first exercise was to start with some neutral cardstock and lots of pictures allowing the pictures to do most of the work. Well I have plenty of dance pictures in the pile to do so picked out a set of these to play with  – managed to get 7 pictures on the layout in a way I was happy with them.
May is encouraging us to look at our supplies and see what we have a mountain of and to work on using them up. Now I have many mountains but chipboard letters and shapes are something I always seem to be buying with out regard to the ones I already have at home. So chipboard letters were singled out for this layout. She also wants to use products we may have purchased and not used a lot, if at all. That’s my collection of stickles – my friend Vicki is the queen of stickles but I always forget I have them and can’t be bothered waiting for them to dry. Chipboard letters + glimmer mist + paint + stickles give me the letters for my main title “dancer” – now not totally happy with it but 5 chipboard letters down and a decision made to give the stickles to my DD and the layout is complete in less than an hour.Not to mention the 6 other chipboard letters which I’ve had for over 5 years I’m sure.

Now I just have to be patient for those stickles to dry before I can move on to the next layout.

Also read some great news this morning on the Big Picture Scrapbooking website – Nic Howard has a new class coming up and it starts on my Birthday. Its all about color and using color in your layouts. I don’t really care what its about. Its Nic Howard and in the last two classes I’ve done with her I have learned so much that I’d sign-up regardless. It’s called Colour! Or is it Color? – well I’m certainly confused about that having learned to spell it colour as I grew up but now moved to color since moving to Texas. Anyways check out the course outline here – Colour! Or is it Color? If you decide to do it PaperClipping has a 10% discount

Technorati Tags: dance,scrapbooking,big picture scrapbooking,Nic Howard,paperclipping

here . If you haven’t listened to the PaperClipping podcasts I highly recommend doing that. They have two -  one which is more the traditional scrapbooking and the other is which is about digital scrapbooking. I find they are great things to listened to when I’m doing housework.

The Search is Over

Since I started playing with digital scrapbooking my issue has been printing the layouts at a cost which doesn’t kill me. Thanks to Alie Edwards I have found my solution. Recently I have been printing my layouts at CostCo but the machine automatically cuts the pages and I was loosing parts of the layout which were close to the edge.  This was so annoying to me. I like the distressed ink look around the edge but they would trim one edge of the four so the border no longer looked even. It could be several mm’s which really makes your layout off balance if you look at it in detail.

Fast forward to Wednesday and  Ali’s blog post. She is celebrating the re-launch of her blog and website by hosting a giveaway. One the prizes was from Persnickety Prints. This is what it said

per·snick·e·ty: Adjective a : fussy about small details b : requiring great precision

PersnicketyPrints.com is the leader in digital scrapbook printing. Their certified professional lab techs and quality control team set them apart from the rest. The best part about PP? Customer Service. They understand the time that is put into creating your layouts, and they will print your images the way you intended them to be. Check out their bleed comparison here.

• 12×12 full bleed prints on archival fuji photo paper is always $1.99.
• 8×8′s are 99¢.
• Flat rate shipping for US + Canada is $5. International $10.
• 100% Guaranteed

I was like I wonder if this is true. I checked out the website and the facebook page and it looked like a lot of happy people so with the added bonus of a 10% coupon on Ali’s blog I thought I’d try it to see if it as true. At lunchtime on Wednesday I loaded seven layouts and paid a total of $17.54 including shipping. This would of cost me $21.98 at CostCo so I was even saving money. (Even without the discount each layout would work out less than CostCo by a quarter. My savings would be even more if I send a batch of layouts as the shipping is flat rate). I couldn’t wait to get them in my hands and see if it was true.

Fast forward again to today. They arrived in the mail at 4pm this afternoon – so 2 days later from Utah. Great fast turn round. And its TRUE they don’t cut off the edges of my pages. Even the test one which I had printed at CostCo twice trying to get it done right came back perfect. It was important what Anthony thought about them – when you have serious amateur photographer as a husband any prints are also required to be given his seal of approval. And YES again Persnickety Prints passed the test for the quality of the paper and the reproduction of the colors. These guys are good! So if you do any digital scrapbooking I highly recommend you try them out while Ali Edwards has her coupon code (valid until 12th September) you won’t be disappointed. I know they will be getting my business from now on. They win on:-

1. price
2. no cutting off the edges of layouts
3. speed of turn round
4. price again – yes scrapbooking is an expensive hobby if your not careful - so this is important to me.
5. customer service – did I mention this before. I don’t think I have. Since Wednesday they have responded to my posts on their facebook page and emails I have sent to them in no time. Gold star rating for that. I always appreciate businesses responding to me in a timely manner.
   

So just to make sure you get it – GO and Visit Persnickety Prints if your persnickety about the printing of your layouts. You won’t regret this decision.

Off to work on some paper layouts for the new May Flaum Class I’m doing at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It will be fun to make a mess again.

Changing Digital Papers Color

Sometimes when scrapbooking you don’t have the correct colored paper. Now the beauty of digital scrapbooking is that it doesn’t matter you just change the color (can I just say here I don’t think I’m going to give up traditional scrapbooking totally but this digital stuff is getting a little addictive making and I’m loving I can do it anywhere!).

The patterned papers I chose to use are these ;-

I wanted to change the blue to match the blues more in my pictures and didn’t want the green wanted a brown. Doing this is easy in PSE 8.0. Firstly I took the papers and included them in my layout with the pictures. I then used the eyedropper tool and sampled the color of the jacket Philip was wearing. Then I clicked on the layer with the paper I wanted to change and selected Enhance>Adjust Color>Hue Saturation. A pop-up window  appears and the check the colorize box and if by magic the paper changes color. You can change it a little more if you want using the sliders.

Using this method I also changed the color of the hearts from green to the brown – so simple, so cool and fast! Means when you buy a digital element you can use it many times in many colors and thus get lots of uses out of it.
The other special thing I did on this layout was the cut out of Philip. So easy to do with the magic wand tool and so much easier than cutting out with scissors! Can you tell I’m becoming more and more into this digital scrapbooking. That being said I’m starting my next Big Picture Scrapbooking class this next week with May Flaum – “Adventures in Scrapbooking – using your stash” - its about using up your stash. So I think I’ll have my glue and scissors out again although I’m not sure I’ll use much of my stash up as I’ve got so much of it. I really need to get into my scrapbook room to clear-up ready but haven’t made it there yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Supplies used in addition to papers -

plus - Flergs_SBAportauprince_Heart1

Then & Now or should it be Now & Then

May Flaum challenged us to do a layout comparing two different times and  as I was searching through the pictures to find an old picture of Eleanor with her sheep I came across a picture of Anthony and I at his 21st birthday party. Yes we’ve been together that long – well even longer we got together just before his 16th birthday…………and we’re now 42! I suddenly changed track on what my layout was going to be about as I knew I had the picture Eleanor took the night we went out for his 42 birthday that I hadn’t scrapped booked and all sheep were forgotten. When I looked at the picture from September I realized that the new basic grey kit I got yesterday was perfect for the dress I was wearing in 2009 but not in 1988. A scan  later and a conversion to black and white and I could now work with the pictures in one layout!
Here’s the original picture – that dress was so 80’s. And look at the color of hubbies hair.




I also cropped the picture to get rid of some of the background as well. Love being able to scan pictures so easily. I use my HP Deskjet F340 All-in-One. It does a great job and is so easy to use.

Here’s the final layout. The kids love it!

All the supplies are Basic Grey other than the flower (handmade by me), The Thickers letter stickers and the rub-on dates. Layout is based on one by Nic Howard from the dimensional details class I was taking previously! The small picture is mounted on chipboard and for both pictures I sanded the edges to give the white edge to them.

Crazy Dog – Crazy Paper

Some scrapbooking papers are just crazy colors and designs and I don’t know why I ever purchased the Lime Rickey kit from basic grey in the first place. The paper is just not ‘me’ normally but that being said I think I’ve made some of the best layouts I’ve done in a while in the last month or so using this kit. The latest I completed last night and can I just say I’m really happy with the outcome. Its based on sketch #112 from creative scrappers.
 

If you look closely at the layout you can see I did stitches around the “frame”. I did this my sewing machine with no thread in it. Doesn’t show very well in the picture but adds some dimension in real life. The pictures are also mounted on chipboard to raise them off the page and then the edges sanded. The Star and arrow are foam taped also to raise them.

Just got in the mail another kit from basic grey so look out for a change of paper soon – here’s hoping it makes me create layouts of a similar standard (in my opinion and that’s whose opinion matters as my pages are the one thing I’m 100% in control of so if I’m happy all is good!).

Another take on the same sketch

 

To show how versatile sketches are I decided to make another layout on the same sketch I did for the last post. I turned the sketch by 45 degrees so I could include landscape pictures.

 

Added a grunge board swirl which I colored with glimmer mist to give some dimension to the right side of the layout as I didn’t have any journaling I wanted to add. With this sketch you could include a 7 by 5 picture in addition of the large area of patterned paper as well. That would give even more options!

And just for fun another quick digital layout I did for camp scrap yesterday – digital template was provided by Allie Edwards and papers etc came from a freebie at designer digital by Katie Pertiet

Fast and Easy Layout

Yesterday I didn’t get to scrapbook so today I’m trying to catch-up yesterdays layout and do today’s – plus work, keep house and all the other things that go along with having 2 kids home for summer. Add the hubbie coming home to watch Germany via Spain, so I couldn’t scrap like planned this afternoon!

For Camp scrap yesterday May Flaum provided a great sketch from Valerie Salmon, a name I didn’t know but I’ve now added her sketch blog to my Google reader so I won’t miss any of her future sketches that she shares. First I will share my version of the sketch – this time it really is a straight take on the sketch. That’s the great thing about sketches sometimes you can do that just as they are, other times you can change it out to fit your pictures. This time as I was short on time I decided it would work for me just as it was! Taking about changing sketches out I recently bought a book on changing out sketches from Ella publishing. They sell some great e-books which you can download and print at home or read them on your computer. The following article is a great article about the book and using sketches – check it out by clicking here.

Fun layout for Saturday morning…..

Started the morning moving some pictures off my point and shoot and re-cataloging them so they were stored ready to print. I try and do this on a regular basis just incase the card gets corrupt or something. I know so many people who have lost pictures with lost cameras or corrupt card. So if you have done it recently get it done this holiday weekend!

Once I was had finished the family were still sleeping so I decided to play with PSE 8 again and try another layout. I recently had downloaded a free template from www.designerdigitals.com for a template challenge – the template was by Pattie Knox and had space for lots of pictures. Having just sorted my “snaps” I knew I had lots of guinea pig pictures and it would be a fun template to use with these.The kit I used with the template was LivEdesigns_AfternoonStroll-PPack from www.jessicasprague.com.

I don’t very often scrapbook using my pictures who would when they have a semi-professional husband. My pictures can’t compete with his but I’m still really happy with the results. I couldn’t get PSE8 to remove the guinea pig red eye. I’m guessing guinea pig eyes are different and I maybe need a different tool. I now have to create a second page for Galaxy our other guinea pig – I think I’ll try and flip the template so I have mirror image layout to go in the album.

Talking about albums – I gave up on chronological scrapbooking several years ago after reading the Stacey Julian book. Now I have themed albums. So Eleanor has a dance album and Philip a sports album. We have trip albums, everyday Eleanor and everyday Philip albums (these include school layouts) – then my favorite album is our special people album and this is where these layouts will go. Joining the page on Boris the hamster. If your still chronologically scrapbooking I highly recommend moving away from this – the freedom it has given me is great. I can just scrapbook what  I feel like – like this morning. The pictures of Slash just appealed to me at 9am on a Saturday morning. If I was a chronological scrapbook I’d have to wait until I got to that point.

Here are links to the two books by Stacey Julian which got me to change, highly recommend them both although I can’t believe how much copies are going for as they are out of print! If your in Fort Worth and want to read them you can contact me and loan them if your promise to return!

Part 2 – dimensional details

So I’ve decided to work my way through the dimensional details class again myself – why you may ask. Well I really think I need to go through all the material again so I make sure the things I’ve learned to do are now naturally part of my layouts and also to keep me scrapbooking. While I do this I also need to keep-up with the camp scrap challenges and stuff so where I can I will combine the two to create my layouts.

Yesterday at Camp Scrap it was “Artistic Thursday” and the idea to add into a layout was paint splatter. I have to say this was a little out there for me. I like to be in control of what happens on my layout and your not in control of paint splatter (my face and clothes are evidence of that) but part of doing these classes is trying different ideas out so splatter it was! Splatter on a heritage page as well – didn’t take the easy way out and do a page of the kids painting or something like that.

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,heritage,ronnie crowley

The papers are from a set of papers I got from Costco a while back – not sure who made them but I bought them with the view to use them for heritage pages and they put them away and forgot about them. Came across the other day and thought I need to get using them – I mean there is only about 500 pieces of paper to be used. If you look at the cluster there is a tulip swirl – got this from Australia from one of the students, Rae,  in Dimensional Details class who has her own store www.scrapmatrix.com she offered us all a discount so I had to order some things. They arrived yesterday and I just use one of my new things on a layout. They are made of a very light product like chipboard which can be painted or colored in similar ways to chipboard. I used glimmer mist to color it this time and was very happy with the way the color set. Highly recommend these unique items especially for your heritage pages. The shipping wasn’t too bad from Australia and it took a little over a week to arrive which is no longer than some place in the USA.

The other thing I thought I’d share was the page I made at the start of dimensional details 13 weeks ago to show you how two very different pages can be made using the same instructions.

Simple Pleasure and the be-dazzler for scrapbooks.

Until you loose your health I don’t think we total realise what we have. Yesterday for camp scrap we had to create a layout about the everyday and the hear and now. Got me to thinking as I was looking at the pictures that I have printed ready to scrapbook about my Dads hear and now.

On January 7th 2007 my Dad had a major stroke. He had been living alone since my Mum died but was active and involved in the local community. Since the stroke he has been living in a nursing home with 24 hour care. The hear and now for Dad is what you would expect in a nursing home and the limitation there are of that. The home is great and my sisters visit as regularly as they can. Myself being on the other side of the world finds it harder but my in-laws visit about once a week for me. When I do visit I try to take him to the local pub as often as the weather allows as this is one thing I’m 100% sure brings him pleasure. He is now a man of few words but that pint is nectar from heaven as far as he is concerned and if I can bring him joy but taking him for one I will. So the pictures I scrapped are taken on one of those walks to the pub – recording that simple pleasure of a pint of beer, a good newspaper on a summers day in England.

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,i-rock,big picture scrapbooking

All the papers used other than the base page were from my scrap supply! To make the title I cut the word PLEASURE using my gazelle and sponged the edges. I then adhered to the cardstock prior to sewing with my machine several lines of stitches. Then added the word simple in alpha foam stickers on the top. The coppery swirls in the cluster I made myself using my tool I-ROCK

Can I just say I love this new tool – the be-dazzler for scrapbooking. So easy to use and add some dazzle in your layouts. See the movie below for a short intro to the tool. Let me say I will be ordering myself some more bling to use with this tool – I only ordered limited colors. The tool itself costs less than $10 and the cheapest place I found to buy it was www.scrapbooking-warehouse.com but that may not be true still or you maybe able to find it somewhere you can use a coupon!

Happiness is……

So last night when I blogged I said I was off to make another page – well this is it. This page came together in a little over an hour which I was happy with it. Its based on a sketch from Creative Scrappers Blog Sketch #110

I subscribe to this blog in my google reader and love all the sketches they do but this one especially stood out for me. If you don’t use google reader I highly recommended it for keeping up with blogs you like (mine especially!).

Most of the layout is based on the papers from Basic Grey – just the cardstock which is CTMH and the added bling is CTMH as well. The That Thing You do – is a rub-on that I’ve had for an age. Its just went so well with what I was trying to record in this layout that I think it was made for it. So in Cathy Z words – old product alert!! The layout is my record of my baby boy and how he makes me so happy when he gives me those random hugs!

Well its raining again in Texas – strange third day on the run. Warm rain but still rain which makes taking pictures of my layouts harder as I usually do it outside. Hope it dries up soon as I have to drive for an hour.

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,basic grey,creative scrappers

Not my favorite thing to do in the rain. Also like for a few dry days before Hurricane Alex (or what is left of it) comes through!

Another Dimensional Layout or two…..

Been hard at work over the weekend trying to keep up with the pace of class and make my layouts. I have a weeks overlap of the two classes which means two sets of homework. This weekend I finished the last two layouts for the dimensionals class. That isn’t to say they are the last last as a group of us have decided to start at the beginning of the class again from next week and see what new layouts we can come up with. Big Picture Scrapbooking has even created us another gallery in the classroom for post class layouts  - how cool is that! 

The first layout I created is another dance once. I really found these pictures hard to work with as the color of the tutu didn’t work with any blue papers I had or could find so I went for a paper which had more pinks and just a hint of blue in the background.

The flags are all the rage at the moment if you follow online scrapbook sites and magazines and we learned how to make them this week so had to add my own to the layout. I stamped in the dark purple colors on some patterned paper to bring out the color from the background patterned paper. First time I’ve stamped in a while! Each triangle was inked and then stuck in place prior to me sewing three runs of stitches across. Just above the flags is a overlay I printed at home – it ties in the border of the layout which is the outside edge of a paper I used earlier in the class and had kept. Don’t you love the dragon fly – I found him at the scrapbook shop in Waxahachie last week. Going again tomorrow so I may bring another one home. The hearts and chipboard frame I sprayed with glimmer mist and inked. In the end I wasn’t totally happy with it but given the response on the class gallery I think that’s just me!

The second layout I did this weekend for class was the result of an inspirational email that Nic sent out. As soon as I saw the email I knew I had to do this one! Love Love it – if I say so myself. The circle of brads with a string through it – brilliant idea – wish it was mine but no that was on the layout in the email and I just replicated it. Still I love it and will do that again.

 

Don’t you love the look on Philips face – he was making butter from cream – lots of physical effort to do that when you just shake it in a jar!

Well I’m off to keep creating for camp scrap I have another layout I want to get started tonight. I’ll share it when its done!

Camp isn’t only for the kids!

So I started my latest class with Big Picture Scrapbooking today – Camp Scrap – who said camp was only for the kids. This class is with May Flaum – you can check out her blog at http://mayflaum.com/ – her style is very different from Nic Howards layouts and this is the second class I’ve done with her. She has a great outlook on life and scrapbooking and this is what I especially like about her. You will find all about this if you come and join me in the class – its not too late just pop over to big picture scrapbooking website and sign-up its only $29 for a five week class, that’s a lot cheaper than my kids camps for certain and I will have something to keep when I’ve finished.

Today’s challenge at Camp Scrap was to spend sometime scrapbooking – which was easy – and I used the inspirational email which arrived in my inbox this morning as the starter for my page.

Don’t often get to make pages about a dog as we don’t own one but these pictures are of Nana and Grandad's Dog “Ellie” from last summers trip to England. The DOG was made using the CTMH white chipboard letters which I colored and then painted with clear gloss paint prior to finally running through the cuttlebug to emboss with polka dots. Notice the heart – Eleanor made that for me. She has learned to crochet this summer (self taught via utube video’s) – ever since she fractured her ankle at school she’s had to find things to keep her fingers busy and this is what she’s been doing so in the end I told I needed her to make something’s I could add to my scrapbooks and this is the first of her creations for scrapbooking. May had lots of buttons on her page so I decided to follow her lead. I don’t tend to use buttons but have a large stock which I need to work on using up so this was a great opportunity for it. Initially I was concerned about the glue mess I may make doing this but then I remembered I had some glue lines (like glue dots but in a line) – this made it really easy to do. I’ve had those glue lines for ages, they seemed like a good idea when I bought them but I had to search to find them which shows me how often I’ve used them. Need to keep them out as it got me thinking about other things I could do using them. How about lines of glitter? I think it would be easy to do with the glue lines. Off to play!

Oh Ronnie, this is just beautiful. Love everything about it.

Imagine how happy I was to receive this comment on my layout I posted on the big picture scrapbooking class gallery for my latest layout I did this weekend. I love it when the teacher comments. I have to admit it I’m a junkie as far as checking the comments I get from other students but yesterday it made my day to check the gallery to see that Nic had taken the time to comment on my last two layouts. Sometimes scrapbooking can be a lonely hobby as you spend time creating the layout, you share it with your family – who say positive things and then you add it the album and its forgotten until you next open the album. I know I’m preserving the memories for the kids and that’s what important but deep down I admit that I’m competitive and like to know that the girl has done well! So getting a comment from Nic is just what I needed after a long hot hot day here in Texas with the two kids driving me a little crazy. Here’s the layout in question.

The funny thing about the layout is that the red heart wasn’t meant to go where it is but I had a glue whoops which forced my hand. When I placed it there though I realized it was meant to be and just drew the eye to the picture perfectly – so it was meant to be. I love the look of concentration on Eleanor’s face here and thank my lucky stars that I have a husband who takes the time to be at the studio to capture such great memories.

Just had to share this………

I’m really happy with this layout. Yellow isn’t normally a color I would choose to use but these Basic Grey Papers were left over from a kit I got and so I wanted to use them up rather than find them a home. The layout records my love of Tea – as far as I’m concerned the day doesn’t start until I’ve had my cup of tea! The photo has an overlay on top of it which is pre-printed with glitter. Its also mounted on chipboard to give some extra dimension. The flower I made from organdy fabric – cut flowers shapes out and then heated with my embossing gun. The heat makes the fabric crinkle and creates a great texture to the flower. Five of these layered up with a brad through the middle makes a great addition to any page.

Just remember working  out of our comfort zone in colors can some times create great results!

I Love You Grandad

Another layout. Another Day. This time I used the latest sketch in Creating Keepsakes Magazine as my starting point.

I love sketches but have been using them less since I started the lastest class with Big Picture Scrapbooking as I had yet to work out how to apply what I’d learned to the sketches. I also wanted to make a layout with multiple pictures and a two page layout. So last nights challenge was to do just that. The added challenge was it was a male layout which I always find harder. I think it came out well – the embellishment clusters worked. I used a chipboard mini album I’d got on clearance. I colored it with glimmer mist and clear acrylic paint. Then I added some of those many brad etc I have stocked up on but never seem to use.

Handmade Flowers – Mum & Dad

Week 11 of my 13 class. If I didn’t know I was moving straight onto May Flaum’s summer camp class I’d be sad to think it was coming to an end but I know I’ll be busy the whole of July with the scrapbooking camp May is running.

I’ve made flowers and more flowers and even more flowers this week. At one point my hands were a multitude of colors from the glimmer misting and hand work involved. One important thing I’ve learnt is you can work chipboard really well when its wet to form different shapes. It dries really nicely keeping the form you created so instead of a flat flower you have one with some dimension – just spray it with some water or glimmer mist. Another thing I learnt which I’d never though of doing is running my chipboard through my cuttlebug in one of the embossing folders to give some texture. Really great way of adding interest. Why didn’t I think of that before!!

In the end I didn’t use many of my flowers on the layout assignment for the week because you ask? Well as Nic Howard said less is sometimes more and three just seemed enough and I didn’t need any color. The final layout is very similar to the one in the handout. Nic provides very precise instructions but usually mine ends up very different. Yes the papers and things I used are different but the basic design is very similar.
The frame around the picture is made using grunge board again. Its meant to have beautiful mitered corners but that didn’t work out very well for me and there were gaps so I added extra square blocks on top to hide my mistakes! Next time I think I’d paint it cream rather than the blue. I chose blue to pick out the color on the layout but I think in the end the blue of the frame sort of dominates the picture. Once done its done and I’m not changing it!
On this layout I even broke out the old foam stamps with my paint and stamped the swirls – golly haven’t done that in a while! Had to dust off the box and dig out from under the pile of other stuff – think I’ll do it again soon as it does look cool.
I should really be talking about the flowers – the large one is made of parchment paper. I punched five scalloped circles, inked the edges, put a brad through the center and crumbled each circle up individually. You then open the circles out to form the flower. Quick and simple. I’ve done this with patterned paper as well. The two smaller ones are just 3 circles of patterned paper in 3 graduating sizes, Edges inked and a brad through the center. I then wetted the layers prior to crumbling them up to soften the edges and make them easier to form into shapes. 
Check out a previous blog for some links on making flowers or go to utube and search handmade paper flowers and you will have full night of movies to watch!

Sketches on Blog

 

I love reading blog and have many set-up to my google reader so I don’t miss anything they post. There are lots to choose from out there but I love the ones which share sketches to try. Yesterday the Prima Flowers blog posted a sketch for June so I decided to play along.

Now the layout i ended up with  I don’t think I can enter for the competition part as I didn’t use prima products mainly – the ones I had didn’t work with the pictures I chose but I’m still happy with the layout and that is what matters to me with these sketches. I also got some more practice at embellishment clustering from my dimensional details class and used my new Martha punch (got to get my monies worth). It also features my three favorite colors so I was able to upload to the big picture scrapbooking student gallery for Stacey Julian’s competition for doing a layout using your three favorite colors – do you never know I may still win something yet. If you want to try and win for a layout using your three favorite colors here’s the link for that – big picture scrapbooking blog

Digital Layout

I will never totally move to digital layouts (well only if they stop making scrapbook supplies and given the amount of supplies I have stashed it would take a long while for me to run out) but since taking the Cathy Z class Me:The Abridged version I have been dabbling with it and asked for Photoshop Elements for Mothers Day so I could use some functionality I didn’t have in the photoshop version we had. This weekend we finally managed to get round to replacing the disk drive in the computer so we could load the software. (Its rather hard to load software when the disk drive is out of order!). I have lots to learn with digital scrapbooking and especially now I have a new program to play with and I really believe the only way to do this is to work with it and create layouts. So I thought I would do some of the recent everyday pictures I want to record. Digital scrapbooking allows you to change your paper color to match the pictures so the two papers I used in this layout weren’t the color they are now. The cardstock was originally a lighter denim blue or indian cornblue in CTMH colors. Its from http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com and I messed around with the color in the blue range until I was happy with it. I say messed around as yet I’m not totally confident in how to do this and which tool does it the best. The patterned paper is from the chocmint digital kit from Louise Williams at www.digitalscrapshop.com and it was also a free download. There is so much available free on the internet in terms of digital scrapbooking supplies. I finally added the frames which I had purchased from Katie Pertiet at www.designerdigitals.com I love this store and have purchased a lot from there – but wait for a sale as they have them regularly! I was able to use the same frame for the main page and the focal picture. It was also easy to make the color of the title match the frame on the focal picture which helps pull it all together. I finally added a digital brad from the chocmint kit. Once I get it printed at Costco I may actually added a real button or something to turn it into a hybrid layout but we’ll see!
Costco print 12 inch scrapbook pages for just under $3 which when you compare to the cost of paper and embellishment isn’t bad. Its archival quality photo paper which is used. I prefer the glossy finish to the matt but that’s a personal choice.
The other fun thing I was able to do was to have the same picture in the two small picture slots but to show a different part of the original picture.
I should also note that the layout uses one of Cathy Z’s templates which is available for sale on www.designerdigitals.com I love her templates as they are so easy to use. This could be due to the fact that I’ve used them doing her big picture scrapbooking classes but I find that the way she sets them up with the layers really makes the creation of the page so easy.

Embellishment Clusters

So this weeks class is all about clustering embellishments. This is one of the difficult things to do as go one step too far and your embellishments take over the layout rather than enhancing it. I mean scrapbooking is really about the pictures and not all the extra stuff we add.

I find building cluster difficult as I want to be able to place everything so I can move it around until I’m happy with it and then glue it down but this doesn’t always work when your using stickers and things like that. You can if you have the energy use corn starch to get rid of the stick but I just don’t seem to get round to doing that so I try and cut them out of the carrier sheet and use this to work out placement. Once I’ve built my cluster I’ve found when I remove it to glue it down I never get it 100% back to where it was so I’ve been taking a quick picture to use as a reference point.

Rules for building clusters are basically start with the flat items first and then add layers on top of this one by one to give vertical dimension. Remember to think about balance and visual triangles when your doing this. Odd numbers of things always work better.

The layout I created I’m really happy with in the end. I created two overlays in photoshop and printed on overheads (the graphics I used were from Katie Pertiet at DesignerDigitals.com and her graphic flower clusters and DreamsWordArt. Always be careful to print on the roughside of overheads when your doing this. The petal border was a Prima pre-made embellishment that I got on clearance, as were the small cream flowers. I made the purple flower using paper from a dictionary and spraying it with glimmer mist. The centers are from Jolee which I found on clearance also. The other flowers are from my stash. I love those strings of pearls they are a great way to add a swirl out of a cluster of flowers. I added the single cream flower at the top right of the layout to draw the eye through the picture. Papers are Basic Grey on a neutral background cardstock.

One thing I’m finding about this clustering is that its essential to make some of your embellishments and to shop the clearance section as otherwise the cost of each layout is getting very high. Since starting this class the average cost of each of my layouts most have jumped considerably. I’m trying to use my stash but as my style is developing and moving in this direction what I had isn’t working for me. I think I need to have a garage sale to sell some stuff I won’t use so I can replace it with new stuff. Or I need to get a job with a company like the Prima Flower people so I can get an unlimited supply!