My Digital Art Studio | Mari Koegelenberg Creations

Inspiration Tuesday: White is the New Black

JudieB — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:00:18 +0000

Hello everyone! I’m back with another Pinterest-inspired post for you. Everyone is familiar with the concept of white space – leaving portions of your page blank. Those portions don’t need to be “white,” just empty. I want to talk today about using a white background for your page. Colors really pop on white backgrounds, and shadowing becomes more dramatic. Take a look at this photo I found during one of my recent Pinterest-browsing sessions:

Notice how the colors seem more vibrant on the white background? And the shadows make it look like you could reach out and pick the flowers right off the page. Here is a page that I made with a lightly patterned white background:

I love how the bright colored papers and elements look on a clean(ish) white background! I used a combination of Mari’s Friends Forever kit and her Collecting Memories collab with Kristin to create my page. If you want a purer white background, try filling the background layer with white instead of using a digital paper. I hope something about the Pinterest photo inspires you to create something beautiful!

I’ll see you soon with some more creative inspiration!

Judie (HeyJude)

Brand New Stitched Goodies!

AmberM — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:43:14 +0000

Good morning! It’s Amber, here again! I’m so pleased to share Mari’s new releases this week because they are just gorgeous and so cool because you can use them on any layout, with any kit! You’re going to fall in love. check them out!

All Stitched Up

All Stitched Up is a fun and versatile alphabet that comes in 3 colors of gold, sliver and cork with a selection of straight stitching and also included is a set of cute arrows, also in the same colors. This is the perfect alpha to spice up any page!

Stitches and Sequins Vol. 1 – 3

Aren’t they just fabulous! Stitches and Sequins are available in both light and dark wood veneer as well as goldfoil. Vol 1 includes straightish, white stitching, Vol 2 includes doodled fashion white stitches and Vol 3 includes circled white, stitching. All three have stitching in regular and zig zag styles. They make a super cute, and fun addition to any layout and I have a feeling you’ll be reaching for these beauties a lot!

Creative Team Inspiration

Aren’t these so gorgeous! Mari’s CT is so talented!

Well, that’s it from me this week. I hope you have an awesome weekend and happy scrapping!!

XOXO Amber

Creating a Rub-on from Stamps

ZoraP — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:00:22 +0000

Hello! Zora here again! Today I would like to show you one of my recent favourite tricks! Nowadays, many kits include various stamps or rub-ons and it is very cool to turn them into paper cut-out strips! I did it for the first time in this layout, which was created mostly using The Little Things : Sweet by Mari Koegelenberg and Sugarplum Paperie. Look at the chevron element on the right – that it is! Nice, isn’t it?

Next time I did this trick on page using Daydreamer by Mari Koegelenberg showing my baby just few weeks old. He had black hair then and was doing crazy faces

I dragged the pinwheel rub-on into my layout and placed it where I wanted.

Then I duplicated the layer using CTRL + J. Now that I have two identical rub-on layers, I will be working with the lower layer only (the upper layer remains untouched, I rather make it invisible for a moment). As a first step, we need to add a stroke effect to the rub-on.

Select the rub-on layer
Double click on the layer selected on the right hand side (note: don’t double click on the name itself or it will just change the name of layer)
This should open a dialogue box and one of the options on the left will say stroke.
Click on stroke and tick the option box.
Choose your color and options. The color does not matter in this stage. When it comes to stroke options, be careful to chose value Outside. Thickness of 10 to 35 is usually fine, I try not to have any holes in the object.

Now it’s the time to rasterize this layer. It is necessary to do it in two steps:

Right-click on the stroked layer, choose Convert to Smart Object
Right-click again and choose Rasterize Layer
Nothing will change visually… but hold on, the fun is to come!

Now it’s the time to clip any paper according into the object! I recommend using cardboard / cardstock paper or some other solid paper for the best effect. As you can see, first I tried using white paper, however, for the final layout I changed preferences to cardboard paper. Also don’t forget to add a shadow style you usually add to your other paper elements.

The last step is to make the duplicate of the original rub-on visible. Voila!

And we can start another embellishing after we got this layout!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! See you in July!

Zora

Inspiration Tuesday

CarolineS — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 22:45:56 +0000

Hi there! This time I – Caroline – have the huge honor to choose 3 gorgeous customer layouts out of Mari’s SSD Gallery.

I really loved browsing through all the wonderful layouts. It was a great inspiration for me too! And I can tell you… it was really really tough to choose only 3!

But I had to narrow it down and here are my 3 picks today:

You Make Me Smile by GlitterQueen

This captured my eye because of the wonderful light and dark divided background and the amazing paper flowers spread over the page. The sepia-toned photo fits perfectly and is so beautifully framed with the paper layers beneath it.

live-in-the-moment3 by sugirox

On this page I admire the white – ahem black *gg* – space. The cluster on the bottom is genius and I love the white typewriter-journaling too.

Meagan by chastml

I’m in love with all those chevrons! You’d think they would overstuff the page and keep the focus from the photo but it’s the opposite. I love how they show so many amazing papers of the kit and they just point us to the adorable photo beneath. I also really like the journaling.

Congratulations girls – you 3 won a coupon by Mari. Please keep a look at your SSD inboxes as the coupon will be sent to you in the next days.

At this point I wanted to thank all of you who post their wonderful layouts into Mari’s SSD Gallery. Please keep on doing so and maybe next time you’ll be choosen!

Product Spotlight :: Barefootin’

CarolineS — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 16:22:39 +0000

Hi!

It’s Caroline here and I am so happy to show you the new featured kit of this month…

As you can already see in the header it is “Barefootin‘” – the gorgeous scoop from Mari and Traci. And the best of it? It is in the Bargain Bites and therefore 40 % off! But for a limited time only! So be sure to grab it while it is still on sale!

This is the gorgeous thing:

The CT created some super creative inspirational pages…

Have a great day and much fun shopping!

Caroline

Storytelling Tuesday with Collecting Memories

ZoraP — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:00:09 +0000

Hello! Zora here to have a little talk with you! I can’t believe how the time flies! My baby boy will be 1 year in 3 weeks! When he was born last year, it was very hot summer with tropical heats of temperatures reaching to 100 ºF (40 ºC). After we had been released from the hospital, we just stayed at home for almost two weeks as it was, literally, real hell outside and I was afraid that my little newborn would have gotten overheat. Then, suddenly the temperatures dropped down – maybe more than we wished for – so we finally went to a nearby park as a family for the first time! For scrapping all the photos I used only one kit – Collecting Memories.

It is one of my very favorite kits, very versatile and full of beautiful papers and elements.

I am an addict for flowery patterned papers and this one was a must-have! Its greens and blues match the photo (you see it was quite cold I had to wear a jacket). A little flowery cluster with realistic elements makes a perfect addition.

I chose blue background for the matching right page. I also added some brushes using the colors from the background on the left to get a perfect harmony look. When you look at the bottom photo, you can recognize a band playing. Yes, the mayor of our district organized many cultural events last summer, one of them involved a Musical Sunday – a band playing old tunes in the city park. Especially seniors enjoyed it sitting on the benches near the fountain.

This is how the double-page spread looks together.

For photos of my husband I chose a grayish-blue paper to get more masculine look. I used the same dark blue flowers as on the previous spread. I also added a bit of lace for an overall soft impression as it is still about a newborn baby!

However, the right pages got a green background to match the grass and trees. Blue elements and splatters correspond with the left page.

You see the both pages are in harmony, even though each has a different dominant color.

Now my baby is 11 months old, no longer fits into the pram, however, during winter we switched to baby carrier and I love it much more. I can still hug him, look into his eyes and he feels my heartbeat. When he is hungry, he can latch anytime and when he is tired, he can lean on my chest and sleep. Now I can understand all the moms who are saying: “Just stay little!” as I will be longing for the days when he loved to be carried – so I can enjoy it now as much as possible!

Have a great day!

Zora

Friends Forever ~ New Release with a Twist!

AmberM — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 11:00:11 +0000

Hi there! It’s Amber, and I am here again to tell you all about Mari’s brand new release this week! You’re going to just love it, I know! This week at the Sweet Shoppe they have brought back their popular “Twist a Kit” promotion from a couple of years ago. This means that the designers have taken an older kit and put a brand new spin on it and made it a whole NEW kit! Pretty cool, huh? Mari chose her gorgeous Thrifty Finds kit to twist and it turned out way awesome! Check it out… Here is the brand new kit:

Friends Forever

And of course here is the inspiration, Thrifty Finds

And you won’t believe the gorgeous layouts Mari’s creative team have made with this beautiful kit!

Creative Team Inspiration

Don’t you just love them all! I sure do!

In Other News

One more thing I want to share with you is that Mari is a contributor to the June Scrap Pack at Scrap Stacks this month and she has created the most gorgeous kit! You can get her kit along with 3 other amazing products for only $5.00! And let me just tell you, I am on the Scrap Stacks CT and I have already had the extreme pleasure of working with the June Scrap pack and this is most definitely one you will want to add to your stash. Just sayin’ … You can purchase the June Scrap Pack HERE (http://scrapstacks.com/scrappack/)

and if that did not convince you…here is a little sneak peek!

Well, I guess that’s it from me this week! Have a wonderful weekend and if you are in the areas experiencing severe weather please stay safe! I’m under the gun for storms myself tonight and tomorrow and I’ll be trying to do the same! xoxo Amber

home is where the heart is

AmberM — Sat, 25 May 2013 06:16:38 +0000

Hello there! It’s Amber here and I am really excited to tell you about a gorgeous new kit Mari has created. It is part of May’s The Fix at DSA (Digiscrap Addicts) and you can pick it up along with 3 more wonderful products from three other designers for only $3.00!

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Isn’t it just beautiful?!! With lovely elements and a wonderful palette with shades of blue, yellow, orange, pink and green, it is perfect for all of your layouts from the most special occasions to those every day moments you treasure! I promise, you will be reaching for this kit time and time again!

Creative Team Inspiration

I really hope you love this kit as much as I do! Have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

xoxo Amber

Inspiration Tuesday: Today I Will Be Awesome

JudieB — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Hey everyone and welcome to “Pin-spiration” Tuesday! OK, show of hands – how many of you have logged onto Pinterest for a few minutes and ended up spending hours lost in all the inspirational goodness? (Yes, my hand is waiving wildly in the air right now.) I love browsing through Pinterest, but I can never seem to limit it to just a few minutes. Maybe I need one of those child blocking timers (like they have built into the Kindle Fire) that will automatically log me off after a set amount of time. I don’t think it would last long, though. I’d just figure out a way to disarm it.

So I’m here today to enable (ahem, I mean Inspire) you with some Pinterest goodness. I love it when I find a good quote while browsing, and I’ve got a great one for you this week:

I love this project! Its simple, clean design really gets right to the point doesn’t it? And who doesn’t need some pick me up inspiration every once and while? I used the inspiration to make a digital art page:

Notice how I changed it up a bit to make it fit my personality? Another thing I love about inspirational pieces is that you can take them in whatever direction you want, and not feel like you need to follow the design (or quote) exactly. I used Mari’s “fabulous” You Make Me Smile scoop with Sugarplum Paperie, and the weathered wood alpha from All the Pretty Horses, to create my page.

So what comes to your mind when you look at this project? I hope that you are inspired to create something truly fabulous and meaningful to you!

See you soon with some more creative inspiration -

Judie (HeyJude)

Want even more inspiration? Be sure to follow us on Pinterest!

TAP

Storytelling Thursday – Make the most out of Spring

CarolineS — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

Do you also have such wonderful spring-weather outside? Well.. here it is almost like summer already but technically it’s still spring *lol*

It’s getting warmer, days are getting longer and everything is green and blooming outside.

What better time to be outside and enjoy it, right?

For me it is always great to do and to try new things and to have a little diversity on my walks and outdoor-activities. So here are a few ideas for you to try…

First is what we scrappers and photographers think of first.

Capture your Spring Memories

Take your camera and go!

It’s as simple as that. Take your usual path or try something new – and look around you. I’m sure you’ll find wonderful new motives for your photos that you can use for scrapping later.

Picnic Time

When you have more time off with your family, go for a picnic!

Grab a basket, a blanket, your favorite foods that can be eaten cold too and enjoy an afternoon outside. Of course this is also a great opportunity to bring your camera J

Have a Sundowner

A big plus of spring is also that the evenings are getting warmer. I personally love to sit in front of a little café in the city with my friends, chatter on and on and drink a cocktail or anything else.

Read a Book

Do you love to read? Grab your book or e-reader and find a nice, quiet bench somewhere in the sun. It will make you feel good and you can gain lots of vitamine D while reading your book

Be Active

Outdoor-sports are also the most fun in spring I think. In winter the weather often gets in the way and in summer it just can be too hot. I personally love to go skating, walking or climbing. But there are so many other things too – you’ll for sure find the right outdoor sport for you!

Be Creative

Last but not least… In spring I love to go outside with a little notebook in my hands. Write everything down that comes into your mind. Or draw something – maybe you’ll see a wonderful flower somewhere. The possibilities here are endless and you can use your notes later on for inspiration for your layouts.

I hope that you all are ready to go on outside now and enjoy the sun!