DreamScrapper

iNSD Recovery

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:42:00 +0000

Whew! Though there was a lot going on during (inter) National Scrapbooking Day, I spent most of my time at Nitwit Collections buying, downloading, and unzipping all the wonderful products I bought! Since Mary Fran only has one sale per year, iNSD is the best time to stock up on her products (if you can wait for the sale)! In perusing her store prior to the sale, I swear she must have brought some kits out of retirement because I swear I had never seen them before! As I started adding up what everything I had selected would cost, I was forced to throw a few things back, hoping that I can get them on the next go-round!

Here’s what I selected (products are linked):

For each kit, I also purchased the matching solid papers. These should keep me going for awhile!

I also purchased a kit of Mary Fran’s at Scrapbook Graphics where she is currently a guest designer:

For those of you who are into hybrid or even thinking of it, you should check out the Nitwit Blog. On it, various card or other projects created with Nitwit products are highlighted. Mary Fran has created some beautiful cards like this one, using her new A Perfect Pair kit:

Be sure to check out her Nitwit Collections Gallery where you can find really cute things like this shaped card created by Andrea G:

Andrea even offers a tutorial on how to make this card. I’m definitely going to give it a try!

So, what goodies did you find during iNSD? Drop me a comment and let me know!

Summertime Scrapping

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Well, our summer here in Manitoba has certainly been lacklustre to say the least! We had about a week of hot temperatures (25 to 30 degrees Celsius) and since then, daily predicted highs have gotten lower and lower and it has been rainy and overcast. It was so cold last night, that I slept with an extra comforter! However, this is one plus – I have been doing a LOT of scrapping!

In search of new photos to scrap, I found a bunch of photos from our trip to Alberta in 2003. These included a trip to the Calgary zoo where I got shot after shot of exotic animals not common to our own zoo. I went in search of a zoo kit to use with these photos. I had seen several kits being advertised lately, including this one from Nitwit Collections:

I love Mary Fran’s stuff and think this collection is great but it just didn’t seem to suit my zoo pictures . . . it was just TOO cute!

Then I found this one by Phuong Studios . . .

This preview really doesn’t do the kit justice. You need to see the further previews and even the Creative Team layouts to truly appreciate the scope and beauty of this kit.

This kit has THREE alphas, 19 papers and 85 elements! Unbelievable for the price of only $5.50!

Here are the first three layouts I have scrapped with it – I have about nine layouts left to scrap for just the zoo part of our trip!

Click photo for larger size and full details

I am having so much fun with this kit! If that wasn’t enough, I saw that Phuong had advertised her new kit that was coming out and giving it away to three people. I posted in the forum thread and last night, Phuong notified me that I had won! I will also use this kit for my Alberta Trip 2003 album because it will work nicely with our dinosaur photos from Brooks and Drumheller!

Again, the preview does not do justice to this kit! Be sure to click on the preview above to go and view the CT layouts but here is a preview of the papers to whet your appetite!

This kit is similar to the zoo one in that it contains 18 papers as well as plants and various dinosaurs as well as other elements. I am really looking forward to using it!

Well, I guess that’s it for now . . . got to get back to scrapping my trip album!

Shadow Work

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:43:00 +0000

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been participating in the Scrapbooking Boot Camp over at Ginger Scraps. This last week, we had a lesson on shadows. One of the first things you should learn when beginning to scrap digitally is that your layout NEEDS drop shadows to look realistic! It is not hard to learn to apply simple drop shadows so that the papers and elements on your layout look as they should.

You can even purchase pre-made layer styles or actions for shadowing different items on your layouts and I would encourage you to do so. My favorites are by Traci Murphy. You can purchase styles individually or you can buy whole collections. Be sure that you purchase the styles that will work with your particular program because she offers them for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro.

Another way that you can dimension to your layouts is to do even more work with your shadows after applying them! In Photoshop CS4, I can separate my applied shadows from the actual layers they have been applied to and then use the Warp Tool to manipulate the shadows further. By doing this, I can create shadow effects to make elements and photos look like they are lifting off of the page!

Here are two layouts where I have manipulated the shadows in such a way:

Click image for larger view and full credits

For those of you who are using Photoshop Elements, there are two really good shadow tutorials by Megan Turnridge that you can use.

PSE Drop Shadows

Custom Shadows in PSE

Try these tutorials and see what shadow effects you can create in your own layouts!

Scrapping Boot Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:19:00 +0000

I have been participating in the Scrapping Boot Camp hosted by Ginger Scraps. Each Sunday, a new tutorial is posted for us and then we have until the following Saturday to complete our assignment for that week. So far, we have been exposed to tutorials on post processing our photos, clustering, and creating a white space layout. These last two tutorials were my favorites!

Clustering is one of my favorite things to do and the tutorial really helped with regard to placement of my clusters, making the whole layout design much better than it would have been before the tutorial! I find it is so much fun searching through my stash in ACDSee, looking for the right elements to work with for my layout! Here is my layout for clustering:

Click photo for larger size and full credits.

We had to create two layouts for white space layouts, one of our own design and one which we scraplifted from someone else. I actually created the one of my own design first and then scraplifted the other one!

Click photo for larger size and full credits.

I had a lot of fun doing these ones and look forward to the week on shadowing because shadowing is so important to digital layouts.

I hope you enjoy these!

National Scrapbook Day

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:14:00 +0000

So, did you make the rounds of all the stores and forums this weekend? I did well with what I was able to find and purchase but the one regret I had was that I missed the Scrap Girls sale which ended on Thursday at midnight! :( Scrap Girls always has Mischief Week which is their NSD celebration but it always occurs BEFORE NSD! Oh well, I guess I will just have to hang onto my Scrap Girls Kaboodle list until their next sale!

Anyway, these are the items that I snagged (for your convenience, items are linked in case you want some of these items):

Also, Danielle of Something Blue Studios put out a call for people to test a photo action. I was able to test it and not only did I get the action for free but Danielle also gave me a $10 gift certificate to her store! Talk about generous!

Can’t wait to get back to scrapping and use some of these goodies! How about you?

In a Purple Mood

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Do you like quilting or have you ever wanted to quilt? I haven’t quilted but I love the fabrics for quilting and I love exploring quilting magazines. Because of this love, I am drawn to kit designs by Mary Fran. You can find her designs at her store, Nitwit Collections. She has just put up some wonderful Easter products. (You can click on the images to be taken directly to her store.)

If you like these collections (or others from her store) it would be good for you to know the way she packages things at her store. Most of the time I end up buying a collection but also the extra papers she creates that coordinate with the kit . . . both patterned and solids. I find that I always like to get the solids because each kit seems to have a distinctive texture and the solids then match up with the other papers in a layout. She also creates extra elements for some collections and these are also well worth a look! I have bought only a few of her alphas, mainly because she only includes A to Z and sometimes numerals 0 to 9 but no punctuation at all which I find totally frustrating! She only has ONE sale per year, so it is a good time to stock up if you can wait for it! Another special thing I like about Mary Fran’s products is the unique way she displays her kits – doesn’t it just look like visiting the fabric department?!

While viewing her latest kits, I stumbled on one that I had missed:

I knew that this kit would be perfect for a remake of a paper layout I had created in the past. I had to scan the pictures because they were taken with my old SLR camera. I liked the way it turned out. What do you think? (Layout is clickable to view a detailed view with complete credits.)

Before I go, here’s a heads up on the latest FREEBIE by The Scrappin Cop. This girl creates high quality, commercial use products and then gives them away! Don’t let the commercial use label confuse you . . . you can certainly use them for personal use but if you ever decide to design your own products, these can be used. Just be sure to follow her terms. Anyway, she has some neat Grungy Edge Overlays that are fabulous for changing the look of papers you already own. Just place them in a layer above your paper and then play with blend modes or change their color.

If you have never been to her blog before, be sure to check out her past downloads because they are still available. She has some really cute Easter layered templates as well.

Back in the Scrapping Groove

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:51:00 +0000

Had a great time this weekend . . . I attended a crop in Steinbach. From 4:00 to 11:00 pm on Friday and from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm on Saturday I got to scrap to my heart’s content! My friend, Charlene, accompanied me. Of course, I lugged along my laptop, EHD, and flat panel monitor. That was nothing compared with the pounds of paper and embellishments and stamps, etc. that Charlene brought!

This time round, I set a personal record of scrapping 5 pages! Though I still consider myself a “journey” scrapbooker i.e.. I take my time and design my pages just the way I want them with no actual time limit or deadline in place, I was still quite pleased with how much I accomplished. What do you think? (All images are clickable to a larger, more detailed version.)

DreamScrapper.com is Closing!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Well, it has been some time since I have posted here! I have been doing some soul searching and have made the decision to hang up my designing hat and move on to other things! I greatly appreciate the support of all my customers over this past year! It is you who have made designing such a pleasure!

I will definitely be staying in the scrapping community and will even post on this blog (hopefully not so long between posts, this time!) as often as I can.

Playing with Summer Delight

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:32:00 +0000

Today I enjoyed working with my new kit, Summer Delight, to create the following layout:

Click layout for detailed view and full credits.

At first, I played with the placement of the photos and the sizing of them. At first I considered making one photo quite a bit larger than the other but the photo quality wasn’t that great so I decided against that idea. I did consider doing a blended layout but decided that I wanted to focus on the photos rather than blend either one into the background. Because there were only two photos, for a balanced layout I thought of making them both exactly the same size and positioned in the centre of the page to allow for the title above and below the photos. This didn’t look too bad but then I thought about the idea of hanging each photo on a chain and decided I liked that idea best!

Next, I added a 75 pixel inside stroke to each photo, knowing that when I separated the stroke from the photo layer (only available in Photoshop), the stroke would actually be larger and would result in a good size for a frame for my photo. To do this in Photoshop Elements, I would have selected the photo layer first by Control-clicking the photo’s thumbnail on the Layers Palette and then creating a new layer above the photo on which to place the stroke. I then chose one of the inked kraft papers from the kit and clipped it to the stroke layer. I resized the paper to about 50% and added a slight bevel and a drop shadow.

I placed the branch of yellow flowers at the top of the layout so I would have somewhere in which to hide the chains for the photos. On a separate layer, I used a chain brush to stroke the chain and then applied a metal style to make the chains look realistic. To allow enough room for the title words, I played with the sizing of the photos a bit. I then added the glitter sticker alphas, overlapping the title letters slightly to get them all into the space I had for them. I chose to use the alpha, Talk Dots by Mary Fran, to create the other word in the title and to give a bit more repetition for emphasis. If you have never checked out the Nitwit Collections store, you are in for a treat! I just love how all the products are displayed. This is the preview for the alpha I used. Isn't it the cutest?

Of course, since the photos are all about big sunglasses, I had to include a pair from the kit! I decided that the best placement would be to hang them over the edge of the bottom photo. I chose to use a yellow pair to form a kind of visual triangle effect on the layout => sunglasses on the bottom => sunglasses on my husband’s photo => and yellow flowers at the top of the layout. You can read about the Visual Triangle on Scraps of Mind.

I used a journaling lines brush that I had created to stamp lines on my page and then journaled on another layer.

I thought I was about finished but the layout still seemed to need something. That's when I decided to used inked edges to mess things up a bit! I tried them in each of the kit colors but what looked best was the neutral tan of the kraft paper.

The last thing to try before finishing was to boost contrast. In Photoshop, I do this with Curves. Even if things seem to look ok, just trying a small shot of contrast can really make a powerful impact on a layout!

What do you think? For those of you who have already bought Summer Delight, I would love to see what you are creating with it!

Now, to add to your pleasure . . . I have created both a Summer Delight Brag Book and some DreamScraps (otherwise known as Quick Pages)!

The Summer Delight Brag Book, by DreamScrapper, has been designed using the funky and vibrant colors of sunshine yellow, cherry red, luscious lime and totally turquoise from the Summer Delight kit. The ten pages of this brag book will be perfect for displaying all your summer photos. Simply place your photos on a layer below the brag book page and print! All pages are created at 300ppi and saved as png files to preserve transparency. Drop shadows are applied only where layering of pieces makes shadowing necessary for realism. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake. Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product. For even more options for your summer photos, be sure to check out the full Summer Delight Page Kit.

Designed using the funky and vibrant colors of sunshine yellow, cherry red, luscious lime and totally turquoise from the Summer Delight Page Kit, by Dreamscrapper, these four quick pages will have you displaying your summer photos in no time! Simply place your photos on a layer beneath the quick page. Add titles and journaling, if desired, and print! All pages are created at 300ppi and saved as png files to preserve transparency. Drop shadows are applied only where layering of pieces makes shadowing necessary for realism. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake. Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product. For even more options for your summer photos, be sure to check out the full Summer Delight Page Kit.

Brilliante Weblog Award and Some New Layouts

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:41:00 +0000

Karen from Scraps of Mind has awarded me the Brilliante Weblog award. What a surprise this was! Because of this, I get to sport the logo:

Though I cannot nominate Karen for the award (since she already has it) I can certainly endorse her blog as a good one to read regularly. She often has tutorials for scrapbooking but she also raises some interesting questions from time to time regarding scrapbooking issues. Make sure you pay her a visit on her blog.

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to read a lot of blogs like I used to do so I don’t have a list of 7. On top of this, Karen already picked one of the blogs I would have nominated for this award – Hummie’s World.

This leaves me to nominate only Misty Cato Designs. I have been a regular reader of Misty’s for some time now. Not only is she a great designer but she also provides several well written tutorials and freebies on her blog. She is also very good at injecting personal glimpses of her life into her blog posts . . . something that I am NOT good at doing!

======================================================

I have been enjoying doing some personal scrapping this summer, using products from some of my favorite designers.

In my layout, Precious Girl, I was drawn to use of one of Miki Ferkul’s kits, Naiads ‘n’ Oceanids, because of its vibrant colors.

I always enjoy reading Miki’s product descriptions because she always has a little story to go with each of her kits so it is like getting a mini history lesson to go along with your scrapping!

Click layout for detailed version and full credits.

In Grade 3 Gal, I used another of Miki’s kits:

I was drawn to the fresh, spring-like colors in this kit. I decided they would be the perfect kit to highlight my daughter’s grade 3 photo.

Click layout for detailed version and full credits.

Lastly, I created the layout, Diggin’ at the Beach. I primarily used Seascape by Lindsay Jane Designs. If you need a kit to scrap beach/ocean shots, this is a fabulous kit!

I have been wanting to scrap these shots for some time . . . both my daughter and our dog, Brandy, had a great time digging in the sand the day these were taken! I think the alpha is the crowning touch on this layout . . . it is Beachy Alpha by Monica McClain.

Click layout for detailed version and full credits.

I would love to see some of the layouts that you have been creating – leave me a link below!

New and Delightful!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:12:00 +0000

Summer Delight by DreamScrapper, is a funky and vibrant kit, perfect for all your summer layouts! Its colors include sunshine yellow, cherry red, luscious lime and totally turquoise with a touch of tan and white. This kit includes a whopping 14 papers! Four papers are crumpled kraft paper, each with a unique inked edge and four matching solid textured papers. In addition, there are two lovely slightly crumpled papers – one striped, one starburst. Papers are created at 12" by 12" at 300ppi and saved as high-quality jpg files ensuring excellent print quality. Contained in "Summer Delight" you will find sixteen unique elements. Many elements have also been provided in several colors, for your convenience, giving you a total of 40 elements to choose from for use in your layouts. Elements include three pairs of flip flops, two of which are glittered, a pair of sunglasses, a kite with a bow-embellished tail, a butterfly, an umbrella, a deck chair, a thirst-quenching drink in a fancy glass which has been embellished with an orange slice, a double bow, a page-width bow and ribbon combo, a flowered vine, three unique flowers, glossy buttons – both threaded and unthreaded, a button border, button threads, and a journaling spot. All elements do not appear in the preview. Completing this page kit is a glittered alpha in sticker form. Alpha has a complete upper and lowercase set, numerals 0 to 9, as well as 11 other punctuation marks. Alpha is provided as individual letters so you may open only those that you need. If preferred, a single alpha sheet can be provided upon request. All elements are created at 300ppi and saved as png files to preserve transparency. Drop shadows are applied only where layering of pieces makes shadowing necessary for realism. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake. Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product. Be sure to check out the other two Summer Delight Alphas.

Buy Summer Delight Page Kit by Midnight on Friday, July 18, 2008 and receive Summer Delight Alpha 2 and Alpha 3 FREE - a $5.00 VALUE! You will receive a separate email with the download links if your order qualifies.

I also have a lovely little FREEBIE for you that comes in two sizes:

Layout – add this size as a finishing touch on your summer layouts!
Avatar – perfectly sized and ready to upload for your avatar on forums like DST!

Link has expired.

Please leave me a comment if you grab this freebie – I’m hoping you like it!

Keeping Cool in the Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:16:00 +0000

I am not and probably never will be a chronological scrapper. I enjoy picking and choosing, both from my kits and from my photos as to what to scrap and when to scrap it. If you view my scrap gallery, you can easily see the progression from somewhat recent to heritage to 10 years ago to recent and back again! My albums follow this same progression so while on one page you may view my daughter at 14, on the next, she may still be a toddler!

Is it any wonder then that today I was scrapbooking some pictures, which I recently scanned in from my old SLR camera, and though outside it was hovering around 29 degrees Celsius, inside I was thinking cool thoughts as I scrapped images from Winter 2001! It is amazing what the power of thought can do . . . think cool, be cool!

Anyway, this is the layout I came up with today:

Click layout for larger image and full credits.

How about everybody else . . . do you scrap chronologically or haphazardly like me? Leave me a comment below!

Troubleshooting Layer Blend Modes

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:47:00 +0000

Seldom do I create a layout where I don’t change at least one layer’s blend mode to something other than normal. In the two-page layout, Dog Days of Summer, I have used Hard Light to blend the photos of the dogs into the background paper. I have used the Color blend mode when using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to subtly re-color the cardboard overlays, cardboard flourishes, and alpha. When it came to creating the “summer” portion of the title, I also made use of a layer blend mode, Luminosity, to create the desired effect.

Click layout for larger version and full credits.

The original alpha is Scratched Up 2 by Micheline Martin.

I wanted to maintain my monochromatic color scheme (yes, this is monochromatic – GREEN – except for the addition of two neutral colors – brown and white!) in the layout so I had experimented with the layer blend modes to get this green version of the alpha. However, on closer look (and you should ALWAYS do this!) I found that the Luminosity mode that I was using caused problems with the alpha because the alpha was not lying wholly on the background; instead, the alpha overlapped a photo which had a white border. What to do? To solve this problem, I ended up copying and pasting pieces of the background to put beneath each alpha layer in the layout. This way, the alpha maintained the desired effect without the problem of the blend mode being effected by overlapping the alpha on the photo. The photos below illustrate the technique I used to troubleshoot my way around the problem created by using the Luminosity blend mode.

Screen cap shows problem with blend mode when alpha overlaps white border on photo.

Screen cap shows problem with blend mode where alpha overlaps a cardboard flourish.

Steps to solve the problem! To more easily illustrate this tutorial, I have adjusted the Palette Options on the Layers Palette by clicking the right facing arrow at the top of the Layers Palette and choosing Palette Options from the menu.

First, select the background paper layer.

Remain on the background layer but hold Control and click on the thumbnail of the S alpha layer to select the S.

Use the shortcut Control+J to duplicate the selection to a new layer above the background layer.

Drag the new layer up the Layers Palette until it is directly under the S alpha layer. Select both layers and link them so that they stay together.

Because the green background layer is now directly behind the letter, no other pieces of the layout show through the letter due to the choice of the Luminosity blend mode.

Repeat this procedure with all the other letters.

Now it looks much better!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! This method will work for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements though I am not certain if the shortcut Control+J still works in Photoshop Elements 6. If it doesn’t, you may use the shortcuts Control+C to copy the selection and Control+V to paste it onto a new layer.

Let me know how you have used this strategy or ask me a question about it by leaving me a comment below! Be sure to sign up for email notifications of blog posts by entering your email in the spot on the top right of my blog.

Polishing my Photographic Technique

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:17:00 +0000

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in the first of its kind in Manitoba, Canada . . . MPAX 2008 . . . Manitoba Photographic Arts Expo 2008! It was held at The Forks in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

This expo was thought up by fellow Manitoba Camera Club member, Joe Kerr, and I was able to participate on the Program Committee for this event. In all, there were seven well respected Keynote presenters from Manitoba as well as fourteen hands-on Workshops led by other local photographers.

I was fortunate to take in two of the Keynote presentations. I saw Robert Taylor and his African Safari presentation as well as Light, Camera, Action by Dennis Fast. Robert Taylor is both a naturalist and photographer with over 40 years of experience. He has led over 20 African safaris. Dennis is a former teacher and his photographs have appeared in many calendars and books as well as in the award-winning best seller, Pelicans to Polar Bears.

The workshops covered a plethora of topics – bird photography, animal photography, child portraiture, color management, sunset and night photography, fireworks, floral photography, sports photography, panoramas and more! I was able to attend the sunset and night photography, panoramas, and also sports photography. For the sports photography workshop, led by Rob Bye, we were able to go out and shoot skateboarders in the fabulous skate park at The Forks. I had never even seen this structure nor had done any photography in this realm so I was pleased to be able to experience this thrill!

I took some time just to watch the various skateboarders to learn how they worked through their routines and then started taking some pictures. It was very hard to predict exactly where a skateboarder would be at any given time. Just when I thought I knew what place they would jump, they would change up their performance! However, I did manage to get quite a few shots but one in particular stood out for me.

I was pleased with the exposure on this as well as the general composition. However, two things would have improved this shot:

having more room in front of the skateboarder into which he could move
having the skateboarder be facing the camera instead of away from it

What did I learn about shooting skateboarders?

Not to expect a great shot without taking LOTS of photos!
Practice, practice, practice!

I also tried the same photo with two different Lightroom presets applied.

Memories – Sandy Beach preset

Inside Lightroom – COL Deviant 2 preset

Which version do you like the best? My choice would either be the original or the one using the Deviant 2 preset . . . I think it gives a little bit of edginess to the photo.

Have you tried a different type of photography lately? What would you like to try? Leave me a comment below!

Halloween in June!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:05:00 +0000

The other day, I rounded up a number of photo events that need scrapping. Among them were four years of Halloween photos! It sure is fun to look back at these photos to see the excited gleam in my daughter's eye as she gets ready to go out trick-or-treating! My daughter always had some of the neatest ideas for costumes and this one is definitely an original!

This is the layout I created for Halloween 2005:

Click image for detailed view and full credits.

What events have you neglected to scrap? I challenge you to sort through some of your un-scrapped photos and pick an event to scrap. Leave me a comment to let me know what you chose and if you would like, send me a link so I can post your result here!

A Little Bit of Hybrid, A Little Bit of Digital

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:37:00 +0000

I promised to show you the acrylic scrapbook page I made while attending the crop in Steinbach. Last night, I was trying to get a picture of the thing hanging on the wall but all I got were reflections! This morning, I tried again, this time laying the page on a purple pillow near a window. I placed the layout on the pillow to supply some color for the background but the real color it should be on is teal because that's the color of our walls.

Of course, by taking the picture of this layout the way I did, you can't SEE that the thing is made of acrylic!

Anyway, the acrylic piece came cut in the 12 x 12 inch size and it had a peel off sheet of plastic on either side so that you could work on the layout without scratching or marking the other side. To help me with my design, I drew a little sketch. I knew that I wanted to position the photo where it was and I wanted also to have a border drawn around the layout to the bounds of the photo.

I glued on the photo, leaving a small opening where I wanted one of the flowers to tuck underneath. The border was drawn freehand. The flowers were hand cut from a flowered paper. Talk about FRUSTRATION! It is so much easier to "cut" shapes in digital scrapbooking!

Once all my flowers were cut, I laid them out on the page till I found a design I liked. They were then glued in place. Each flower was topped with a button and then a small "jewel." Next, I added the flourishes by using a swirl template. I placed the letters for DANCE and added the three little "jewels" beside the word. When I got back home, I used the computer to print out the words, "I hope you" and printed them. After cutting them to size, I glued them to the page as well.

The black bits you can see at the top of the page are where I punched two holes and fastened a ribbon so I could hang it on the wall.

In all, I am pleased with what I created though it would have been SO much easier to create this on the computer! For those of you thinking that my daughter is into dance, the quote actually comes from the song by Lee Ann Womack, and refers to the act of living life to the fullest.

I Hope You Dance

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed,

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder
Where those years have gone.

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance..

Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone

For those of you looking to create transparent pages digitally, Karen Karooch of Scraps of Mind has a unique technique for you!

In the meantime, I have stuck to digital scrapbooking. Though the month is June, we haven't had a lot of great weather yet. Between the days of rain, I was able to snap some photos of our lovely lilac. To me, nothing says, "Spring" like a bunch of lilac!

Click image for detailed view and full credits.

(And yes, our lilac REALLY is this dark purple color!)

The Best Use for my Kitchen Floor

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:28:00 +0000

Well, I started a layout at the scrapbooking crop I went to in Steinbach, but it just wasn't working out so I let it be so I could rework it in my mind and come back to it. I finally finished it. The layout itself has LOTS of journaling, that demanded its own page due to the length of it. I had a lot of trouble deciding on a color for the background when I tried to do the blending in of the main photo. Finally, it all came together when I went neutral, making use of my Page Ruffles, Volumes 1 and 2 to frame the pages. Special thanks to my friend, Charlene from Birds Hill, who suggested which photo would be best for the blended background - that made all the difference!

Click image for enlarged view and complete credits.

Journaling reads:

My kitchen floor is nothing special. Its creamy linoleum was chosen for its versatility, its ability to blend with whatever color scheme we might adopt during the years we were to live in our house. When choosing it, we didn’t stop to think of the many uses it would see in its lifetime.

Many feet have joyfully trekked across that floor on their way to recreational pursuits in the family room; feet have trudged slowly across it on their way to the bedroom, after one short pause for a last drink of water. As the prime gathering spot for the house, my kitchen floor has supported the feet of many friends and acquaintances. It has caught the onions that I have chopped, the drips from a leaky dishwasher, and in an emergency, it has even tolerated our dog peeing on it.

However, my kitchen floor was put to its best use on my daughter’s sixth birthday. It not only caught the crumbs from her birthday cake but allowed her to rollerblade for the very first time! Her little body vibrated with her excitement at receiving a pair of rollerblades, just like Mommy’s; she insisted on trying them out, then and there. What other place at the end of March was there to use but the kitchen floor?

After strapping on knee pads and elbow pads and wrist pads and finally the rollerblades themselves, she was ready! Daddy helped to support her while Mommy armed herself alternately with the 35 mm camera and the camcorder.

Initial unsteadiness changed rapidly to the cockiness possessed by the very young. Back and forth, across a space of only six feet; back and forth, back and forth. Fifteen minutes were not enough. Thirty minutes were not enough. An hour was not enough! Finally, amid pleas of, “Just a few more minutes!” and “I don’t want to stop yet!” and promises from us of, “You can do some more tomorrow!” our daughter was finally persuaded to hang up her blades for the night.

As I later surveyed the black streaks scattered across what used to be creamy white linoleum, I just had to smile rather than frown. I’d like to think that the floor was smiling too.

18 Hours of Scrapping Bliss!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:29:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of attending another scrapbooking crop this past weekend. It took place in Steinbach, Manitoba, and was hosted by Scrapbook Cottage owner, Sharon. The crop took place at the Legion and Sharon brought her entire store there for the two days! The crop took place on Friday 4:00 - 10:00 pm and again on Saturday, 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. Sharon has a lovely store in Steinbach and is very friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about scrapbooking and creative paper crafts! If you are in the area, be sure to visit her.

Of course, I was the only one using a computer there, but I did meet Kim Newberg Villeneuve who creates Altered Art such as Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and Altered Books and other art work using found objects. Be sure to check out her blog as well as her Etsy store. I purchased two of her pieces:

I didn't get as much scrapped as I hoped to but I did complete a two-page layout about the Medieval Feast at my daughter's school.

Click photo to view full credits and larger size.

I also participated in a class where we created a 12 x 12 acrylic page. I don't have a picture yet of what I made but I will post it when I do.

Tag, You're It!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:34:00 +0000

Well, I take the weekend off to go scrapping in Steinbach, Manitoba and come back to find I have been tagged by Diana!

Rules:
1.) Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2.) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3.) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4.) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I LOVE to read! If I don't have a book or magazine or something with me to read, I will read cereal boxes, etc. just so I can read SOMETHING! And, I will read the French side as well!
I used to play the accordion (which I hate now!) and I can play almost anything by ear even though I can read music.
Coffee is my addiction!
I am the youngest of four kids in our family by a margin of 9 years.
I would love to travel to the eastern Canadian provinces, down to the southern U.S., and to Europe.
My husband and I have been following a 10 week running program where you both walk and run. We are up to 5.6 km, three times per week.
I watch one soap opera - The Young and the Restless.

Here are the people I have tagged:

Miki Ferkul
Jen Ulasiewicz
Hummie
Karen Karooch
Kate Hadfield

Creativity: May it last forever!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:58:00 +0000

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." I have definitely been experiencing that thrill lately! My ideas for new products are flying fast and furious right now! It is all I can do to keep up with them! I hope you are enjoying this spurt of creativity as much as I am!

Today I am pleased to launch Page Ruffles, Volume 2: Glitter.

Following close on the heels of Page Ruffles, Volume 1, “Page Ruffles, Volume 2: Glitter,” by DreamScrapper, are perfectly unique elements to add that finishing glitz to your layouts! These glitter page ruffles come in your favorite three styles: kraft paper, denim and quad paper. Each style comes in six fun colors: blue, green, lilac, turquoise, pink, and orange. The page ruffles measure just shy of 12 inches to allow the presence of a drop shadow to show on your layout, but they may easily be enlarged to the edges of your layout without loss in quality. What can you do with page ruffles? Resize and layer them, mix and match them, rotate them, shrink them and use as frames . . . the possibilities are endless! Be sure to check out Page Ruffles, Volume 1 for even more fun. Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product.

If you haven't yet bought either volume of Page Ruffles, I have bundled the two together so that you may save!

Of course, I have a sweet little FREEBIE for you to go with this new release. Click on the image below to download.

Link has expired.

I also found some time to scrap this week, and used my new kit, Denim 'n' Daisies as well as one of my page ruffles from Volume 1 to create the following layout. To show you how versatile the page ruffles can be, I decided that I wanted a page ruffle for this layout, but I wanted to use it as a frame. I duplicated the distressed quad paper ruffle a few times and then moved the pieces and used masking to create a new page ruffle that was frame size. Once I had what I needed, I merged the pieces together into one frame and then added my shadowing. This was necessary or else the shadowing would not have looked right where the pieces of the frame overlapped.

Click image for larger size and full credits.

I also have some beautiful layouts to share with you from both my Dream Team and by a customer.

By Kayre

Click image for full credits.

By Kristin

Click image for full credits.

By Cat Hotelling

Credits - Everything from Denim 'n' Daisies except for the unknown background paper.

Thanks for sending me your layout, Cat! I love to see what my customers have created.

Denim 'n' Daisies

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:59:00 +0000

“Denim ‘n’ Daisies,” by DreamScrapper, is a casual spring kit, perfect for all your everyday scrapbooking layouts! The kit colors include denim blues, daisy white, pristine pink, and a splash of spring green. Eight denim papers with a variety of overlay designs are included in faded, regular, dark and pink denim. Papers are created at 12" by 12" at 300ppi and saved as high-quality jpg files ensuring excellent print quality. Contained in "Denim ‘n’ Daisies" you will find a lace page border with inner bracket shape, a glittered denim page ruffle, an patterned blue enamel set of brackets, daisy-patterned clear acrylic brackets, a lovely page width ribbon and bow combo, a braided cord in three colors, matching cord bow in three colors, a lace bracket matte, a fluffy pink bow adorned with blue daisies perfect to wrap around the bracket matte or your favorite frame, daisies in blue, pink, and white, a unique bracket shaped frame, adorned with flowers and with an acrylic insert, a frayed denim journal spot, two jewelry tags, and two button adorned tags. Some elements come in both shadowed and unshadowed versions. Completing this page kit is a daisy patterned acrylic alpha. Special tip sheet details how to use a drop shadow style for best results. Alpha has a complete upper and lowercase set, numerals 0 to 9, as well as 11 other punctuation marks. Alpha is provided as individual letters so you may open only those that you need. If preferred, a single alpha sheet can be provided upon request. All elements are created at 300ppi and saved as png files to preserve transparency. Drop shadows are applied only where layering of pieces makes shadowing necessary for realism. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake. Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product.

Finally, I have a little Word Art FREEBIE for you! Click image to download.

Link has expired.

How to Make a Designer's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:19:00 +0000

Over on Digishoptalk, a question was posed to the designers as to whether they would enjoy receiving an email from a customer showing them a layout that had been created using the designer's products. The reason that this person was enquiring was because she doesn't really post her layouts to a galleries online because she doesn't want to have to keep track of all the designer credits.

Several designers, including myself, responded positively to her question. Being able to see what others have done with a product we have created is a very joyful experience!

Cat Hotelling sent me a lovely layout that she created using my new Page Ruffles, Volume 1.

Credits: background paper - Wallpaper_1 happyscrappy.jpg; doodle at the bottom - Vanilla Designz doodles32.png; doodles added to the frame - ornament2.png

Thank you, Cat! I really appreciated seeing what you had created with my designs!

What about the rest of you? How about sending me either a link to a layout in a online gallery or an attached image in an email? If you do email me, please resize the image so that it is no larger than 600 x 600 pixels. If you are not sure how to do this, email me first and I will guide you through the process.

Go ahead. Make my day. :)

Sketches: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:17:00 +0000

Back in October, I wrote Using Sketches as a Launching Point For Your Layout, a review of a book that I found useful in creating layouts. Just yesterday I picked up another useful resource on sketches - an issue of Scrapbooks Etc. by Better Homes and Gardens.

This is one of the BEST scrapbooking resources I have seen in awhile. This magazine would be suitable for both paper and digital scrappers and starts off by explaining the anatomy of a sketch. It also points out that sketches are invaluable because layout styles may come and go but the sketch, as the building block of a layout, can be reused over and over by changing the sketch's rotation, embellishments, and/or paper choice.

The magazine details how to scraplift any layout by identifying its underlying structure and then make it your own by stretching it or shrinking it to fit your desired scrapping size and modifying it according to your scrapping style. It shows several examples of layouts using the same basic sketch yet making it look completely different each time! Both paper and digital layouts are featured in this issue.

Most useful to paper scrappers is the fact that the photo spots in the sketches have the size detailed so that you can print or crop your photos to fit the layout.

The issue offers a summary of all the sketches contained in the magazine with accompanying page numbers so you can quickly flip to the pages detailing the sketch.

If you have ever wanted to use sketches to help you in your scrapbooking, don't miss getting this magazine! I picked mine up at McNally Robinson in Winnipeg for $15.95 but you can get it at Amazon or other major retailers. This magazine will prove a useful tool in your scrapbooking arsenal.

Add the Finishing Touch to Your Layouts!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:58:00 +0000

“Page Ruffles, Volume I,” by DreamScrapper, are unique elements, perfect to finish off your favorite layouts! The page ruffles come in five styles: kraft paper, newspaper, ruled paper, quad paper, and denim. Each style comes in both a pristine and a distressed finish. In addition, there is a matching inner section for each ruffle that comes separately to allow you to mix and match! The page ruffles measure just shy of 12 inches to allow the presence of a drop shadow to show on your layout, but they may easily be enlarged to the edges of your layout without loss in quality. What can you do with page ruffles? Resize and layer them, mix and match them, rotate them, shrink them and use as frames . . . the possibilities are endless! Show me what you can do with your very own Page Ruffles! Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product.

Check below to see some of the many ways you can use Page Ruffles in your layouts! Click images for full credits.

In addition to this new release, I have a very special FREEBIE for you! Click on the image below to download. Special thanks to Darcy Baldwin @TheDigichick.com for the font used in the preview.

Link has expired.

I would love to see what you do with Page Ruffles! Please send me a link to your layouts.

Scrapbooking: Full Circle?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Vich) — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:14:00 +0000

When I first took up paper scrapbooking, over 10 years ago, I was totally excited! Going to the local scrapbooking store was like going to the candy store for me! I enjoyed browsing through all the new papers, punches, adhesives, as well as being intrigued with different techniques such as chalking. I accumulated quite a stash of papers, punches, pens and other scrapbooking paraphernalia. Of course, books and magazines were also a must-have items!

Though I never took a scrapbooking class or even attended a "crop," I enjoyed exploring on my own through books and magazines on the topic. No technique was too hard for me . . . if I liked something, I dove right in! This included using an X-acto knife to cut out the spaces between a lattice background paper so it really looked like lattice as well as experimenting with vellum and other varied techniques. I completed a very nice wedding album for my parents with my new scrapbooking knowledge and was very pleased with my accomplishment!

After awhile, getting out all the supplies just to have to put them all away again because our dining room table was needed for such a mundane thing as EATING, my scrapbooking took a back seat to other pursuits.

Purchasing my first digital camera in 2000 and later joining a local camera club in 2003 when I bought my second digital camera firmly entrenched me in the digital world. From exploring the Internet, I learned about digital scrapbooking. Since I was already very knowledgeable in Photoshop, digital scrapbooking became the perfect fit for me! There was no mess to clean up so that our family could eat and digital meant never having to "mess up" a page because of that handy Undo button!

Unlike paper scrapbooking, I did take some courses in digital scrapbooking. Since books on digital were almost non-existent at the time, online classes were the way to go. I also completed a wealth of tutorials found at different digi sites and hung around the many digital scrapbooking forums to learn even more tips to improve my digital layouts. I have even attended a paper "crop" where I took my laptop, extra monitor, and EHD to scrap with, even though I was the only digital scrapper in attendance!

As I became more and more adept at digital layouts, I started teaching digital scrapbooking classes, in real life, through Continuing Education courses. Everyone I talked to and everywhere I went I promoted digital scrapbooking!

Just last September, I took the leap and became both an online store owner and a designer. This has been a very exciting and rewarding pursuit!

As I continued to pursue my love for digital scrapbooking, digital scrapbooking finally seemed to ARRIVE in the print world! More and more magazines carried articles on digital scrapbooking and even one magazine dedicated to digital scrapbooking arrived on the scene! It was interesting to see layouts in the magazine done by some of my fellow online scrappers!

Talking to paper scrapbooking store employees, several were now aware of digital scrapbooking. Eventually, with the help of CHA, digital scrapbooking really started to make an impact on scrapbooking store owners. For the first time, I started to see digital scrapbooking CDs and books arrive in the stores . . . and these contained more than just clip art!

Conversely, in the digital scrapbooking world, the newest trend seems to be toward Hybrid scrapbooking . . . the combination of both digital and paper scrapbooking techniques. The stores are overflowing now with Bracket and Luggage Tag albums (as well as many others) that are designed to be adhered to the Basic Grey or Maya Road chipboard albums using various adhesives. Real embellishments can also be adhered to these completed pages. As well, several other hybrid projects seem to abound.

So, it has taken such a long time for us digiscrappers to get digital scrapbooking recognized and yet now it seems that we are returning, at least somewhat, to paper scrapbooking! Is this a bad thing? I don't think so. Will I be returning to paper scrapbooking? I may dabble with various hybrid projects but my love for digi is a strong one so I feel that most of my scrapbooking will still be done on the computer. However, scrapbooking is a creative and rewarding hobby, no matter how you complete the pages so enjoy it!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject! Leave me a comment below.