Want a template?

I've got two template freebies out.  Want one?  or both?

First up, there is a free template on KristinCB's blog.  You can pick it up here.



I love how the mix of circles and triangles worked out on this template.  Here is the layout I made.



I used this super cute kit by KristinCB.




And second, I'm hosting the December Template challenge on WM[squared]'s blog here.



Here is the layout I made.  My kids made "We Love the Coach" signs like they use in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen to cheer on their dad at his tennis match.



I use what is turning into one of my most favorite new kits:




Hope you enjoy the templates.  Keep scrapping your memories!!

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer

Boy, doesn't that sound intimidating: "Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer!"  I used to be a bit nervous when people talked about adjustment layers, but it turns out, they are very simple in PSE.  In fact, I found out I was using them without even realizing it.  Would you like to learn?

I wrote a blog post on it with an easy to follow video tutorial on using a hue/saturation adjustment layer to change the color of an alpha for your scrapbooking needs.  It is on KristinCB's blog and I used this fabulous Paintwashed Alpha that she has in her store.




Enjoy!

Thanksmas

My family has a tradition of getting together for Christmas one year and Thanksgiving the next.  This way we can all be together and still have a holiday to spend with our inlaw families too.  This year is a Thanksgiving gathering with my family.  However, we don't just do Thanksgiving - we do a weekend long Thanksmas.  We have a great Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and then we spend the weekend getting a tree and celebrating a family Christmas.

A couple of weeks ago I won this adorable Thanksgiving kit by Adorable Pixels:



I knew it would be perfect for our fun Thanksmas celebrations, but since I couldn't wait for this year, I decided to scrap a previous year with it.  So I dug out pictures from 2008, and using a fun template by Little Green Frog Designs created a fun double page spread.  Check it out:






Full credits: Thankful by Adorable Pixels, 360 Degrees template by Little Green Frog Designs, font is My Girls Rock by Darcy Baldwin

Bringing Back the Old Kits

I've got two layouts to share with you today.

First up I'm loving this layout I created about our trip to see Thomas the train at the railway this summer.  I used All Aboard by Kristin Cronin-Barrow.  Sweet Shoppe Designs having an UNDEAD goodies celebration for Halloween and bringing back some favorite retired kits, and when I saw I knew that All Aboard was perfect for these photos.


Full Credits: All Aboard by KristinCB, font is My Girls Rock by Darcy Baldwin
And here is the kit in case you are interested.




And second, I found an old kit on my hard drive by Shawna Clingerman and Micheline Martin that I could use to scrap some pictures of our trip to the small local airport.  And I used the free template from my facebook page to scrap them.


Full credits: A very old kit called My Little Mister by Shawna Clingerman and Micheline Martin, template freebie from my facebook page, fonts are My Girls Rock and the Librarian by Darcy Baldwin

I'm now blogging around town!

I so excited to share with you all that I'm now going to be blogging for Kristin Cronin-Barrow.  I'm thrilled beyond belief to be a part of her stunning team.  And I wrote my first blog post for her the other day.

It was based around this fun fall picture I took of my kiddos:



And I share an amazing collab kit that you can pick up for less than $5.

Check it out here!

Template Challenge

I thought I'd let you all know that I'm hosting a template challenge over at WM[squared]'s site.  You get a free template and a chance to win a gift certificate to her store.  I'd love for you to play along.

Click here to see the challenge:

Rock On

When I saw the new kit by geniaBeana Scraps and Cluster Queen Creations I was so excited to get scrapping. I had just taken the perfect pictures.

First let me share the story: My kiddos love to put on music DVDs and dance around. And I'm not talking little kids music either. They prefer the real stuff and good stuff at that: David Crowder band and Mute Math are favorites right now. Often times the hockey stick is transformed into a rock'n guitar for the occasion. The other night was no exception. My four year old picked it up and started jamming. My little girl was upset that he was not sharing, but before I had to intervene and set up a sharing schedule, she had a light bulb moment, ran to our toy shelf, and dug around until she found a tiny guitar puzzle piece. Then she joined right in the jam party.

And here is the layout I made:

I love how it turned out.  Oh, and while the layout is mostly about my daughter, isn't my son so cute just jamming away!

If you are interested here is the kit.  Again, I can't say enough about how much I love this kit.  I'm itching to use it for another layout.


And I also used one of these templates for the layout:

Time for another freebie

I should tell you that I love using templates to create my layouts.  In fact in a way I always start with templates.  I either pick one from another designer or I create my own template at the beginning of the layout.  When I do this I will figure out what pictures I want to use.  Then I will open a blank canvas and start creating a template that incorporates that many pictures in a way that will really work for my photos.  Then I add shapes for the papers and elements.  Only then do I start adding my actual pictures and papers/elements from the kit.  I think it is my left brain nature that likes to design in basic black and white and gray shapes first and then add the "artsy" things.  I feel like I can just see the layout design better if I template it first.

So I have polished up a couple of my rough templates from some of my favorite layouts and I want to share them with you today.  You are getting a bonus of two templates in this pack since they work together so well.  :)

Here are the layouts that inspired them:


Credits: Little Black Dress by WM[squared] and Dream Big Designs, font is Sylfaen


Credits: Best Furry Friend Collab by Find Your Bliss Designs and Sugar Fancy Designs, font is Elicia by Darcy Baldwin

And here are the templates for you.  I hope that you enjoy them. :)


**DOWNLOAD EXPIRED**


And to show you a bit of how fun and versatile templates can be, I liked them so much that I did a second layout using one of them.  Since it was a different theme and totally different kit type, I love how the layout came out looking completely different even though I didn't rotate it or change it much.

At the playground and Olphelia Scribbles font by WM[squared]

Have fun with them and if you download them I'd love to hear from you in the comments or see your layouts in the galleries!

Warping shadows in PSE

One of the challenges at ScrapOrchard this week is about warping shadows.  AND they have a fabulous tutorial for PSE users.  The trick for PSE users is that you have to create a shadow on a separate layer which takes a few extra steps, but then it is easy to stretch the shadow around and get it to look like parts of elements are lifting further off the paper than others.

Let me show you what I mean.  Here is the layout I did for the challenge:



Can you see the string at the bottom of the layout?  I stretched or warped the shadow at the tips to make it look like they float above the page higher than the parts of the string that tuck under the photo.  This really helps it look more realistic.  I also warped the kite string and the butterfly shadow.  On the butterfly you can really see it - the left wing looks bent up a bit higher than the right.

Oh, and I loved how the layout turned out.  They are some of my favorite pictures from last spring and I used this great kit by WM[squared]:



If you would like to try this out or play along with the challenge at ScrapOrchard, here is the great tutorial I mentioned:
http://scraporchard.com/forum/showthread.php/20732-Warping-Drop-Shadows-in-PSE

"Un"Theming Kits

I wanted to share with you a layout I made today for two reasons.

First, I have to show you my super cute daughter and her new bike.  She is soooooo proud of it.  After being jealous that both her brothers have bikes for a while, I finally found one her size listed on craigslist.  She was so excited when we picked it up and wants to ride every day.  Her two thrills:  She can ride in the street with her brothers and the bike has a horn!!


So next I wanted to share with you because I ran into what I thought might be a dilemma when I went looking for a kit to scrap with.  I really wanted to use a kit that I already owned and I wanted it to be bright and match the pink in the picture.  Looking through previews, this one by Jady Day Studio caught my eye:


However, you will notice that the kit is truly an Easter kit and my bike pictures are not at all Eastery.  When I looked at the kit, though, I noticed how many gorgeous elements were included that were very cutesy and girly but not only bunnies and eggs.  So I took on the challenge of using a Theme kit to scrap a layout that doesn't match the theme.

And I'm thrilled with how it came out!!!!  What do you think?


To help me out I also used a great template and font by Darcy Baldwin.

Chore Chart

My kids love playing video games and I am never sure I how to best allow them the fun while still keeping a healthy limit on their "screen time."  At our house, we have settled on having the kids do chores to earn video game time.  So I found a whole bunch of apple shapes that I had left over from teaching.  I wrote "5 min" on each.  For doing small chores, the kids earn 1 apple and for larger chores 2 apples.  I even thought to add that I will take away apples for complaining about chores which has been a huge blessing.

When I saw this kit by WM[squared] and Studio Jen D I knew it would be perfect to create a chore list for the kids:

I love the way it turned out:



After creating the chart and having so much fun with this kit, I decided that I would scrap a layout about our chores for video game routine.

Starting School Layout

I wanted to share with you today a layout that I made with a fabulous new kit that came out today.  I know there are so many back to school kits, but I have to say this one was so much fun to use.  And I love how the layout turned out.




My oldest son is heading to first grade this year and he is so excited to be going full time.  I on the other hand look at him each day and can't believe how he got so big and wish there were more days he could stay home with me.  He is such a fabulous kid and God is already working mightily in his life.

My middle child starts preschool this year.  All summer he told me he didn't want to go, but a few weeks ago  it was like a switch flipped.  He can't wait to start and is almost in tears that his brother is at school this week and he has to wait until next week.  When we went to visit the school and he found out that he gets a locker, well you can see by the picture above that he just beamed!

My little girl is too young for school, bless her heart.  But you wouldn't know it.  When we visited the school she ran in with excitement and strutted the halls like she owned the place.  Thankfully, though, she is going to be home with me this year because I don't know what I'd do if I had to drop them all off.

Anyway, here is the great kit I was talking about in case you are interested:

Back to scrapping

Not only have I been on vacation for a while, but I've also been without my laptop so that meant almost no scrapping for the past two months.  However, I now have our family computer set up to scrap with and am back into the swing of things.  I wanted to share with you some layouts I created with some gorgeous collabs released at ScrapMatters today!

First up, I used this fresh and flowery beautiful collab by geniaBeana Scraps, LDrag Designs and Siamese Studio.


And created these layouts.  First is one of my Project Life pages where I also used some Slip Ins by Traci Reed.


Then this fun one with a template I'm working on.  This was my oldest back just before his first birthday - 6 years ago!!


Then I got to work with this fun and summer kit by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs, Find Your Bliss, and Alissa Jones.


This is a layout about my second son getting Cheerios for a treat. It uses one of the templates from the collab also.


And this one shows some of our recent vacation where we had all 8 cousins (age 1 month through 6 years) together at the cottage for a week.  It sounds crazy but since we had all three sets of parents there too it was actually relaxing because we could rotate child care duties.

Facebook Freebie Anyone?

I was in the creating mood and thought I'd share another template freebie with you all.

**DOWNLOAD EXPIRED**

Here is the template:



I created the template for you based off of one of my favorite layouts:



I loved the way the papers and the photos just flowed across the page.  And of course it was created with such a beautiful kit that I want to give credit too also:



Hope you enjoy the free template!

Mixing Scrapbook Patterns

There are a lot of trends that wander in and out in the scrapbooking community.  I have always been wowed by them and suffered from a bit of envy at the way people can pull them off so well.  One trend that tons of scrapbookers are having fun with is Project Life styles of scrapbooking.  In this method, you file pictures, papers, and journal cards into slots as a simple and coordinated way of keeping memories.  Advocates of this method often focus on recording the everyday moments that sometimes don't make it into "themed" pages.  While this trend started in the paper scrapbooking community with Becky Higgins, it has been taking up in a wave by the digital community too.

Here are a couple of Project Life layouts to give you a feel for what they are like.

Layout by Sannn


Layout by nicleblanc


Layout by heathergw


Layout by kym

I almost decided to dive in at the beginning of the year and do a full project life album.  Problem was I also wanted to make more traditional looking scrapbook pages for some of the events in our lives and for some of my CT assignments.  One day it hit me.  Who says you have to commit to one or the other?  Who says they have to be different projects?

So my hybrid album style for 2012 was born.  For the first page for each month I create a project life style page.  It includes random pictures from the month that didn't make it into separate layouts but those I still want to remember for years to come.  In the album, this is followed by anywhere from 1-6 layouts or moments or events that I've scrapped from that month.

To show you what I mean, here are my pages for May:

Slip Ins 1 by Traci Reed; All About Love by Sugar Fancy; Teckton Pro font



Toddle Around Boy by Traci Reed; Template by Cindy Schneider; Font is Tekton Pro



You and Me by Find Your Bliss Designs and Amy Stoffel


For Her - the Bundle by WM[squared] Designs and Crossbone Cut Designs; Lots of Layers Templates v2 and Simply Dated v9 by WM[squared] Designs


Sunkissed - an old collaboration kit from Sugar Hill Co. Font is Gentium Basic


I am just loving the freedom that this scrapbooking method gives me and I'm loving the way my pages are turning out.  I love that I can scrapbook the random pictures and quirks of my kiddos that I never want to forget without having to scrap a whole page for each.  But I also love that I'm not tied to just the one type of layout.