Non-Destructive Cut-Outs

Hi everyone. Today I wanted to share with you a tutorial for how to create non-destructive cut out shapes on a background paper using clipping masks and the Inner Shadow layer style. I know it sounds a little intimidating, but it really is fairly easy once you get the hang of it.

This was a post I wrote for the One Little Bird blog. There is an awesome video tutorial, some tips, and a free action from One Little Bird Designs to help you along.

Read about it here.

Here is the layout I made


Materials: Big Ideas by One Little Bird. Font is Apple Symbols.

Cool Hybrid Journals

I have a notebook that I carry around with me in my purse.  I use it to jot notes down, write out directions to places (yes I'm one without gps), and to doodle in when I find myself sitting around waiting somewhere.  I'm nearing the end of the pages in my book and am on the lookout for new journals right now and I'm finding myself pretty picky.  I want it to open a certain way and I want the cover to be cute and pretty but still me too.  I'm having trouble finding any that are just right.

I was reading this post on the Sweet Shoppe blog the other day and was inspired that maybe I should create my own journal.  Check it out - there is tons of inspiration!

http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/index.php/2013/01/journals-hybrid-style/

How to Create a Signature

Have you noticed in forums or e-mails how people have created cool signature graphics?  Just the other day I decided that it was time to go and update some of mine.  Let me walk you through the process I used.

*The first trick (and what stumps many people before they even begin) is what size to make it.  There are many ways to do it, but let me share with you my favorite.
-Find a signature that is about the size you like and right click on it and choose "Copy Image."
-In PSE (or your editing program), go to "File - New - Blank File." PSE is cool in that it will assume that you want a new document the size of what you just copied.  The one I copied had the following dimensions: 400 pixels wide, 109 pixels high, 72 pixels per inch.  So I just click "OK."  I don't even have to paste the image because I was only copying it for the size.  If this doesn't work for you you can just create a document about this size.
-Then I go to "Image - Resize Image" and get this box:



In the box in the center you see that it has width and height in inches and then a resolution box in pixels per inch.  72 pixels per inch is standard for things on the web.  I click in that box and change it to 300 pixels per inch.  It keeps the inches the same but largely increases the pixel width in the top box.  Click "OK."
-Now I have a document that I can work with to create the signature.  The reason I resize it bigger is that I can now use more graphics without having them be so overly large and I can still zoom and adjust things without it getting too blurry.  It also lets me have more flexibility with adding and adjusting  shadows using the presets in PSE.

*The second step is to create the signature.  If you are using digital scrapbooking supplies you will notice that my signature document is still on the small size for some of the graphics so they look super large when put on the page.  There are a couple of ways to get around this.  You could resize your graphic to  something bigger like 600 pixels per inch.  Instead you can resize the graphics smaller either before or after adding them to your signature.

*Once you get the graphic complete you need to resize it small again.  My favorite method is to flatten the image first.  The go back to "Image - Resize Image" and change the 300 back to 72 pixels per inch. Then I also like to sharpen the graphic a bit.

*Next you need to upload your signature to a graphics hosting site like photobucket.

*Finally you need to add your signature where you want.  Most forums have what is called a User CP or some type of settings area.  There you will find a link to "Edit Signature."  Just like in the forums you can often use the picture graphic to add an image to your signature area.  I will work on a tutorial for this soon.

Here are some of the signatures I created last week:

Using Once Upon a Christmas: Believing by Kristin Cronin-Barrow:


Using The Little Things by WM[squared]:


Using Small things by Juno Designs:

Sharing my Family

I thought I'd take a minute today to share my family with you all.  We had some fabulous pictures taken recently:

I love the way they turned out.  I've already printed a bunch to put up around the house.  Let me introduce you to each one.

Me: Wife. Mom. Teacher. Introvert. Scrapbooker.  I love that I get to be a stay at home mom right now, but one day I hope to go back to teaching elementary or special education.  I love to worship in sign language.  And my favoriate treats are chocolate and coke.

Tim (my husband): He is an amazing Dad and husband.  He teaches middle school math and coaches tennis and basketball.  He is also an amazing musician.

Michael is our oldest.  He has a knack for numbers and is already do math with negative numbers even through he is only 7.  He is a routine boy and likes to have order in his life.  His life however, revolves around sports - watching, playing, talking, thinking, dreaming, you name it.  Here is a layout I did of him a couple of years ago but it is still true.

Jon is 4 now and is my more free spirit creative child.  He never likes to do anything the same way twice.  His favorite toys are cars and he will line them up, race them, and play sports teams with them for hours.  Recently he has also gotten into building things with legos and to his older brothers bafflement is creating things "with 'structions" as he says.


Credits: Big Ideas by One Little Bird, font is Apple Symbols

Then there is our daughter Becca.  She loves stuffed animals and wearing dresses.  She loves to sing an dance, and is really not shy of anything at this point.  She can hold her own with her brothers in a wrestling match and loves to get dirty.  She desperately wishes she could go to school with her big brothers.

Credits: Back to the 80's kit by T for Me Designs, Find Your Bliss Designs, and 2am Designs. Font is Kristi by Darcy Baldwin.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know the four people most precious to me!

Scrapbooking with Evernote

We have been addicted to Evernote in this house.  I'm using it to keep track of recipes, write down project ideas for my kids, writing to do lists, and now tracking some scrapbooking inspiration.  Check it out!


To read a little bit more about it, read my post on KristinCB's blog!

Some of my favorite recent layouts

Let me share with you some of my favorite layouts I've scrapped recently.


Credits: Count Your Blessings by Juno Designs, template by Cluster Queen Creations.


Credits: Big Ideas by One Little Bird, font is Apple Symbols


Credits: These Moments bundle and Be Inspired - Em template by WM[squared], fonts are Sanvito Pro and Catflish Script Pro.


Credits: Tell Your Story by Juno Designs, font is Marker Felt


Credits: Christmas Countdown by KristinCB and Zoe Pearn, template by Janet Phillips, Title template by Cindy Schneider, font is Caflisch Script

Scrap Like Sula template

Check out this great layout:

I was so awed that I wanted to share with you all some tips from Sula who created this layout.  And I made a free template you can download so that you can scrap like Sula.

Click here to read about it and pick up the template on KristinCB's blog!

Facebook Timeline Cover Image

Ever wanted to create and upload your own Timeline cover picture?  Here is a video I put together for KristinCB's blog:

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.