Well friends, we are at the end of the year. It’s hard to believe 2023 is almost over. I’m looking forward to seeing what 2024 holds!
Remember spend $10 in the store and get this great kit for free!
Now for this week’s new items.
How are your challenges going? Only a few more days to get them completed and posted. Complete any 10 challenges and get this great kit as a reward.
Quick Trick: Deselect
PDF Version : https://bit.ly/4aMI2d5
Here we are, on the very last Tuesday of 2023, and I have probably the Quickest Trick I’ve ever shared with you. I’m still in my pyjamas, exhausted from all the Christmas Day busyness, deliberately avoiding all the Boxing Day sales going on. [More about that in a minute.] I’m sure many of you are feeling the same. So without further ado, here’s my Quick Trick for you…
There’s an even FASTER way to Deselect things on your workspace. I know I’m always offering keyboard shortcuts to streamline workflow, and until recently, I didn’t know this was a thing. To refresh, when you’ve Selected something – text, the outer edges of an element for adding Strokes, Styles or custom shadows, an area of a photo you want to tweak… whatever – Select>Deselect is one way to turn off your marching ants. The keyboard shortcut I’ve been giving you is simply CTRL/CMD>D. But wait!!! All you have to do is hit the ESCAPE key!!! That’s it, that’s all!
As promised, I didn’t give you anything long and involved for the final tutorial of the year. Go me! December has been a dumpster fire for me so I’m hoping New Year, New Start, New Nomoredisasters is ahead. I have an Oh-that’s-bad-oh-that’s-good Boxing Day tale for you. On Friday – 3 days before Christmas – the dishwasher we bought brand new when we moved into this house in May 2020 cashed in its chips. Repair Guy came on Saturday and tsked a few times then said, “This is going to be a very expensive repair. I’ll get you an estimate.” [A while later the estimate arrived: >$600.] He put everything back together then said, “If you choose not to repair this one… get a Bosch. Merry Christmas.” Humbug!! Two hours later, thanks to Boxing Day sales that started early, I had a new Bosch dishwasher ordered, with free delivery and haul-away, plus discounted installation. It’ll be here first week of January. Now I’m too broke to shop for anything else. 🙁
I wish all of you a peaceful, healthy 2024.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I know it’s a few days away, but we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Hold onto your stockings today because there is a LOT going on.
First we have a site wide Happy Holidays sale and a MEGA $3 Sale. See the bottom of the newsletter for a peek at what our designers have in the Mega Sale.
Remember, spend $10 and you’ll get this great collab for free.
Let’s see what we have in our Fresh Baked category this week.
Are you ready for some MEGA $3 deals?
How are you doing on your challenges? Complete any 10 challenges to get this kita as a reward.
Challenge Spotlight: Pinterest
Over the last week I’ve spent a lot of time browsing Pinterest in an effort to put myself to sleep. I clearly don’t see the same boards that Lisa Minor, host of our Pinterest Challenge, sees… This image would give me the most crushing anxiety!
This is what she had to say about it: “This pin truly made me LOL! Do you have an office out of the home? Would you just go ‘buck wild and decorate like this? I would “like” to think I just might! This pin says to me “at the office, decoration, going overboard, gingerbread house, Christmas Village and candy” So what does it say to you?” I’m going to let the participants speak for themselves this time.
As usual, the layouts are in the order they were uploaded to the Gallery. Each is linked to its spot in said Gallery, just click on the Scrapper‘s user name and you’ll fly right to it so you can get a closer look, or to leave a comment.
First up is msbrad. I gather her granddaughter interpreted the Pinterest image as a play fort… “She created her own after I showed her the original inspiration photo here.”
Next is DianeInOz. Her Pinspiration: “Office party, Santa’s village, Christmas!”
Tamsin McAtee seems to be on the same wavelength with me! “Here’s mine.. this is exactly what it says to me, its so busy its almost painful for me to look at, I get really bad sensory overload and this is very overwhelming to me.”
I also think pinklily has a bit of pleasemakeitstop! “When I think of people going overboard, the Wiggles comes to mind, so I made this layout.”
Grace. posted hers without comment, but she’s taken her Pinspiration from the overall Christmasy theme.
Last we have this one from Jill. “The Pinterest photo brought my local doctors’ centre to mind with all the Christmas doors.”
It looks like I’m in good company being crazybusy right now, given that only 6 layouts have been posted. As you’re reading this, I’m driving home from my parents’ house, a little over 2 1/4 hour drive from my house. I like to make a flying visit around this time, to take them a CARE package containing some Christmas treats and a nice bottle of local wine, as well as to wish my dad a happy birthday (the 21st). Last year the weather didn’t cooperate and it was the second week in January before I could make the drive safely. It was a crushing disappointment!
For those who are interested, my son’s new hospital bed is a huge hit with him! He hasn’t figured out that he can reach the controller yet, so we haven’t found him folded in half or standing on his head. Maybe he won’t notice? Thank you all again for your understanding and grace last week.
If you’re celebrating Christmas, I hope you have enough. Enough time with the ones you love. Enough good food to fill your bellies. Enough opportunities to have some fun. Enough help with the dishes… 😉
If this time of year is difficult for you, I hope you find a quiet place away from the frazzle where you can be whatever you need to be. That you have someone you can turn to for solace. That you have understanding people around you who won’t press you to put on a happy face. I hope you’re comfortable using your scrapping to release some of your anguish. You have support here.
I’ll be back on the 26th with a Quick Trick, but don’t feel like you have to read it!
Happy Friday. Are you all ready for Christmas? I can’t believe we are so close.
Remember spend $10 in the store and get this great kit for free!
Let’s see what our designers have this week. I’m seeing a lot of Christmas kits.
Have you gotten started on your challenges? Complete any 10 challenges and get this great kit as a reward.
I know everybody’s busy these days. I had everything under control until the universe dogpiled a bunch of unexpected work on me. I worked feverishly on Christmas stuff all of last week and didn’t get a tutorial together, thinking I had time. But… My son’s hospital bed is being delivered on Friday, more than a month sooner than it was promised. I have to pack up everything in his room so we can get his current bed apart and out of the way…. on top of the usual December crazy-busy stuff. We’re excited about the bed, but not about the work. 🙁 I promise I’ll have the Challenge Spotlight up for you all next week. Again, I apologize for not being more on top of things.
Jan
Oh boy do we have fun for you! Today starts our big Buffet Blowout in the store! 50% off all buffets today through December 14!!
Remember spend $10 in the store and get this great kit for free!
Let’s see what is new in the store this week.
Have you gotten started on your challenges? Which one is your favorite? Complete any 10 challenges and get this great kit as a reward.
Realistic Snowy Titles
PDF Version : https://bit.ly/4an7OEw
Well, to be completely fair, I used this technique for my December siggy, but that’s not really any different from a title. Right? This technique will work best with either a simple font or a plain, flat alpha. I went with the alpha from the GingerBread Ladies’ Holiday Joy. It’s a painted kraft alpha and it was perfectly suited for the technique. I aligned and spaced all my letters, then Merged the layers – Click>SHIFT>Click on the first and last layers, which Activates all the layers in between, Right-click then choose Merge Layers. Or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>E.
Why do all this extra work when you can just use a white glitter Style, you ask. This is why!
Instead, a Pattern Style will give me a much more realistic look. To find this collection of awesomeness – which comes with your software! – click on that Styles button at the bottom of the Layers Panel then using the drop-down menu found at the top, scroll down to Patterns. And there they are!
The Pattern I used is Fiberglass. It looks a bit (a lot) rough, but that’s not permanent.
To adjust Layer Styles, double-click on the fx icon on the layer to open up this menu. Then use the slider to make your tweaks. I decreased the Bevel to 8 pixels, which nicely softened the edges of the lumps, and changed the Direction to Up.
Yeah, it looks a bit like lumpy concrete, but that too is fixable. First, though, the layer needs to be Simplified. (Broken record, amirite?) Right-click on the layer and choose Simplify Layer. (No keyboard shortcut. 🙁 )
Now we can go into Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue/Saturation. Keyboard shortcut (yes!) is CTRL/CMD>U.
These sliders are the key to white! Pull the Saturation slider to the left to (about) -62 and push the Lightness slider to the right to (about) 45. You have control here; these are the settings I used, but you may like something different. Just watch what’s happening on your screen as you make your adjustments and stop when you’re happy!
Now to give it a bit of sparkle! I’m going to go back to the glitter and apply it to a Copy layer – right-click>Duplicate Layer…>OK. Or CTRL/CMD>J.
Just So Scrappy‘s Winter Whimsy has been archived, but there are a LOT of choices for glitter in the Shop. Click HERE. After trying all the white options in the collection, I decided to use the fine glitter-gloss Style. It’s a bit extra, so I’ll tone it down.
All I had to do was decrease the Opacity of the layer to ~40% and now I have frosty snowy letters!
The last step is to Merge all the layers together to make the word move as one element. Too easy!
Maybe I should play with some of the other Pattern Styles and see what they look like. Maybe I’ll come up with another way to elevate our titles.
Scrapping Serenity!
Typing the word December is painful! But here we are… This month our Spotlight falls on Christie Dawn, also known as Scrapping Serenity. We had a lovely little chat and I’d like to share some of the fun with all of you so you too can get to know her better. Be sure to read all the way to the end, because Christie has some fabulous treats for us!
J: Christie, thanks for spending some time with me. I know my readers are interested in getting better acquainted with the GingerScraps Designers. How long have you been at it?
C: I’ve been designing for like 14 years! I needed a hobby after my youngest was born, and just started designing after scrapping for a while!
J: That’s a long time! Do you have a dedicated workspace?
C: Currently working on a laptop in Photoshop Elements 2022, on a lap-desk in my living room! Our 2 year German Shepherd puppy is super hyper and needs eyes on her at all times! 🙂
J: Ooh I remember the puppy stage really well. They get into mischief almost worse than toddlers! Do you have colours you prefer to work with, or colours you avoid when you design?
C: I DO! My favourites are purple and teal. I don’t love yellow and orange.
J: We’re kindred spirits there! I love blues, pinks, purples, teal and some greens but tend to avoid yellow and orange except in the fall. Do you have a green thumb?
C: I grew some veggies – tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers – this summer from seeds!! First time hadn’t killed something!
J: That’s awesome! I don’t have space to grow veggies. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve got a roast in the oven. I felt like I should put some effort into supper tonight. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
C: Pasta! Any way you can cook it!
J: I do love pasta. Even just plain macaroni and butter. Maybe I never grew out of the toddler age. Might be my super-power. If you could have one, which one would you want?
C: Mind-reading, having teenagers is hard! Mind-reading could really help!
J: Oh noooo! I don’t think I would ever want to know what my kids were thinking when they were teens! My younger daughter was pretty clear about what she thought of her parents. I’m still trying to process that. She’s 42. Aside from necessities, what’s the one thing you couldn’t live without?
C: Is a phone a necessity? Cause I definitely need that to play my Monopoly Go! 🙂
J: I can relate! I play Words with Friends, Design House and Wordle on mine every day. When I booked my son’s dental cleaning I asked the receptionist what we did before smart-phones. Did we really have to remember all the stuff we keep in our phones? But seriously, I need to win the lottery so I can pay his dental bills. What would you do if you won?
C: Pay off the house, the cars, the camper. Put plenty of money aside for my kids colleges and future houses. Buy a vacation house on the ocean… any ocean.
J: Being debt-free is fabulous. Fun question for a second… If you came with a warning label what would it say?
C: Caution – Brutally Honest – Don’t ask questions if you don’t really want to know the answer.
J: That’s actually a super-power. No pussy-footing around. I see it’s getting late. One last question for you: If time travel was a thing, would you want to? And which way would you go, to the future or the past?
C: I’d love to go back in time and tell my Grandma everything she’s missed and how much we miss her!
J: Oh, yes! I’d love to spend some time with my great-great-grandmother so I could ask her why she wasn’t able to settle in Canada. She tried. Three times. But every time, she went back to England. Anyway, thanks so much for the time and the chatter! I enjoyed it.
Before we close this down, I want to make sure all my dedicated readers know the business side of being in the Spotlight. Christie is providing this month’s Daily Download, found right here on the Blog. Here’s a sneak peek:
Isn’t that just so cute??! She’s also hosting the December Designer Spotlight Challenge, in addition to her usual Font Challenge. Be sure to check them out. But that’s not all!! She also has not one but TWO very generous coupons!
She’s practically giving her work away! Make sure you take a look at her store.
I can’t believe this year is almost over! Where does the time go?? I feel like I’ve accomplished NOTHING this year, but when I look at it objectively, I actually got a LOT done, just nothing to write home about. I bet you know exactly what I mean. But onward and upward. 2023 isn’t over yet!
It is the 1st of the month and you know what that means; a huge, exciting newsletter! We have a New Buffet, New Monthly Mix, New Free With Purchase Collab, New Challenge Reward, & a New Daily Download on the GingerScraps Blog! Plus it’s Friday so we have Fresh Baked goodness as well.
Let’s start out with the December Buffet. Don’t forget to check out the Buffet Bundles. One easy click to add bundles of Buffet goodies to your cart.
The December colors are perfect for those fun holiday pictures. And with the buffet kits, you can mix and match to get the perfect kit for you.
Remember any $10 spent in the store gets you this great collab.
Unwrap the magic of the season with ‘Christmas Time,’ a enchanting digital scrapbooking kit designed to infuse your memories with festive cheer. Whether you’re documenting cherished family traditions or the joy of gift-giving, this kit provides the perfect backdrop for your Christmas memories. Transform your digital scrapbook into a winter wonderland and relive the enchantment of Christmas with the ‘Christmas Time’ kit.
This Free With Purchase was created by Connie Prince, Lindsay Jane, and Scraps N Pieces.
This collab includes: 36 Papers and 73 Elements.
December Monthly Mix
Embrace the timeless charm of the season with ‘Classic Christmas,’ a sophisticated digital scrapbooking kit curated to infuse your memories with traditional holiday elegance. This kit features iconic elements such as vintage ornaments, holly accents, and of course Santa Claus! Elevate your digital scrapbook with the enduring allure of the season, and let ‘Classic Christmas’ transform your memories into a tapestry of timeless holiday magic.
This Monthly Mix was created by ADB Designs, Alexis Design Studio, Karen Schulz, Tami Miller Designs, and Tinci Designs.
This collab includes: 1 Alpha {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 52 Papers, 86 Elements, and 4 12×12 Template {page, png, psd, tif file formats}.
Now to the December Daily Download Sneak Peek. This month’s Daily Download is from Scrappin Serenity! Make sure you are checking the blog every day to get all the pieces of this kit!
Not only do we have the wonderful Buffet and other first of the month goodies, it’s also Friday and that means Fresh Baked goodies too!
Take a look at the new challenge reward kit. If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab as a reward!
‘Time To Celebrate,’ a vibrant and festive digital scrapbooking kit designed to add a touch of excitement to your memories. Unleash your creativity as you commemorate joyous moments, especially those ringing in the New Year. This kit is adorned with dazzling elements such as sparkling fireworks, elegant champagne glasses, and glittering confetti, allowing you to effortlessly capture the spirit of celebration in your digital scrapbook.
This Challenge Reward was created by Cutie Pie Scraps, Heather Z Scraps, Magical Scraps Galore, Memory Mosaic, and The Scrappy Kat.
This collab includes: 1 Alpha {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 55 Papers, 99 Elements.
