Follow Lisa on her Facebook Fan Page and her blog.
Remember, the download is kept up for 5 days, and then it is taken down. If you miss pieces, the kit will be available for purchase on the first day of the following month.
Post expires at 10:00am on Wednesday August 6th, 2025
Follow Lisa on her Facebook Fan Page and her blog.
Remember, the download is kept up for 5 days, and then it is taken down. If you miss pieces, the kit will be available for purchase on the first day of the following month.
Post expires at 10:00am on Tuesday August 5th, 2025
Quick Trick: Twisted Template
What do you do when you really want to create a layout, can see it in your head, want to use a template but don’t have one that matches the layout you see in your mind’s eye? You alter one to give you what you want! Let me show you.
I had a vision of how I wanted to use some seaside photos I took on my first trip to Ireland. I wanted a blended/masked area for the lighthouse and two horizontal photo spots for the other photos I wanted to include. I went through my templates, using the keyword search technique I shared with you many tutorials ago. But alas, I didn’t have anything in the dozens and dozens I looked at that would work. But I DID find one that could be twisted to my purposes, so I went with it.
This is what I chose. It’s from JB Studios’ JDoubleU V.29. It doesn’t have a blended/masked area, but it does have potential white space where I could add one. And the photo spots are vertical, but that’s fixable too!
The first thing I did was to decide how I wanted the page to be oriented, then made some decisions about how to get there. I clicked on Image>Rotate>Flip Vertical. (I know… still not horizontal, but give me a minute!)
Here’s how I got them oriented correctly. Image>Rotate>90° Left. There’s still no white space for my masked photo, but don’t worry! It’s coming!
But first, I had to put the clusters toward the centre of the page, not the left edge. So I clicked Image>Rotate>Flip Horizontal. Getting close now!
I decided there were some elements there that I wasn’t going to use, so I just made them invisible. Now I can get things sorted.
I wanted to move that entire centre block of photos and elements over to the left of the page. I could do it one item at a time, but that’s not my schtick! So I Selected all the layers I want to shift by holding down the CTRL/CMD key and clicking on each layer, one at a time. It sounds time-consuming but it takes little more than a minute or two. I kept one eye on the Bounding Box so I could avoid including things I didn’t want in there. Once I had all the desired layers Selected, I just… moved them over!
I also nudged it up a bit. The cluster in the upper left corner could stay there, but I don’t think that’s what I want. I’d like to have a cluster in the lower RIGHT corner!
So I used the same process to Select all the layers there, and moved it too. There was one random little flower left out in the field, so I moved it down. Now to create a layout…
I used a mask from Prelestnaya-P, who was a GingerScraps designer once upon a time but isn’t currently. You might notice that the lower of the two horizontal photos has been made a bit wider; I wanted more of the waterfront in there. I’m quite pleased with the result. It looks nothing like the original template, and it was easy to achieve!
The next time you hear from me, it’ll be Designer Spotlight time again! August’s a two-fer and you’re going to love what I learned about these two ladies. See you later!
Follow Lisa on her Facebook Fan Page and her blog.
Remember, the download is kept up for 5 days, and then it is taken down. If you miss pieces, the kit will be available for purchase on the first day of the following month.
Post expires at 10:00am on Monday August 4th, 2025
Follow Lisa on her Facebook Fan Page and her blog.
Remember, the download is kept up for 5 days, and then it is taken down. If you miss pieces, the kit will be available for purchase on the first day of the following month.
Post expires at 10:00am on Sunday August 3rd, 2025
Follow Lisa on her Facebook Fan Page and her blog.
Remember, the download is kept up for 5 days, and then it is taken down. If you miss pieces, the kit will be available for purchase on the first day of the following month.
Post expires at 10:00am on Saturday August 2nd, 2025
Is anyone ready for Christmas? How about a Christmas in July sale? From today until 11:59 pm EDT on July 31 we are having our big Christmas in July sale.
Also make sure to read all the way through this newsletter to see a sneak peek at some August fun.
Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you get this great kit for free.
Time to see what is new in the store this week.
Here is a little sneak peek into some fun in August. It’s time for our {summer} scrap-a-thon.
Just a few days more for your July challenges. If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward! 
Challenge Spotlight: Daily Download
GingerScrappers, you’ve really been crushing the Challenges this month! When I was touring the Gallery looking for a likely Challenge to Spotlight today, I was quickly inundated with layouts. And the Challenges that make the best Individual Style posts were very well-represented. There were so many, in fact, that no matter which one I chose, I could never include ALL the Challenge layouts in a post that didn’t run on for days. So I decided to try something a little different. I decided to go with the Daily Download Challenge, which has two Designers‘ kits this month, You’re a Peach from Aimee Harrison and Cleaning Day from Twin Mom Scraps.
There were THIRTY layouts in the Challenge Gallery so I had to decide how to proceed in the fairest possible way. I opted to use Random.org to decide for me! I numbered each of the layouts, then entered all the numbers that were created with Aimee‘s kit into the randomizer. Then I chose the top 5 on the list.
Then I did the same with the layouts using Twin Mom‘s kit.
Now that I’ve explained the process for choosing which layouts to feature, I’ll remind you that each layout is linked to the Gallery so you can get a closer look, and so you can leave some comments, should you choose to do so. Just click on the Scrapper’s name. Let’s get started!
VariaMoon chose the bold plaid and patterned papers from Aimee‘s kit. Placing the paper pieces behind the photos on an angle emphasizes the geometry of the plaid. I like that she used colour cues from her photos to choose the papers she used to mat them with.
Here, imafishtank used mainly warm colours with the cool colours as accents to feature photos of a very pretty child and proud mama. She has such a variety of papers framing them and made a statement with her title.
Using just a few bits of the kit, domino44 created a bold celebration layout, framing her photo with a warm, peachy cluster.
Ooh, this looks like another celebration! Maybe a 4-generation celebration? The clusters pbhill created help draw the eye to her photo, while the warm palette coordinates beautifully with the colours in the photo. That butterfly seems to be quite popular. 😉
I can almost taste that pie… photocrazy stayed on theme for her layout. I like that she has a good amount of white space here, so the ribbons, rickrack and banner serve as tractor beams to draw the eye to the pie.
Now let’s look at Twin Mom’s kit. First up is greenfiend27. I like everything about her layout! The elements she chose not only play nice with her image colour-wise, but they’re also representative. Those bead scatters are so perfect.
I’m always impressed by no-photo layouts like this one from dhariana. Her focus on creating calm in her layout led to blending papers, sticking to a very neutral palette and the creation of a single, cohesive cluster.
5grand had a similar idea. I love the humour in her layout! Her choice of paint splatters behind the cluster replicates water all over the floor int he photo. Very clever! And the banner made me laugh out loud. She’s so right… housework isn’t fun! That’s why I pay to have someone do it for me. 😉
GrannyNKy put the emphasis on her photos. I, too, really wish I could have a clothesline – there’s no better smell in the world than line-dried laundry.
This poignant layout from ranchcreations made me a little misty. She kept the layout very clean and simple, to keep the focus on emotion. Her clusters are understated but achingly beautiful. My mom will soon be 90, so this will be in my foreseeable future. I hope I’m as dignified.
Hubby and I have been diligently cleaning our garage now that our big dining room set has sold and we have room to move. The peaches are starting to ripen on the trees here, and I’m so looking forward to slurping a bunch down soon. We’ve had a LOT of rain in the last week, and the cherries still on the trees are being threatened with splitting. I have photos of the cherry dryer to scrap and I’m seeing layouts in my head for both these kits! See you next week!
Hello everyone! I’m really excited about some of the new kits this week. I’m loving all the ocean and beachy vibes we’re getting in July.
Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you get this great kit for free.
Now let’s check what is new in the store this week. I see a few summer and beachy kits that look fun.
Have you grabbed the July Monthly Mix? Doesn’t this kit look so fun?
Are you working on your challenges? If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward!
Hey there everyone! We’ve reached the halfway part of summer (or winter if you are in the southern hemisphere). Have you done anything special? A family vacation or getaway? Do you have one planned? Remember to take all the pictures so you can scrap them all when the weather gets cooler.
Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you get this great kit for free.
Ready for the new releases? There is a fun mix of topics this week.
How are your challenges going? If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward!
