Blog — Page 27

📢 Exciting Partnership Announcement! 🎉

Jul

2023

📢 Exciting Partnership Announcement! 🎉

GingerScraps and The Digital Scrapper join forces to bring you an extraordinary opportunity! We are thrilled to introduce our new business partnership. We have personally taken some of The Digital Scrappers classes and can tell you from first hand experience that they are wonderful! They are created to be totally confusion and frustration free! The Digital Scrappers classes are top notch!

Over the coming months GingerScraps will feature some of The Digital Scrappers amazing classes, for our first class we picked the “Painting With Patterns” class. This remarkable class will unlock the world of Photoshop techniques for digital scrapbooking enthusiasts, taking your creativity to new heights. We are dedicated to empowering our customers with the skills and knowledge to create stunning digital art.

“Painting With Patterns” is a one-of-a-kind class that will dive deep into the realm of Photoshop, unveiling an array of techniques that will revolutionize your digital scrapbooking projects. From expert guidance on blending modes to harnessing the power of patterns, this class will equip you with invaluable skills to elevate your designs. Master the magic of the Pattern Stamp Tool and see how easy it is to turn strokes and stamps into stunning scrapbook pages.

In this class, Syndee Rogers, from The Digital Scrapper, will gently guide you through settings, brushes, patterns, papers, and more! Now you can stop avoiding the Pattern Stamp tool and start using it to create stunning scrapbook pages.

LIMITED TIME – SAVE 35% on Painting with Patterns!
Exclusively from GingerScraps!
On sale now through July 31, 2023, Midnight Eastern.

Painting With Patterns includes:

17 videos for both PS & PSE
Closed captioning (optional) while streaming
15 brushes, 19 patterns, 7 papers, 8 elements
1 word art, 1 style set, 1 template & 5 photos
Challenge Tracker for motivation
Syndee’s Keep It Tidy System for organization
Instant & FOREVER Access
Our 30-day Satisfaction Guarantee

Is Painting With Patterns for you?
It’s for all styles of scrapbooking.
It’s for beginners. It’s for the more advanced.
It’s for scrapbookers, card makers and budding designers!
If you have Adobe Photoshop or PSE 2019 or newer, then this class is for you.

Questions about Painting With Patterns? Contact Syndee Rogers

Here are a few examples of pages/patterns created with this class:

Remember that is exclusive 35% off discount ends July 31, 2023
Enroll Me
LINK: https://qwiklearn.teachable.com/p/painting-with-patterns-gs/?affcode=159709_crihvr_k

Stay tuned for more updates, and get ready to unleash your creativity with GingerScraps and The Digital Scrapper. Together, we’ll transform your digital scrapbooking projects into breathtaking works of art!

Filed Under: The Digital Scrapper, Tutorials

Designer Spotlight: July 2023

Jul

2023

In the Spotlight: Neia Scraps!

It feels like forever since I had this chat with Edneia, aka Neia Scraps. Things kinda went sideways here and I put our conversation on the back burner; just as I was falling asleep last night I remembered and had a mini panic attack. I’m so sorry, Neia. Hopefully all is not lost.

Neia told me she enjoyed our last visit when she was in the Spotlight with Dani (JB Studio) and hoped we could switch up the topics a bit this time so no one is bored. Absolutely! Let’s see how much I remember of our chat.

N: Let me start!! Hello, fellow Scrappers! My name is Edneia, I’m 43 years old, I’m married for 20 years and I have 2 cute kittens.

J: Oh, that’s a first! I need more coffee. So. Tell me how long you’ve been designing so we can get the formalities out of the way.

E: I started designing in 2011 when I found out I was pregnant with my second daughter.

J: Is that what inspired you to jump into digital scrapbook design?

E: I decided that I would have a profession that would give me the opportunity to be closer to my daughters and I liked it so much that today she is 12 years old and I still work at home.

J: It’s wonderful that you’ve been able to work from home for so long! I stayed home with my kiddos until the youngest was 4, then I worked part time, mostly evenings. Are your daughters your main motivation?

E: No, actually, my biggest inspirations to start a project are colors. When thinking about a theme, I look for the colors that inspire me, but often the colors inspire me first and the theme is based on a color palette.

J: That seems like a good place to start, rather than trying to shoe-horn a palette into a structured theme. Do you have a favourite kit in the GingerScraps Store?

E: My current favorite kit is “Ocean Wonder“. I’ve always loved the sea and blue is one of my favorite colors. I loved the wood effects I used in this kit. The sea can be soft and at the same time have the strength of the blue immensity.

J: It’s GORGEOUS!! I have to say, I really like how your design style has evolved over the last year or so. What would you do if you won the lottery?

E: I would love to travel the world, see some different places, like Australia for example. (Even with so many huge spiders lol)

J: Travel is a common theme for that question. You can have the spiders… but that makes me wonder, since I’ve found quite a few of the 8-legged creepy-crawlies in my bathroom, are you more likely to sing or dance in the shower?

E: I sing AND dance, hahahahaha!

J: I do too. I love my Bluetooth speaker and my Amazon Music playlists for that. It helps to have a huge shower-only spa bathroom. Spiders notwithstanding. Do you have a green thumb?

E: I love plants but they don’t love me. I already tried it, but my finger is not green.

J: Gardening is one of my stress-busters. I can think troublesome things through and work out some frustrations digging up all the rocks our yard is built on. But I think I’m done digging holes. What colours do you like? Are there any you really DON’T like?

E: My favorite color is pink, I really LOVE the color pink. And the least favorite is some shades of green. Although I LOVE plants and nature, there are few shades of green that I really LOVE.

J: My flowers are mostly pinks, purples, blues and whites, with the HOA-required Stella d’Oro daylilies adding some yellow. My wardrobe is pretty much the same… but NO yellow. I look awful in yellow. All those yellow isolation gowns I wore on the job. <shudder> One time at work we did a little thought experiment. One of my coworkers asked each of us who we’d want to portray us in PICU: The Movie. It was a lot of fun. So…

E: Margot Robbie. She could play me as sweet as the Barbie doll and also as crazy as Harley Quinn.

J: Hahahahaha! I can see it! I had no idea who would be right for my part; my coworker thought for a minute and said, “Judi Dench!” Uh. She’s 20 years older than I am, pal. “But she’s so dignified!” Uh. Have you met me?? Anyway. My warning label would say “Caution! May explode without warning!” What would yours say?

E: “Be careful, it’s fragile but it knows how to bite.”

J: Same, friend. Same! Thank you so much for letting our readers get to know you better.

E: Thank you, I loved participating. GS is a very dear store to me. It is my home. And all the staff are always very friendly.

J: You are so right, Neia! Before we wrap this up, I just want to remind everybody of all the ways you’re making GingerScraps a better place while you’re in the Spotlight. Besides creating beautiful kits, that is. Ladies, Neia is providing this month’s Daily Download and is hosting the Designer Spotlight Challenge. In addition to her regular monthly My Memories Challenge. And… drum roll please… her store is on sale all month PLUS she has a coupon!!

See you all soon!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Daily Download, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Feature Designer, GingerBread Ladies, Product/Designer Spotlight Tagged With: Designer Spotlight

July 7, 2023: Fresh Baked

Jul

2023

Welcome to another Friday. We’ve got some really cute things in this weeks Fresh Baked releases.

Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you’ll get this kit for free.

Let’s look at those new goodies in the store.

Have you gotten a start on your challenges? Complete any 10 challenges and get this kit as a reward.

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking, Fresh Baked, GingerBread Ladies Tagged With: Digital Scrapbooking, Fresh Baked, GingerBread Ladies

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Jul

2023

Guided Edit: Saturated Film Effect

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3NFN4x8

My sister recently took her first real vacation in about 10 years. She and a friend took a driving trip around the Maritimes. My sister was born in New Brunswick, but hadn’t been back there since she was 2 years old… she’s 51 now. So she was more than thrilled to see where her very first home was. She took a MILLION photos, and has given me permission to use them for scrapping purposes. I think you know what I’m going to do with them, right? Anyway, when I was looking for a likely photo for this tutorial, one of hers lent itself to the task.

I’ve played with Guided Edits before and found some I really like to use. I never could think of a use for the one I’m going to show you today – until today. The Saturated Film Effect Edit may be a real game-changer! As you can see, this photo is a bit insipid, but I’m going to fix it.

OMG! I JUST noticed the seagull on the far right, after staring at this photo for hours!

This is the path to the Guided Edit: Guided>Color>Saturated Film Effect.

The text on the screenshot is verbatim from the instructions for the Edit. Each time you click the Add bar, the effect will be increased.

Here’s what it looks like after one click. Give the result a quick but thorough look before you click again.

After two clicks, I’m seeing a nice deepening of the blue of the water, but a less-pleasing change in the colour of the grasses in the foreground.

Yeah… no. The grass after three clicks looks ghastly!

So I clicked on the Cancel button. I’m working on that Copy Layer (the original layer is turned off) and I’ll Mask off the grass and try again.

I opted to use the Selection Brush set to Mask, with a 75 pixel hard round brush. The Overlay is set to 50%. I could go a bit lower and still see my Mask well, but let’s leave it. I’m not going to be too fussy about the individual blades of grass. Here’s what the Mask looks like.

I want the grass to be untouched going forward, so I’ll Invert the Selection by Select>Inverse or CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I before moving to the next step.

Now that I’ve protected the rocks and water, I can Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X the grass away from the Copy Layer.

Okay, let’s run the Guided Edit again.

Aha! That seems to be the ticket! There’s good definition in the rocks and the shadowed area, the water is a beautiful blue and the seagull is just hanging out. So I’ll click Next.

This is another fork in the road. I need to decide if I’m happy with my results so I can Save As the image, or if I want to keep tweaking in Expert. Y’all know me, so you know where we’re going…

I expected Elements to add a new layer with each click, so I’m not sure where these extra layers came from. But I’ll go with it.

I think I want just a bit more punch so I’ll change the Blend Mode on the topmost layer to Multiply.

Oh. Maybe not that much! But since I have so many other layers, I’m sure I can figure it out. Maybe an Opacity drop will help.

It’s better at 75%, but maybe still not quite there. What happens if I change the second layer there to Screen? Remember, Screen lightens.

I adjusted the Opacity on the two Blended layers until I was satisfied I hadn’t ruined my image. There’s good contrast, the rocks look sharp and the grass looks natural.

Here are the two versions side-by-side. I’m definitely going to use this Edit again!

If you’re planning to watch some fireworks tonight, I have a tip for you for getting the best photos from your phone, courtesy of Chari at Persnickety Prints. Turn off the HDR mode and use Live Photo instead. For Android users that’s called Single Take. Essentially, you’re taking a very short video which will allow you to choose the perfect image. Turn the flash OFF. Hold the phone as steady as possible, then tap the screen to lock the focus. Make sure you have some landscape or monument of some sort in the frame to give you a sense of scale and to add visual interest to your composition. If you’re using a DSLR, make sure you’re using a tripod to eliminate camera shake. Again, no flash. If your camera has a fireworks setting, choose it and the camera will take care of the other settings. If not, set it to Manual, ISO 200, Aperture F/8 and shutter speed at 5-15 seconds. Check the first couple of images and adjust the speed as needed. And have fun!!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

GingerScraps: New FREE with Purchase Collab, New Monthly Mix, NEW Guest Designer & More!!

Jul

2023

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, New Daily Download on the GingerScraps Blog, & a New Guest Designer!

Let’s start out with the July Buffet. Don’t forget to check out the Buffet Bundles. One easy click to add bundles of Buffet goodies to your cart.

The Buffet colors this month make me happy. 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. It’s time for a {fresh summer’}.

This Free With Purchase was created by Chere Kaye Designs, Cindy Ritter Designs, HeartMade Scrapbook, and LDragDesigns.

This collab includes: 1 Alpha {Uppercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 48 Papers, and 86 Elements.

What a cute name for a collab. It’s {sea la vie}.

This Monthly Mix was created by Aimee Harrison, CathyK Designs, Designs by Lisa Minor, Scrappin’ Serenity, and Key Lime Digi Design.

This collab includes: 3 Alphas {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 60 Papers, and 111 Elements.

Now to the July Daily Download Sneak Peek. This month’s Daily Download is from Neia Scraps! Make sure you are checking the blog every day to get all the pieces of this kit!

We have a special guest designer for July.

Kimeric Creations

BIO:
Kim Lichtfuss, of Kimeric Kreations, was a renowned digital scrapbook designer known for her exquisite use of color and distinctive shabby design style. Kim poured her passion for creativity into every digital creation she designed. Tragically, she passed away in 2018, leaving behind a legacy of remarkable artwork. In honor of Kim’s memory and to keep her artistic spirit alive, her family has made the decision to share her extensive collection of work with the world. We invite you to explore and cherish the beautiful designs crafted by the talented Kim, celebrating her remarkable talent and the joy she brought to others through her art.

Are you ready for the July challenges? Remember any 10 completed challenges gets you this great kit.

This Challenge Reward was created by CarolW Designs, Craft-tastrophic, Ilonkas Designs, Triple J Designs, and Moore Blessings Digital Design.

This collab includes: 1 Alpha {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 63 Papers, and 118 Elements.

And now a few layouts from our great store CT. These were all made using the July Monthly Mix {sea la vie}.

Filed Under: Buffet, Daily Download, Digital Scrapbooking, GingerBread Ladies, Guest Designer Tagged With: buffet, Daily Download, Digital Scrapbooking, GingerBread Ladies, guest designer

June 30, 2023: Fresh Baked

Jun

2023

I’m not sure how we’ve reached the last Friday in June already. This month seems to have flown by more than others. But we are now at the halfway point of 2023. I hope your year has been amazing so far.

Remember if you spend $10 in the store you will get this great kit for free.

Let’s check out the new kits in the store this week.

Have you picked up the June Monthly Mix? Only a day left to get it at this great price.

Have you got your challenges done? This kit is yours as a reward if you complete any 10 challenges.

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking, Fresh Baked, GingerBread Ladies Tagged With: Digital Scrapbooking, Fresh Baked, GingerBread Ladies

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Jun

2023

Quick Trick: Scroll Through Blend Modes

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3PxeDv0

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested to try a bunch of Blend Modes on a brush, scribble, stamp or even photo layer. But I never thought to tell you how to do it quickly and easily. Let’s fix that right now! This will be one of the Quickest Tricks I’ve ever shared with you.

Make sure the layer you want to Blend is the active layer. Then just double-click on the Blend Mode control bar. Now you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse, or the ↑ and ↓ keys on your keyboard. It’s really just THAT easy! To turn it back off, just activate another layer. (If you forget to take that last step, Elements will continue to consider the ↑ and ↓ keys to be tied to the Blend Mode function and you won’t be able to usee them to nudge your layers up or down. You’ll figure it out fairly quickly!)

See? Quickest Trick ever!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

June 23, 2023: Fresh Baked

Jun

2023

Happy Friday! I hope you have all had an amazing week.

Remember if you spend $10 in the store you will get this great kit for free.

Time to see the new items in the store this week.

How are your challenges going?. This kit is yours as a reward if you complete any 10 challenges.

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking, Fresh Baked, GingerBread Ladies Tagged With: Digital Scrapbooking, Fresh Baked, GingerBread Ladies

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

Jun

2023

Challenge Spotlight: Back It Up

This month’s Spotlight Challenge is brought to you by ADB Designs (aka Diane). Her gentle reminder each month that we should practice good data management habits seems to be lost on me. I’ve backed up SOME of my photos. I’ve unzipped and organized SOME of my digistash. I’ve unzipped but not organized SOME of my digistash. I’m not the best one to be giving anyone advice on this topic and I know it! Diane uses her Back it Up Challenge to prod us into action, and while we’ve got those photo folders open, she gives us a theme to keep in mind as we’re backing them up. This month the theme is Picnic/Summer Food. There are so many ways this theme can be addressed in a layout. Let’s have a look.

As always, the layouts shown are linked to the Gallery so you can pop over there and leave some praise for the GingerScrapper. Just click on the user name and you’ll be right there. The layouts are in the order they were uploaded and I’ve snagged all of them this month. Ready?

Rhewko‘s large-and-in-charge photo is quite literally the centerpiece of the layout. Does it reflect the theme? 100%! I love the line of actual marching ants across the bottom that adds a nice whimsy.

There’s a casual elegance to kabrak1207‘s layout. The barbecued meat photo is making my mouth water. I almost didn’t notice the two grills used as circle elements behind the photos. Clever!

Tamsin McAtee has pulled colour from her photo and chosen a beautiful kit to build her layout with. How romantic?!

For her layout, lawyerlyn has also used colour from her photos. Those bright, summery paper pieces she’s scattered behind them are so pretty. That coconut shell beverage is the perfect foil for the street-food fruitshake photos.

CathyS has picnic food in a supporting role for her family day layout. I tend to remember more of the who and the fun and less of the menu with events like this, so I might have done the same!

I can also relate to DianeInOz‘s situation regarding group tours. The food looks delectable and she couldn’t really enjoy it! (Sorry about the broken foot, Diane.) The muted colours she chose for her layout work really well with the muted colours in her photos, so they’re the focus.

I love the steampunk feel to wendeeds‘ layout. Look at all those photos! What a great adventure they had. Victorian food isn’t exactly run-of-the-mill… terrine of pheasant and venison anyone? Beats the medieval dinner I once enjoyed – with my fingers.

Camping and cooking over an open flame can be so much fun. The cheery colours chigirl has used for her layout mesh with her photos, reflecting fun, and I bet there were smores galore later.

Is there any food that says summer quite like watermelon? Theme? CHECK! This layout by ollitko is such an attention-getter. Beautiful!

Is it just me, or does this layout not radiate warmth? Everything ranchcreations has used just blasts love and sunshine.

This layout by msbrad takes me back to when my daughter played softball and weekends were spent outside, food was scarfed down with abandon and everybody had fun. Her use of primary colours against a sheet of scribbler paper evoke those memories even more sweetly.

And finally, I’m always fascinated by how KatherineWoodin approaches a challenge. She never disappoints!

We’re having some weird weather in western Canada right now. Snow in the mountain parks in June?! WHY!! Maybe the wildfire situation can be sorted out now. I had a dream about tornados after seeing reports from the midwest. We’re not paying enough attention to climate change, are we? Anyway… go back up your important files before you forget!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

June 16, 2023: Fresh Baked

Jun

2023

How are we already halfway through June? I’m always amazed at how crazy fast the year seems to go. You’re in for a treat today too. Since today is the 15th, we also have the start of the Bake Sale today.

Remember if you spend $10 in the store you will get this great kit for free.

Let’s have a look at some of the new items in the store.