Behind the Scrapbook

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

January 8, 2019 by Jan

Any Way You Slice It

After last week’s tutorial went out and I posted my Possibilities layout there were several comments about the photo treatment I used. Well, I actually stole it from a paper layout I saw in an old issue of Creating Keepsakes. Sort of. The digital version is a lot less labour-intensive and creates no mess or destruction. No glue either. So I thought that might make a suitable topic for today’s tutorial!

I started out by adding a new blank layer above my photo layer. That can be done simply by clicking on the little piece-of-paper icon at the top of the Layers Panel. Then I activated the Rectangular Marquee tool. (CTRL/CMD>M)

Next I pulled out a narrow rectangular selection along the left edge of my photo, including the parts of the photo I wanted to keep and excluding the part I didn’t – who wants to look at a roof?

Then I added a narrow white stroke around the selected area.

Then I dragged out another rectangular selection from my photo. See that little dialog box with numbers in it? That’s a great tool! It tells you the dimensions of whatever shape you’ve dragged out, therefore allowing you to keep the width or length of your selection identical. (Or you can just CTRL/CMD>J it and make an identical copy that you can then adjust to whatever dimensions you want…)

These are the settings I used for all my strokes: 5 pixels in width, centered over the selection, white and 100% visible.

I made a bunch of copies of my second rectangle and moved them over, which let me really WSNH (Work Smart, Not Hard) by skipping a lot of steps. I left the width the same but stretched or shrunk heights as I went. Once I had the whole photo “sliced” up, I Merged the frames.

Then I moved back to the photo layer and, still using the Rectangular Marquee, I started selecting the areas of the photo I didn’t want to keep. Then I Cut those areas away. (CTRL/CMD>X)

All that was left was to apply a hint of a drop shadow on the frame layer to give the whole thing a little dimension. The shadow settings I used were Angle: 90°, Size: 16 pixels, Distance: 0 pixels and Opacity: 18% with the colour being black. I didn’t add a shadow to the photo itself.

It’s really that easy!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Inspiration)

January 1, 2019 by Jan

What’s Your Super Power (Word)?

Happy New Year! Are you ready for 2019? I know lots of you, like me, were happy to see 2018 to the door. When I was thinking about topics for this week’s tutorial, I had a few ideas, but my thoughts kept returning to just one. If you’re into social media, I know your Facebook and Instagram feeds have been flooded with chatter about New Year’s resolutions. And if you’re like me, resolutions are just wishes! Experts say it takes three months of repetition for a change to become a habit; how many of us actually stick to those diet plans, those vows to exercise more, that vague promise to ‘be more organized’, for that long? <insert laugh track here> Resolutions are things we have to DO. And I don’t like being told what to do. <wink>

What works better for me is to choose a ‘power word’ for the upcoming year, a word for me to strive to BE. If you’ve seen the annual challenge by the maven of scrapbooking, Ali Edwards, called One Little Word, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Choosing that one little word is harder than it sounds. Like making resolutions, it requires a certain amount of introspection and soul-searching. The first time I chose a power word was at the beginning of 2010. I was going through a very difficult chapter in my life then and had no idea how it would come out in the end. But I’d been through tough times before and I knew I’d come through this one too. So the word I chose was PERSEVERE. Yes, it’s an action, something I had to do, but it was also a state of mind and a state of being. Guess what… I PERSEVERED and came out the other side in much better shape than I expected. This time last year I was in a great mood with a new grandchild on the way and a trip to Ireland to find my roots in the offing. My power word was ANTICIPATE… and ANTICIPATE I surely did! By the end of the year, it had morphed into ENDURE after my husband’s accident in September. Thankfully things are 90% back to normal, and I’m entering into 2019 on a more optimistic footing. I know this year will bring challenges… after all, it’s LIFE, and that’s a challenge all by itself. But with my rose-coloured glasses firmly in place, I’m choosing POSSIBILITY as my power word this year. I usually tend to look at the glass as being half empty, but I’m making a conscious affirmation to look at the POSSIBILITY that things will go well.

Now, how do YOU go about choosing a power word for the year? If you’ve already made some resolutions, you can use them as a framework. Do you see a theme? Is there an impending event in the future that you’re already aware of, either with excitement or dread? Are things going well for you, or are you really struggling right now? There are a number of online resources designed to help choose a power word. One that I particularly like is found at Heidi‘s blog Happiness is Homemade. She has a list of options, and one of them is sure to resonate with you. Another resource is on Jess‘s blog, Cultivate What Matters.

When you go to scrap your power word, the only constraint is your imagination. You could choose a grungy, moody art journal style if that’s how you’re feeling, you could find a photo or a few that represent the theme, you could put it into a word cloud. You could create an acrostic with it and embellish the meaning using synonyms. So many options!!

I scrapped my guiding word today, with ADB Designs‘ gorgeous Coming to America bundle. My photo was taken in October when my husband, my son and I made a previously-planned-therefore-not-going-to-be-postponed-even-for-a-knee-injury trip to British Columbia. It’s the view from Tower Ranch Hillside Park in Kelowna, a spectacular vista I’ve fallen in love with. To me it’s the visual representation of POSSIBILITY – the sky really IS the limit!

Next week we’ll get back to the nuts-and-bolts of digital scrapbooking. Thank you for indulging my navel-gazing!

PS… for Rochelle (roxyrenders): Your comment on my Happy Holidays layout reads: “Wow- what kind of magic did you work on the wordart stamp? It almost seems as if it is glowing!” Simple little tricks! I first duplicated the mask/stamp layer. I applied a fine glitter style to the bottom-most of the two, then decreased the opacity of the layer to about 50% – that’s what creates the glow. Then on the upper layer, I clipped an ivory-and-gold foil brocade patterned paper (from JoCee Designs‘ December bundle) to the mask, then changed the Blend Mode to Hard Light. It’s just that easy!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Tutorials!)

December 11, 2018 by Jan

Now Where Did I See That Tutorial About…?

If you read the comments GingerScrappers leave here on the Blog you might have seen a brilliant suggestion from Ellen for a “quick tut” to index all the other tuts I’ve written over the last 2+ years. Lemme tell you, “quick” it ain’t! But it IS brilliant, so that’s what I’m bringing you today. Without further ado, here is a chronological linked index to all the tutorials I’ve prepared for you to date, all in one place.

1. Turn a Font into a Sticker

2. Use a Basic Template

3. Titles Revisited: Alphas Plus Fonts

4. One Photo, More than One Photo Spot

5. Making Templates Work for You

6. Simple Photo Blending

7. Extractions… Choose Your Method

8. Brush Basics: Colour

9. Playing with Text

10. Shadow Basics

11. Text Talk: LETTERPRESS!

12. Titles with STYLE(s)

13. Word Art Wizardry

14. For all you former paper scrappers: INKED EDGES!

15. Getting More Mileage from Your Templates… Easily!

16. Reverse Stencilling with Brushes

17. Kustomize Your Kits

18. Sizzling Signatures!

19. Journaling INside the Box

20. Yes! You CAN Warp Shadows in PSE!

21. Heritage Photos Get a Makeover

22. Only the Shadow Knows… Take TWO

23. When is a Square NOT a Square?

24. Creating Clusters… Not Clutter

25. Build-a-Brush Workshop

26. Blend Modes? Say What??

27. Down on the Border (not the Little River Band version)

28. Carol: Objects Inside Other Objects and Going Incognito

29. Tearing Up the Sheets (of Cardstock)

30. Style Savvy!

31. WSNH Tips and Tricks

32. Title Tweaks

33. Get in SHAPE, Girl!

34. Keeping Things in Perspective

35. Can This Photo Be Saved?

36. Behind the MASK

37. Michelle: Finding Font

38. Putting the “OH!” in Your Photos

39. Ellen: Talking about Tools

40. Chalking it Up to Inspiration

41. Becoming an ALPHA Female

42. Over-the-Top TITLES

43. Templates with a Twist

44. How’d You DO That?!! Fontography Demystified

45. A Little Bit Sketchy

46. More Fun with FONTS

47. Dodge and Burn… NOT an Action Movie

48. Reflections

49. The EYEs Have It

50. There’s a Flag on the Play – Out Of Bounds!

51. Abstract Meets Graphic Art

52. Mixing it UP!

53. Revisionist History

54. The TutOR Becomes the TutEE

55. A Few Quick Template and Shadow Tips

56. It’s a PUZZLE!

57. I Feel the Need… the Need for SPEED (Scrapping)!

58. More FUN with FOTOS

59. Turning a POSITIVE into a NEGATIVE

60. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

61. Scrapping with Heritage Photos

62. You’ve Gotta Know When to FOLD ‘Em

63. More Fun with Fonts – Die-Cut!

64. A(nother) Way with WORDS

65. Playing on Emotion

66. In the RAW!

67. Christmas FONTography

68. Ahead of the CURVE

69. Like Snowflakes… No Two ALIKE

70. The ART of ILLUSION

71. More Fun with Photos!

72. Fun with FONTS & FOTOS

73. First Past the Post(mark)

74. SKETCHIER!

75. Here’s a Little Clip!

76. The EYES Have It!

77. Facebook Timeline Covers

78. Tiny BUBBLES!

79. Uniquely YOURS

80. DIAMONDS are a Girl’s Best Friend

81. Totally TACKY!

82. UNZIP Me Dahling!

83. Direct Your Own SCRIPT

84. Transforming the Ordinary to the Extraordinary!

85. Making the Most of (inter)National Scrapbooking Day!

86. When SIZE Really DOES Matter…

87. A Road Map for Newbies

88. Throwing the BOOK at Glee

89. Jailbird No More!

90. Alphas Revisited

91. Everything New is Old Again

92. Still MORE Fun with FONTS!!

93. Where the Boys Are

94. Like a Broken Record

95. Creating Amazing Monograms

96. Vacation Memories Sanitized!

97. Another Way to Have the Photo You REALLY Wanted, Not the One You Got

98. Fontography with Alphas

99. Expanding Your Repertoire

100. Sketchy Simplified

101. It’s Fall, Y’All!

102. Making a Stylish Sandwich

103. Clusters… Have Them Your Way, the Easy Way!

104. Driven to Distraction

105. Are YOU Ready for Digital Scrapbooking Day?

106. Don’t Lose Your Cool… or Your Stash!

107. 8 ball, Corner Pocket!

108. One Hand in my Pocket… and the other one’s holding a Journal Card!

109. Shaving Shadows

110. Cuttin’ It Out – Old-School

111. Let’s All Give Thanks… for AWESOME Photos!

112. Gentle(wo)men, Start Your Ovens!

113. The EYE-lets Have It!

114. Save Me! (methods for saving layouts for gallery posting)

115. What’s Your Super Power (Word)?

116. Any Way You Slice It (quick way to duplicate a multi-strip photo)

117. Memory-Keeping with Not-So-Great Photos

118. Fancy and Fun Fonts for Wintery Layouts

119. Fancifying Those Fonts

120. Another Font-to-Alpha Option

121. It’s All About the EXPOSURE!

122. A Whole New Meaning to Copy-and-Paste! (A PSE-Word Mash-up)

123. Magic Eraser!! (Not Mr Clean but close)

124. Heritage and History: Recorded

125. Fontastic Spring!

126. What the Heck is a Vignette?

127. True Colours – Not Just a Song

128. Numbers-Go-Round

129. Stackin’ ’em Up!

130. Standing Out in a Crowd (How to scrap a template so it looks different from everybody else’s)

131. Repeating Patterns – Basic

132. Repeating Patterns – Part Deux

133. UnMASKing the MASK

134. Repeating Patterns, Part Three

135. Restoring those Vintage Snapshots

136. How Do You Know When to Upgrade?

137. Deconstructing the Custom Shadow

138. Complex Shadows – Jan’s Method

139. Summertime Funtime Fonts

140. FINALLY! Kerning is Here!

141. Watercolor Effects -SO Beautiful!

142. Even Sketchier Still!

143. Pick your Pivot Point

144. Can We Talk? (journaling)

145. Anatomy of a Paper Stack

146. Anatomy of a Well-Composed Layout

147. Making the Most of Milestones (first day of school photos)

148. Digital Duplication: Embossing

149. Another Paper-Scrapping Digi-Hack (flocked “fussy cut” elements)

150. Breaking the Digi-Scrapping Code (glossary of terms)

151. Slaying the Green-Eyed Monster

152. What’s Your Digi-Scrapping Style?

153. Background Check

154. Unlocking the Secret Extras in Your Font Files

155. For All the Mac Users – Unlocking Secrets in Your Fonts

156. Another Paper- to Digi-Technique – Stenciling

157. Paper-to-Digi: 3D Embossing

158. Hybrid Pillow Box

159. To Theme or NOT to Theme

160. DIY Christmas Card Workshop

161. Beyond the Ordinary – Holiday Photos

162. Double Indemnity? Nope, Double Exposure!

163. Getting in on the Action(s)

164. Decluttering Isn’t Just for Homes

165. Following Up for Donna

166. It’s a Total Eclipse (another paper-to-digi technique)

167. A-Tinting We Will Go

168. Effect? Affect? What’s the Difference?

169. Let’s Play Stump the Chump

170. Springy-y Fonts- Part 2

171. Jazzing Up a Font

172. Jan’s Meme Creation Challenge

173. It All Comes Out in the Wash-i (Realistic Digital Washi Tape)

174. Working in the Background (Creating Custom Backgrounds)

175. Be A-Frayed, Very A-Frayed (Realistic Fabric Tears)

176. Building Strong Borders with Brushes

177. Ten Fonts for Dad

178. Faking It! Tuck a Corner into a Digital Slit

179. Plan your Holiday Photos NOW!

180. Unlocking the Photoshop Elements Easter Eggs (Photoshop Elements Plus)

181. The Key to Painless Extractions (PSE +)

182. How Can I… Pierce My Paper?

183. It’s All a Matter of Taste (Black and White)

184. Taking the Shine Off (Photo Retouching)

185. Peek-a-Boo, I See You (Solving Under-exposed Faces)

186. Recorded History (Heritage Fonts)

187. When the Tutor Becomes the Tutored (Selective Recolouring for Word Art)

188. Another Guided Edit – Multi-Photo Text

189. Scrapping in the Time of COVID

190. Taming the Wild Template (Organizing and Finding Them)

191. The Photoshop Elements No-Diet Weight Loss Plan

192. Faking It – Those Incredible Full Moon Photos…

193. Method Scrapping – What’s My Motivation?

194. Customizing Template Banners

195. Preferences and Settings

196. Reflections, Perspective and Shadows

197. Jazzing Up a Neutral Background

198. Stuffing that Envelope

199. Christmas is Coming – Get Your Fancy Fonts Here!

200. Creating a 3D Metallic Look on 2D Shapes

201. New Year, New Challenges!

202. One BIG Word – Using a Title as a Divider

203. Another Take on Titles

204. Write Your Troubles in Sand

205. Hearts and Flowers (fonts)

206. Text Boxes Don’t Have to be Boxes!

207. Creating a Shadow-Box Layout

208. Creating a Shadow -Box Layout Part 2

209. Fooling Around With Gradients: Graduated Filters in Elements+

210. Circular Stencils: Another Paper-to-Digi Technique

211. Making Use of the Circular “Stencil”

212. I Love a Curvy Border

213. A 3D Title with Punch!

214. Gradient Border Masks – So Many Options!

215. 3D Photos – Yes, You CAN!

216. Selectively Recolouring Your Brushes

217. Uploading Your Layouts to the GingerScraps Gallery – Step by Step

218. Updating the Custom Cluster

219. Digital Stamps in Living Colour

220. Digitize your Handwriting

221. Selectively Colouring your Photos

222. Exploring Uncharted Territory (Elements Features)

223. Torn Paper: A Review

224. Jan’s Like a Broken Record… (or Why “Everything on Its Own Layer”)

225. More Fun with Blend Modes

226. Let’s Talk About New Computers

227. Which Template Format is Best for You?

228. How Do I Run an Elements+ Script on a Template?

229. Faking the Wood Burning Look

230. Colour Palettes, Swatches and How to Use Them

231. How Did They Do That? (Outlining a Title with Paper Cuts)

232. Anchors Aweigh! (Reverse Masking)

233. Jumpstart Your Layouts!

234. It’s Almost Digital Scrapbooking Day!

235. Fun Fonts for Layouts about Kids

236. Custom Word Art Using Only Fonts

237. Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due (or: Editing your Gallery images)

238. Use It All! Challenge Spotlight

239. Pleated Paper? Maybe,,,

240. November Challenge Spotlight: Template Challenge

241. Can I Make Something Crystal Clear? (As Glass)

242. Clearly Complete – Adding Some Background

243. DIY Worn Wood

244. Challenge Spotlight: Miss Fish Memory Mix Up Challenge

245. How Do I Build a Reusable Cluster?

246. Build-Your-Own-TEMPLATE!

247. Photo Mask Challenge with PrelestnayaP

248. Romantic and Corny… Valentine’s Day Fonts

250. Another Paper-to-Digi Technique: Partial Cutouts

251. Taking Those Shapes to the Next Level

252. Realistic Book Looks

253. Making Magic with Brushes

254. Creating Art with a Photo

255. A Simple Photo Border with Label

256. Importing a Tear

257. Making Your Own Messy Edges

259. April Quote Challenge with CathyK

260. QuickTrick: Improving the Work Flow with Templates

261. Template Mash-Ups Revisited

262. Create a Word Art Photo Frame

263. Challenge Spotlight: Perfectly Paired

264. Quick Trick: Correcting Colour Cast

265. Creating a Title Echo for Your Layout

266. Elements Work-Around: Photo in a Jar

267. Celebrating Dads and Grads (fonts)

268. Quick Trick: Anchor Points Revisited

269. Title-Topia

270. Quick Trick: Transparent Titles

271. Creased Paper Cut-Out Word Art

272. Going Creative with the Stitch Technique

273. Quick Trick: Transform a Selection

274. Turning a Font into a Sticker: Reprise

275. Yes! You Can Create Smooth Curved Lines with Elements!

276. Realistic Folded Paper Shapes

277. UnZIP Me, Dahling – Updated

278. Curvy Lines/Borders Method #2

279. Challenge Spotlight: Minikit

280. Quick Trick: Brighter Photos the Easy Way

281. Redirecting Text on Your Embellishments

282. Challenge Spotlight: Created With Rewards

283. Quick Trick: Auto Colour Correction

284: Don’t Let Your Text FLOAT!

285. Coloured and Patterned Shadows

286. Challenge Spotlight: Scraplift

287. Quick Trick Tuesday: Close All

288. I Do Hereby Firmly Resolve…

289. It’s the Snowy Season! (Fancify a Font)

290. Quick Trick: Controlling Camera Shake

291. Loading Those Styles

292. Pattern Files, Custom Shapes and Styles Mash-Up (Replay)

293. Quick Trick: Content-Aware Fill

294. Weaving – the Digital Way

295. Individual Style: Color Challenge

296. Quick Trick: Select SUBJECT

297. How Do I Know When to Stop? (Editing)

298. Guided Edit: Perfect Landscape

299. Quick Trick: No More Blemishes

300. Selectively Recolouring Brushes – Revisited

301. DIY Solid and Neutral Papers

302. Challenge Spotlight: Jumpstart Your Layouts II

303. Quick Trick: Dropping Things Where You Want Them

304. 3D Titles – Paper Letters

305. Are They Scribbles? Doodles?

306. Challenge Spotlight: Back It Up II

307. Quick Trick: Scroll Through Blend Modes

308. Guided Edit: Saturated Film Effect

309. Photo Edit: Plumb and Level

310. Challenge Spotlight: Word Art

311. Quick Trick: Layer Thumbnail Appearance

312. Going Right Back to Basics: Preferences

313. Inspiration: Song Lyrics

314. Challenge Spotlight: Inspiration

315. X-Fonter: A Powerful Font Manager

316. Using Alphas for Titles – A Technique Tweak

317. Challenge Spotlight: Minikit

318. Quick Trick: Special Effects Brushes

319. Autumn and Creepy Season Fonts

320. Four Ways to Use Dingbat Fonts

321. Quick Trick: Hiding Multiple Layers

322. Challenge Spotlight: Pinterest

323. Yes! You Can Add a QR Code to Your Layout!

324. Two Minute Warning! Holidays Ahead!!

325. Challenge Spotlight: Scraplift

326. Quick Trick: Type Tool Measurements

327. Realistic Snowy Titles

328. Challenge Spotlight: Pinterest

329. Quick Trick: Deselect

330. New Year, New Challenges

331. Textured Overlays – Whut?

332. Challenge Spotlight: Brush

333. Making Multi-Photo Layouts Work

334. Quick Trick: All-in-One Alphas

335. Scraplifting Mother Bear

336. Ink Smudge Technique for Photos

337. Text on a Custom Path – Keeping the Path

338. Tucked Photo Frames Made Easy

339. Challenge Spotlight: Word Art

340. Quick Trick: Cleaning Out the Cookie Jar

341. Inspiration for the April Scraplift Challenge

342. A Little Crisp Around the Edges (burnt paper look)

343. Challenge Spotlight: Daily Download

344. Quick Trick: Level Your Horizons

345. Stuffing a Vellum Envelope

346. Recolouring Word Art with Gradient Maps

347. Challenge Spotlight: iNSD Mini Kit Challenge

348. Quick Trick: Gradient Titles

349. Celebrating Dads and Grads Again (Fonts)

350. Quick Photo Edits with Blend Modes

351. Challenge Spotlight: Template

352. Quick Trick: Distressing Elements

353. Taking Distress to the Next Level

354. Creating and Shadowing Transparent Elements

355. Challenge Spotlight: Recipe

356. The Style File: Where Is It?

357. Quick Trick: What the Font?

358. Step-by-Step: Gallery Limits, Challenges and Cookie Jar Entries

359. Multitasking: Gallery Uploads

360. Challenge Spotlight: Real Moments

361. Paper-to-Digi: Tone-on-Tone Heat Embossing

362. Challenge Spotlight: DSD Brush Challenge

363. What Do I Do With All My Layouts? (printing)

364. Quick Trick: About Those Shortcuts

Filed Under: Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Digital Scrapbooking)

October 16, 2018 by Jan

8 ball, Corner Pocket!

Last week when I was struggling to find a topic to write about, I asked the GingerScraps Ad Team members for some ideas. Teresa suggested I do something about pocket scrapping. I have to tell you, I was floored. Pocket scrapping isn’t my thing and it’s really not my comfort zone either. I know it was a big part of the digi world several years ago, and I flirted with Project 52 (there’s NO WAY I could commit to Project 365 and I admit it!) but I wasn’t all that successful. So I had some learning to do before I could present myself as an expert. Ha! The EXPERT is Becky Higgins, the developer of Project Life. She has an app for that in addition to a whole paper line for pocket scrapping.

What IS pocket scrapping? Basically, it’s a clean-and-simple style of layout based mainly on a grid. It’s ideal for documenting the memorable (and the ordinary) events of our lives. Each section of the grid or block can hold a photo, a pocket/journal card, art work or a cluster of embellishments.

Why is it called pocket scrapping? It has its roots in paper scrapping, and it makes use of vinyl pockets of mainly two standard sizes, 2″x3″ and 4″x6″. Digital pocket scrapping follows the same format, and it lends itself very well to hybrid scrapping. You can create your page, print it and then attach buttons, ribbons, lace and pockets holding ephemera to the page.

Most of the designers on the GingerBread Ladies team here create kits and templates that work beautifully for pocket scrapping. In fact there are pages and pages of kits tagged for this style of memory keeping. And it’s easy to find them, too! I thought about giving you a list of designers whose products are amazing for pocket pages, but it would be a lot faster just to show you how to see them for yourself.

I’d love to show you some examples I found in the Gallery. This one is from trina513. I like that she’s used her Instagram photos.

minicooper452 created this one. The photos tell a story, and the journaling preserves the excitement of the day.

This one by emscraps is obviously a Project 52 layout. Em has managed to maintain her P52 for years now!

Belis2mi has documented a special day for her children with this layout.

I really like the feel this layout from amyjcaz has, with the photos of how she spent her day at the beach.

Because I live in cowboy country, this one by psychozoe caught my eye right away.

And then there’s this one from firstoscartgrouch that’s so whimsical and fun.

After looking at all these examples of pocket scrapping and seeing the individual stamps of each scrapper on her layout, I decided to give it a shot! It’s pretty amateurish, but maybe if I do a few more…

Next week there will not be a tutorial. We’re going to visit my parents and then our daughter in her new home in the mountains for a few days and I just won’t be able to squeeze in a blog post. I’ll be doing all the driving so I’ll be seeking a horizontal surface!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Project 365, Theres An App For That, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

From the Archives Vol. 2

May 9, 2016 by GingerScraps

We are back in the archives this week. If you miss last month’s you can view them here. What archives ? Well, we are going to show you some digital scrapbooking supplies that are in the store that are at least a year old. Some of us may be new to digital scrapbooking or new to GingerScraps. Some people don’t check the store every week. Basically, things can and do get lost in the weekly shuffle of the store. With that in mind, we are going to go back and look at some great products. Our hope is that you find some great things you might have been looking for; or find something that you didn’t know you needed but totally do now that you see it! 🙂

For the 2nd edition of From the Archives, we are going to to back as far as we can. Here are some of the oldest kits in the store. All images are linked so you can check them out in the store. They might be oldies, but I promise they are goodies!!

This is and will probably always be one of my favorite kits from Aprilisa. (I did suggest the colors after-all). It is a great boy kit that you can keep coming back to. What a great price as well!

Also one of my favorite kits from Pretty in Green. Yes…it is another boy kit. Such great colors and fun elements. I really like the kraft paper feel to it as well.

How about a beautiful kit that is a bit more on the girly side? This makes me think of glass slippers and pretty dresses. I really like the glittery feel to the entire kit.

On the theme of Disney, what about this kit from Connie Prince?! This looks like a kit that hardcore Disney lovers or even the average Disney lovers could keep coming back to.

I love Pixelily designs. There is always an artsy look to her more traditional designs.

There are 5 kits from the archives. Maybe you have some or all of these (I do!) or maybe these designs and designers are new to you. I suggest taking a look back in the store to see what you can find. I will be back once a month to help you do just that.

Filed Under: Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking, Product/Designer Spotlight, Uncategorized Tagged With: From the Archives

Behind the Scrapbook

September 11, 2010 by GingerScraps

Good evening scrappers, if you’re still up if not good morning! I hope you are having a wonderful day! I had a quiet day. I drove the hubby to the airport today, he is gone till Friday:( So it’s an all girl week… I feeling some rice, chicken and broccoli coming on and maybe even a little shopping!!! Then I made my hour drive home take about 5 hours!! OK so I spent a little time searching for Geo Caches all the way home! I have found 68 caches to date! It’s really nice to have some quiet time walking around in the bush looking for junk but the quiet time is the real treasure. I’m also getting ready to launch my own caches soon. I made some super cool cache containers and I’ll share some photos next week!

So I was chatting with Amy and she is looking forward to having some quiet time too…. kinda….

Amy is pretty excited that her husband is taking their three year old to the “Big Guy, Little guy and Gal” overnight camping trip on the 10th. She will have one evening with just her one year old (who goes to sleep at 7pm), and the the “big guys” will get a fun experience. (Next year the one year old will be old enough to join them!)

I remember those days!! And look forward to maybe seeing some fun photos!! IDK do dad’s take pictures??

Oh and Jodi had a big week…

Tuesday September 7th Jodi started home schooling Rebekah! Rebekah is 3 and will be 4 in December so is in Pre-School. Rebekah was very excited about starting school and asked if it was time for school yet everyday for weeks before she started. The day after Labor Day was the big day and Rebekah was thrilled to get started. She picked out a backpack that she wanted just a few weeks before.
This week Rebekah learned about the letter A, the state of NJ (where she lives), the planet Earth, the number 1, the shapes heart, diamond, circle, and square and the colors red, blue, yellow, and pink. She also learned from her Bible about creation and Adam and Eve. She painted with paint and water colors, colored with markers and crayons, and wrote the letter A and a and the number 1. Boy she’s had a full week!

Her Dora desk that she loves so much!

The backpack she picked out…

Painting in one of her daddy’s old shirts…

Coloring a heart with markers…

And the letters A she made with cereal (Apple Jacks and Alphabet Cereal)

Jodi realized after she took the picture that she put the lowercase a upside down for the picture. hehe

Wonderful work Rebekah!!! Jodi is such an ambitious mom to take on this big job!! I know there are quite a few of you mom’s out there that decide to home school your children…. my hats off to you!! I have no idea how you do it!! I sure look forward to updates along the way and seeing some more art projects!!

While I’m on the topic of school and kids… my sister an I were talking about school uniforms yesterday. I have to say I’m all for the school uniform. I love that everyone at school would wear the same thing and it wouldn’t cost parents a small fortune buying all the brands our kids love!! My sister on the other hand is totally against it! Her stance is that a school uniform only comes in limited if not only one style and that we are all different body shapes. So the same outfit doesn’t work for everybody!! I can see her point but I have to say that I’m still all for it.

So I’m wondering, did you ever have to wear a uniform and how did you feel about it?? Would you want your kids to have school uniforms??

Filed Under: Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking

Behind the Scrapbook

September 4, 2010 by GingerScraps

So summer is slowly winding down. Kids are back in school and now the mommy’s have a little more time to do mommy things! I know I’m excited and so is Shannon, A.K.A Shananigans! Here’s what she wrote me when I asked what was her favorite thing about this summer….

My kids start school on the 1st. Officially one more year before my “baby” can go to pre-kindergarten, which really means one more year before I get 2 hours to myself everyday!

My favorite thing about the summer was starting to work for Ginger Scraps!

Awww isn’t she awesome!? It so awesome that she loves Ginger Scraps as much as we do!! I know in the morning GS is my first stop. I have to check out the chatter section and see what you’re all up to!!

I was also talking with Rachel, She’s had a few milestones this summer…

If you remember a few weeks ago Rachel of Pretty in Green shared with us a little milestone of Ana’s, she got a Big Girl bed! Well now little miss Ana is 2!!! She turned 2 on the 31^st of August and is officially in the “terrible twos” lol no really she’s always terrible but she knows how to steal your heart and get away with it, lol! Here’s a few pics of here birthday cupcakes, Rachel made the frosting from scratch, she said it was a big hit! Happy Birthday Anastasia!

One other Milestone she wants to share with us, her little boy, Gage, is now a biker! He learned how to work his big bike with training wheels, no more trike for him! We are all very proud of him!

Mandy has had a fun summer… their last outing before school started was the Calgary Zoo!! Here are a few snaps…

Julie, Kelsey and Ben:)

Mandy’s favorite part of the whole day was the butterfly tent!!

And here is the little one carrying the big one…

Poor Kelsey’s feet where getting sore so Julie thought she’d help out!

And of course Mandy’s favorite summertime activity… this was her first ammo box find!!! If she’s not at Ginger Scraps you can find her Geo Caching!!

So what was your favorite summer activity??

Filed Under: Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking

Behind The Scrapbook

July 3, 2010 by GingerScraps

Oh my gosh!! Has anyone else had a crazy busy week?? Kiddos are out of school, Canada day and Independence Day tomorrow. I know there’s lots of festivities going on. I was supposed to go to the cabin with my BFF but I just couldn’t get it together in time… real life sometimes gets in the way of my fun life. Although I’m sitting here in the quite… first time I sat down all day and I have to say I’m feeling good. Sure my week was long but I have a great sense of a accomplishment and I can sit here with my feet up sipping my nighty night tea and feel guilt free about sleeping in tomorrow morning!

It’s also been pretty busy around Ginger Scraps this week. I know I’m missing my ladies and looking forward to a new month filled with fun challenges! I’ve been taking pictures like crazy so I’m set!

I have been a little absent but I did check out Rachel’s new store… Hmmm yup that’s right I’m so excited to welcome Pretty in Green to Ginger Scraps. I’ve been a fan of her freebies and LO’s for some time and she is such a welcome addition to the team:) I am so excited about her new puppy love series… I have sooo many puppy photos that still need to be scrapped!

She also has other breeds of dogs as well… which is good because I have a whole pack!!

Rachel also has some good news on the home front. Her dear daughter Ana is really getting used to her new glasses she has even caught her even fixing them on her face rather than taking them off she just looks so grown up in them, way too cute! Way to go Ana!!

In other goings on… I happened to talk to Mandy and she is recovering from her Ryliegh hangover! She had her niece Rye spend the week at her house… now keep in mind that her kids are 16 (we’ll get to that later!) and 11…

I’m going to copy and paste a post of hers from our private DT thread…. haha shhh…

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Seriously I have no idea how you guys get anything done with little ones running around. I had my niece Rye for the past week and a bit and I am soooo pooped!!

She fun and pretty easy to look after but needs constant supervision! One day when she was running to the potty I was trying to just finish up gathering dishes… like 10 seconds goes by and I’m hot on her heels. I go to the bathroom and she’s not there…I find her in the kitchen … she had dumped a water bottle full of water into my big container of rice! So I made some rice that night for dinner…

She’s also doesn’t not like to be messy so if she gets a spot of mess on her clothes she needs to change…. it got to the point she showed me how to turn on my washing machine!! She’s brilliant! It’s a front load washer so she loads it with all her clothes I just need to do the soap!

Anyways life should be getting back to normal so I can catch up with my scrapping…

While I sit here a have a beer….... <—- that’s my favorite part ha!

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And here’s a picture of the sweetie.. BTW totally getting the potty thing… Yay Rye!

Mandy also had another milestone this week. Her daughter Kelsey turned 16!!! And got her licence!! And a car!!!! That a whole lot for a mom to take in all in one week!!

Here’s Kelsey in her car…