Challenge Spotlight

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

November 21, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Scraplift

There are several great things about GingerScraps Challenges. They can provide inspiration when we might think we have no gas in our scrapping tanks. (That’s me right now.) They can get us out of our comfort zones. They can teach us new tricks or techniques. They can help us through tough times, through distraction or through acknowledging them. Some of the Challenge hosts provide us with free templates or minikits to use for our layouts. Other hosts offer participation prizes or coupons for their stores. (Were you expecting me to tell you which ones? Not today, Ray! I want you to go look at the Challenges!) Last, but definitely not least, there’s the monthly Challenge Reward kit, a collaboration between several of the GS Designers, that is completely free for simply completing 10 layouts. More about that later. This month’s Reward is this one:

My purpose behind the Challenge Spotlight is to let YOU, the lifeblood of GingerScraps, shine. This month I’m showcasing the Scraplift Challenge, hosted by Lena, aka LDragDesigns. This Challenge asks you to look at a layout created by a member of our Community, chosen by the host, and create your layout using the chosen layout as your inspiration. When I participate, I tend to be about 95% faithful to the exemplar layout, because why not? Others will be inspired by the colour palette, others by the way the clusters are arranged, still others by the subject matter. That’s what makes this such a great Challenge – we all have our own perspectives. So let’s look at how differently each Scrapper has interpreted the Challenge, shall we? [As usual, each of the layouts to follow is linked to the Gallery so that you can get a better look, and so you can offer some praise to the Scrapper. Just click on their user name and it’ll take you right there! Your layouts appear in the order they were uploaded to the Gallery.]

First, though we should look at the layout Lena chose as her exemplar. It’s from Cinna.

Firstoscartgrouch has the basic structure of the exemplar here, but she’s substituted 4 photos for the 2 Cinna used. Her clusters are larger but no less beautiful! She’s added texture to the background with brushes, a technique I love.

B2N2Scraps has the basic structure as well, but she’s used a journal card where the original has journaling; to make that work so well, her photos and journal card space are all the same size. I don’t think it would look as balanced had she made the journal card smaller to fit into the dimensions of the original. Another unique touch is the reversal of the colour palette. Well played!

GrannyNKy too has kept to the basic structure but has gone more minimalist. She’s used some confetti to add dimension without taking the attention away from her photos.

Grace. has the structure, and she’s replaced the journaling with a transfer (which I LOVE!) and embellished her title to emphasize her theme. I see she’s substituted a doily for the paper circle – I approve!

The bones are easily visible in chigirl‘s layout. She’s added some torn paper in the upper left corner, which coordinates well with her photos’ palette. Her title treatment sets her work apart as well.

This stripped-down layout by zanthia keeps the framework intact. Rather than complex clusters, she’s chosen themed elements to complement her photos.

Pups_r_Paps is one of only a handful of non-12×12 Scrappers. Her sense of humour is front-and centre here!

Jill has such vision! She has the basic blueprint here, but has really taken the Challenge seriously. Those paint splatters ground all the various elements of her work. This layout just bursts out of the Gallery… I think it’s the contrast between the blues, yellows and blacks, which draw from her photos. Love it!

For her layout, dhariana has gone stripped-down too. The muted colours of her papers and embellishments draw the eye to the bright kingfisher in her photo. There’s a lot of movement there too.

AJsRandom pulled the bones and the wooden background from the original, but chose a softer palette for her papers. The pops of yellow are very eye-catching. And of course, her heritage photos steal the show.

If you don’t smile when you see breoni‘s layout, you’re broken. Sorry. It’s true. She’s kept to the overall design of the layout, but those photos. Oh. My. Heart. The soft blues and golds are the perfect foil for them.

I’ve mentioned how much I admire KatherineWoodin‘s dedication to her daily layouts before. She always finds a way to create a layout that meets the Challenge criteria AND diarizes her day. She’s the only one to have made her journaling spot larger than her photos!

Our last entry is from 01lousmith. She really made the layout her own. She’s got the same number of different papers – 6 – and the same number of clusters – 3 – as the original and used a shabby painted wooden paper for her background. Double the photos. At first, I didn’t see that she’d also flipped the arrangement horizontally. Fabulous!

As I mentioned above, I want to talk about the Challenge Reward, because it can be confusing. Missi keeps a running total each month for each participant and she follows the rules. First of all, you earn the Reward in the month during which you reach 10 completed Challenge layouts, properly posted, since the LAST time you received a Reward. For example, if you completed 10 layouts in the month of September because you had some extra free time and lots of mojo, you’d qualify for the September Reward. Then October rolls around and you get really busy, so you only manage 4 layouts. That’s cool. It’s not a competition. In November, you’re pretty busy again so you get 4 more layouts done. Now you’re at 8 layouts toward your next Reward. December arrives and you’ve once again got some extra time (yeah, I know, right?!) and you’re super-productive, participating in 7 Challenges. Eeeerchhhhhhh! Only TWO will count. The other 5 don’t get carried over. Your counter starts over at zero on January 1st. I know I can’t be the only one who got caught by that, right? Right? Anyway, I highly recommend keeping track of your own count, and strategize your Rewards. Let’s face it, the Rewards kits aren’t ALL going to be attractive to you. If you don’t like the kit for a given month, don’t feel any pressure to hit your 10 layouts in that month. Simple!

Now… I haven’t created a single layout this month and it’s already the 21st. I have 6 in the can from October, so if I want this month’s Reward, I have 9 days to crank out 4 layouts. I should get to work!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

October 17, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Pinterest

This month, Lisa Minor chose this fall wedding photo as her Pinterest Challenge inspiration.

Her description of the photo is “it’s all about the colors!”, “floral fall colors” and her Challenge is to use the photo to scrap what the Pin says to you. So far, eleven scrappers have taken her up on it. They mostly seem to have chosen the same theme for their layouts, as you’ll see. As with each month’s Challenge Spotlight, these layouts appear in the order they were uploaded. I’ll point out the aspects that caught my eye, and each layout is linked to the Gallery so you can pop over and offer some praise. Just click on the scrapper’s user name and you’ll fly over to the Gallery.

First up is B2N2Scraps. She’s got the fall theme, the colours from the photo and the flowers. She didn’t miss a trick! Her simple layout puts the focus on the smiles in her photo.

KarenDiamond has the fall theme as well, with a bit more of the blue from the Pin. I see she’s anonymized the child in the circular photo as a silhouette. This technique works perfectly in a backlit photo, instead of just blurring features.

DianeInOz went for the colour palette, creating a whimsical layout with a clever nod to autumn. I love that wood-look cow cutout!

This stunning layout is from greenfiend27. Her choice of soft oranges and corals against a gray, dusty background, with ample floral elements, provides the perfect foil for that beautiful photo. The result is elegantly grungy. I think this is my favourite of the bunch.

Windswept has all the colours in there, and chose our major autumn celebration as her theme. Her focal photo is so cute!

The pocket style of zippyoh‘s layout works so well with all those pumpkin photos. The harvest/autumn theme is obvious but not in-your-face. She accents all the orange in the photos very nicely with touches of purple, gold and white. Aren’t those little foxes just too sweet?

For her layout, pinklily chose to document a week of her late fall activities from last year. (I’ve been to that mall… just sayin’. Winkwink!) The colour palette was what inspired her here.

Route66 pulled only 4 of the dozen colours in the Pin for her layout. Looks like somebody’s been playing with title tuts. 😉

The subject of this layout from gmae is a somber one. It could be seen as a play on “fall”, and a clever one at that. She has pulled a few of the fall colours from the Pin, and added some floral elements. Possibly the only flowers these resting places see these days…

Pippin went all in on individual style here. Her sole connections to Lisa‘s comments are her floral clusters and the pinks and blues from the Pin photo. This is a layout after my own heart.

Last up is this very autumnal layout from snojewel. She has some subtle hints of gorgeous teal stamped in her background. The oranges, browns, golds and burgundies complement her photos of Ben very well.

Next week I’ll have a Quick Trick for you. I haven’t decided which one from my little list of topics… we’ll all find out together!

Given what’s happening around the world these days, I hope this has given you a brief break from fear and worry. I also hope the people you love are safe and healthy. And that we all stay out of harm’s way.

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

September 19, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Minikit

September is surely flying by, isn’t it? It’s already almost the autumnal equinox and the slow slide into winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, while our GingerScrappers down under are looking toward spring. And life goes on…

This month’s Spotlight Challenge is the Minikit Challenge, hosted by Joy of Memory Mosaic. As the name implies, the Challenge is to use the pieces of a supplied (free) minikit to create a unique layout. This type of Challenge showcases individual style very well, since all participants are starting with the same tools. This month’s mini is shown below.

Now I’m going to share each of the layouts that have been posted to the Challenge Gallery as of noon today PDT. They’re in the order they were posted, and I’ve linked each to the Gallery so you can get a closer look and leave some praise for the Scrapper. Just click on their Forum handle.

KAPOH has created a calendar with the mini. I see today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I guess we should brush up on our “arrrhs”.

Alasandra has blended the papers to give herself some more options and flexibility, and flanked the ornate frame with two simple clusters.

As most of you know, I’m a sucker for heritage photos. I LOVE how trinanne has adapted the frame to encompass each of the people in her photo. The emphemera she’s added are scans of her aunt’s actual teaching diploma and license… precious!

MarilynZ has used the frame very cleverly here, with one being lightened without losing detail. The diagonal placement of the ribbon, with the key centred and the repeating small paper squares, gives the layout balance.

Pippin chose the perfect photo to coordinate with this mini! The purple sunset behind the house is a very close match to the purple paper. Her simple cluster and all that white space are very effective at drawing the eye to her photo. Brava!

NHSoxGirl has reversed the order of Pippin‘s papers to create a minimalist layout where the photo is the star. Good choice to go with black and white. The white stroke around the purple paper is brilliant.

This is something I would do! Those old keys in the photo play with the key in the mini so well. I see angbrey has also recoloured a flower and has used the frames as mats. Creative!

AnnieA has used everything but the tape, and kept her layout minimalist, with strong diagonals. I like the rotated purple paper, it’s exquisitely shadowed. Very eye-catching!

What an interesting layout PixyGirl has created, with a very vintage feel. The patchwork effect with the papers is beautifully executed. The slight tilt to the frame mimics the slight tilt of her great-grandmother’s head for a very effective focal point.

It took me a few minutes to deconstruct kabrak1207‘s layout. She has used additional elements and papers from the coordinating Buffet bundle from Memory Mosaic – totally allowed! – and has created an outstanding piece. That centre cluster is perfection.

CathyS has also added some elements from other designers in the September Buffet. I like how she’s faded the papers together and mirrored the brick behind the flowers in her photo with arty paint.

Oh my! Look at that beautiful dissolve/fade effect lulumoon has created with the papers!! The clusters provide a pop of colour and the entire layout is a showstopper.

The mini is cleverly disguised in nimble4u‘s layout. The only element from the mini that I couldn’t find is the tape. She’s added some elements from other kits, which are included in her credits.

Lastly, this layout from hkeith87 has included the whole mini, pairing it with a stunning sunset photo. The purple clouds in the photo look like they just merge into the purple paper strip. Beautiful!

It’s always a learning experience to browse the Gallery. Next week it’s Quick Trick time again. I’ll have to see what I can pull out of the ether to share with you all. Have a great week!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

August 15, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Inspiration

How is it already the third Tuesday of August? Of course, this month has FIVE Tuesdays, so we’re actually smack-dab in the middle of the month. The Okanagan valley in BC, where I live, is having a heat wave and we’re blanketed with wildfire smoke again. I feel very bad for the movers who are emptying a truck across the street in this heat and cruddy air. Our Level 4 drought is quickly moving to Level 5. Seems like it’s bad news everywhere. To all the GingerScrappers in Hawaii, you have all our love.

I chose the Inspiration Challenge for this month’s Challenge Spotlight because the Challenge Joy (Memory Mosaic) has tossed our way is something I love to do: take a photo from an “odd” perspective and scrap it. The alternate Challenge is to scrap a photoless layout from someone else’s perspective. When I looked at the Challenge Gallery, I was a little surprised to see only one person chose the photoless option. But what a great choice it was! Let’s have a look at the entries. As usual, they’re in the order they were uploaded to the Gallery and they’re linked to the Gallery so you can take a closer look, leave some praise or whatever. Just click on the scrapper’s user name and you’ll be right there. (I have participated in this Challenge, but decided not to include my own layout, because the focus of these Individual Style posts is on YOU!)

Here, greenfiend27 has two photos and perspective is a feature in both of them. These stainless steel balls see, to be everywhere these days and offer endless potential for interesting photos. They can be a lot like funhouse mirrors, right?

GrannyNKy has a really carefully-framed photo for her layout. There are millions of photos of Christ the Redeemer near Rio de Janeiro, but not many like this one!

Look at TBear‘s layout… the lone outlier! Here’s what she said about it: “DGD, who thinks outside the box as second nature, asked me what I thought an alien birthday cake would look like. I tried to create something from her perspective…outside the cake mix box.” I LOVE it! Kids are so clever.

I had to look very closely at this layout by MeleahG to decide where the “perspective” was… and then it hit me: the depth and breadth of variety! Shakespeare, Narnia, The Count of Monte Christo, The Witch of Blackbird Pond… I read that one when I was about 10 and had completely forgotten it.

For her layout, bumblebeee chose a photo taken from HER perspective of her family canoeing in an idyllic spot. Sometimes looking at the back of someone’s head can be magical. (This PICU nurse’s heart is happy to see life jackets on those precious babies.)

One of the cardinal rules of obtaining great photographs of kids and animals is to get down on their level. And Karen Diamond learned that one well! She also has an aerial view of the farm and a downhill shot of cows in a pasture, so she’s used many perspectives. Good job!

JAMSquared80 has skillfully used up-shots for her layout. That perspective gives a sense of just how tall those buildings are.

Here’s another good example of getting down on their level from photocrazy. Not only do we get better images this way, but they’re more natural and uninhibited.

I’ve NEVER seen a real peacock with its tail fanned out, never mind from the BACK! Props to gmae for this unusual perspective!

This makes it look like the subject of the photo is either walking on water or walking up a glass wall. It’s a bit disappointing to know it’s a glass balcony wall and gadawg83‘s subject is seated, don’t you think?

If you’re new to digi-scrapping, GingerScraps’ Challenges are a perfect way to find inspiration, learn new things and build up your stash. Several of our designer-hosts include freebies with their Challenges and there’s a Challenge Reward kit for completing 10 Challenges. (Missi keeps track of everybody’s totals. When you reach 10 completed you’ll automatically receive the download link for that month’s Reward via Private Message. However, the counter stops there until a new month starts, so if you hit your 10 layouts on, say, today – August 15th, but you keep going and complete 5 more layouts, those ones don’t carry over to September when the counter starts again. Clear as mud?) Here’s a look at the August Reward kit.

See you all next Tuesday!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

July 18, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Word Art

I feel like we’ve done a Word Art Challenge Spotlight not that long ago, but when I looked at the layouts in the Gallery, I just had to choose it for this month’s Spotlight. You’ll see why once I get all them all into this post.

Challenges are a great way to grow your scrapping skills. They encourage creativity and highlight individual style. They can also be a good way to break out of a slump by motivating us to think about what we have in our stash and how we could make it fit into a specific Challenge. Several of the Challenges at GingerScraps include freebies: #2023, Brush, Created with Rewards, Daily Download, Font, Jumpstart Your Layouts, Mini Kit, Memory Mix Up, Photomask, Template (there are 3!), Use It All and Word Art all provide you with some building blocks for zero dollars. (I’ve linked all of the freebie-included Challenges for you.) These are the Challenges that really offer the best insights into individual style because everybody is working with the same key items.

The layouts I’ll show you have been taken from the Gallery in the order they were posted. As always, I’ve linked each layout to its spot in the Gallery for those inclined to take a closer look or to leave some comments. Just click on the scrapper’s user name. Cheré has provided 2 separate versions of the word art, the teal one as shown above and a grey-scale that can be recoloured as desired. Let’s see how they’ve put Cheré‘s word art creation to use.

First off the hop is justpennys. Her layout is a photoless, minimalist one where her Top 3 are things she likes about herself. The teal word art is her choice.

KAPOH has recoloured the word art a vivid yellow to mirror the topic of her layout. It’s clear she’s a soccer fan!

Here, we can see that wvufan04 used the grey-scale version and left it as is. It works beautifully with the theme of her layout, favourite photos of grandparents. I love that line drawing of the antique sedan.

For her layout, fontaine surveyed her family to list their Top 3 places they’d visited together. Glacier National Park got the most votes. She used the teal version of the word art and kept the layout simple to keep the focus on the choices.

Roller coasters would never appear on any list of mine, unless it was things I don’t like, but elfmaiden687 has her own Top 3. She also used the original teal word art, using it as the basis for her palette.

The grey-scale version works nicely with nimble4u‘s layout too. It seems to reflect the dusty olive green of her background paper.

Got2Scrap recoloured the word art to coordinate with the colour palette she chose for her white-space layout. Look at those clusters! Incredible.

This layout by lulumoon is deceptively simple. (Cluster alert!) She pulled the lighter teal colour from the original for her subtitles, which compliments the coral background to perfection.

I think Jill‘s layout is my favourite of the bunch. She chose the deep red of the flowers in her cluster to bring the focus to her title, which then leads the eye to her black-and-white photo. Her colours absolutely POP off the page.

Pixel Palette chose to keep the original teal for her philosophical layout. (She’s not wrong!) The focus of the layout is firmly on her photos.

Once again, I have to commend Katherine Woodin for (literally) documenting the good, the bad and the ugly of everyday life. I like how she’s divided the layout into perfect thirds and used the same paper in 3 different colours to reinforce the 3 aspect of the Challenge.

Grace‘s layout is a work of art in itself. Her colour choices relate to Klimt’s work in the best way. She recoloured the word art a golden brown that also reflects Klimt’s sort of grungy look.

The faith-based simplicity of dkane‘s layout is its strength. She opted for a beautiful deep green for the word art and it works.

For her layout, glee also kept the original teal and pulled it into her overall palette. I like the stencil look to the fern-and-leaf border and that her title tells the whole story.

Grey-scale for the win here! These are hichchei‘s Top 3 foods. Can’t argue with any of them!

I’ve thought about this Challenge a lot and still don’t know how I would meet it. I have 3 siblings. I have 3 children. I have 3 grandchildren. I have 3 best friends. I have 3 favourite wineries. It’s making my brain hurt! Maybe I’ll save it for later.

Next week’s tut will be another Quick Trick. With the announcement of GingerScraps‘ partnership with the Digital Scrapper and their suite of video tutorials, it appears I’ll soon be rendered redundant. Time will tell.

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

June 20, 2023 by Jan

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

May 23, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Jumpstart Your Layouts

It seems we’ve come full-circle! The first Challenge Spotlight appeared on September 21, 2021 with Jumpstart Your Layouts. Since then we’ve looked at how scrappers’ individual style is demonstrated by how they meet the challenge of using a specific kit, brush, mask, template, theme or set of instructions. The Challenges we haven’t examined are too broad to meet the criteria. <winks>

Now we’re back at the beginning. Sheri, the creative mind and hands known as Jumpstart Designs, has had some rough personal crises to deal with lately, but she still managed to bring us a super-cute mini to Jumpstart Our Layouts. It’s SO super-cute in fact that I’ve had to use the very egalitarian method of selecting every second layout to showcase today… otherwise this post would go on for a lo-o-o-ng time. As usual, I’m going to link each layout to its spot in the Gallery so you can see it in greater detail, and hopefully leave some words of praise for the scrapper. Just click on the scrapper’s name and you’re there. But first, let’s look at the mini itself. [Sheri always makes a bundled kit to go with it, so if you like it*, grab it!]

I’ve downloaded the mini but haven’t yet done anything with it. Lucky for you, we’re going to look at a BUNCH of ways to use it!

The very first scrapper to post to the Challenge Gallery was KAPOH. She always creates these 5×7 masterpieces. She’s turned the floral paper into a rounded, wrapped frame. I love how the little girl’s feet (from the add-on kit) are hanging over the edge. So simple, and so sweet!

Next up is makeyesup. Her photos of a child sleeping in a swing are framed with the included frame element, sandwiching a cluster both simple and sweet. I like how she’s used the coral-dotted paper as ribbon dividers.

Alasandra has also used some of the papers in small strips. Her diagonal design draws the eye to her photo (how do kids and cats sleep with their heads up like that?). The circular cut in her background paper backed by the yellow striped paper looks like a crescent moon. Strong work!

There’s so much to see in this layout from lulutoo. She’s used the ombré paper as her background, and applied a sketch filter to a photo of the sleeping child over the blue side. The mini’s papers are in narrow strips, anchoring her photo and look how she’s got the bears’ heads together in slumber. A+!

Here, demma_b13 has used more than just the mini, although it’s very well-represented. Her clusters are divine!!

I love everything about zotova‘s layout. I struggle with using patterned papers as backgrounds, but she clearly doesn’t! Her nearly-identical but casually NOT-identical clusters frame her photo and add visual interest.

The way dhariana has sliced her photo and plaid paper swatch is intriguing. Her layout is one of those clean-and-simple ones I can’t manage to emulate.

This layout from lulumoon doesn’t use any part of the (free) mini – she went for the whole enchilada! I think she may be trying for the prize* Sheri promised. 😉 Her arrangement of elements on the diagonal give the impression they’re holding up the hammock. Genius!

Is there anything more heart-warming than a baby and a daddy napping together? I’m pretty sure linweb knew she’d melt hearts with her simple layout focused on those photos.

What do you do when you have a photo you want to use but it doesn’t really work with the colour palette of your chosen kit? You do what loonyhiker did… turn it into a black-and-white! Then you can do whatever you like.

For this layout, Pups_r_Paps has bent the rules a little. She’s used some of the elements from the mini and added some elements from an unrelated other of Sheri‘s kits.

Every parent knows this feeling! The simplicity of andastra‘s layout represents that bone-deep fatigue exceedingly well.

NHSoxGirl has created a digital spiral-bound memory book with her layout. The repeating circles tie the layout together beautifully.

For her layout, granny5pics has added quite a few interesting touches. She elongated the paper frame into an ellipse, clipped the blue-starred paper to it and cut a scalloped border on the ombré paper. Oh, and she put her date into the word art using a very similar font so it looks like it has always been there. Well done, Kathi!

Last, but not least, there’s this beaut from willow. That babe is communicating very clearly – DON’T BUG ME! I like that the large-and-in-charge photo is subtly blended into the blue-starred paper and the cluster is positioned perfectly.

* Here’s the scoop on the prize I mentioned earlier, in Sheri‘s own word… “WIN WIN WIN! I have also decided to add another reward for those who purchased the Limited Edition KIT from my shop during the month. After the month is over I will do a random drawing from the list of challenge customers who bought the KIT and THREE people will WIN the next month’s Limited Edition KIT FREE! Be sure to check your PM’s here at Gingerscraps so see if you were one of April’s winners!”

What do you think? Will you be in the running? I’m ver-r-r-r-y tempted!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

April 18, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Show Us Your Hobby

Greetings, GingerScrappers! Did you enjoy the March Scrap-a-Thon? The Gallery is brimming with layouts, so I’d say a lot of you got involved. In fact, SEVENTY-SIX people managed to create 20 individual layouts each. Phenomenal!! Today I’m going to show you some layouts created by YOU!! I’m almost at the end of the list of Challenges that lend themselves to this type of analysis, so I’ll soon be starting to revisit Challenges we’ve already covered. But not quite yet… Today our focus is on the April Show Us Your Hobby Challenge, hosted by Trixie Scraps. The only requirement for this Challenge is to create a layout featuring (one of ) your hobbies. Let’s take a look… layouts are presented in the order they were uploaded to the Gallery. Each is linked to the Gallery so you can pop by and offer your praise; just click on the Scrapper‘s user name.

First out of the gate this month is Connie – Gerbera; her hobby is hiking. The colour palette she chose is pulled from her photos, which are ably showcased by a very clean, simple setting.

Next up is jcfdelaware, whose hobby is geocaching. This hobby exercises the entire being. Her layout, with its themed elements and arrowed background, tells the story. Look at her smile!

DianeInOz does escape rooms. Those types of pursuits require a special type of intellect and an ability to think creatively. As her journaling reflects, the first time you do something, you might not get it right.

Whomever dreamt up Little Free Libraries is a genius! I feel like it was a missed opportunity for us, but not for glee! Her layout pops in the Gallery. I particularly love the subtitled banner.

It’s hard to know from msbrad‘s layout which of her many hobbies she’s sharing. Is she writing or illustrating children’s books? Embroidery? We all KNOW she’s a prolific scrapper!

KatL has resumed a hobby she’d let lapse – knitting! Her sweater will be beautiful when it’s finished. She pulled colour from her sweater into her layout, and that yellow doodle frame draws the eye right in.

KatherineWoodin‘s hobby is just to enjoy her life!

KAPOH makes pysanky – Ukrainian Easter eggs. She’s made the photo the focus of her layout, which is as it should be! Art like that needs not be distracted from with fripperies.

Thank you Grace. for sharing your reduced-sugar fudge recipe! Candy-making can be a hobby, an art, more than just work.

MarilynZ is a communicator. Her monthly newsletter keeps her community informed and connected. Many years ago I was responsible for a monthly newletter; it’s a LOT of work, but when it’s done with love, it’s worth it. I like how Marilyn has given us a peek into her April letter.

Photography is mkcdaisy‘s hobby. She’s even gotten a degree in it; that’s dedication! She’s included 3 different cameras as elements in her clusters. But I’d wager she has more than 3 cameras in her collection.

Look at the beautiful embroidery shown off in trinanne‘s grid-style layout! She’s cleverly used a canvas-style paper for her background. I used to do cross-stitch before my eyesight betrayed me, so I saw it right away.

Our last layout is from firstoscartgrouch. I’m not up on all the current pop culture – my grandkids living in another country and all – so at first I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. AH!! Pokemon Go!!!!!! I think of it as a variation on geocaching. Am I wrong?

Before I go see what kind of mess my husband is making trying to be a handy guy, I just want to remind you all of the Challenge Reward for April. Every scrapper who reaches 10 Challenges completed since their last Reward will automatically qualify. This is what it looks like. It’s delightful! (And it aptly describes the April we’re having here!)

See you next week when I have a Quick Trick for you!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

March 21, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Color

Wow, you ladies are totally rocking the Challenges for the Scrapathon!! Every one of the Challenge Galleries is brimming with new layouts. Incroyable! I’m trying to shine the Spotlight on a different Challenge each month until all of them have been discussed but I also don’t want to keep y’all here all evening so I had to make a decision. Rather than showcasing every layout posted to the Challenge I chose for this month – there are 58 of them – I opted to go with every fourth layout, beginning at the beginning. So the layouts I’m sharing with you today from the Color Challenge Gallery are (sorta) randomly selected. As usual, each layout is linked to itself in the Gallery so you can provide your own feedback to the GingerScrappers; just click on the scrapper’s user name.

First, let’s talk about the Challenge criteria. For the Color Challenge, hosted each month by the inimitable Aimee Harrison, we’re provided with a color or color swatch for the Challenge palette. Because this is also Scrapathon, Aimee added a theme: My Scrapping Friends. So each of the Challenge layouts must have the same palette and the same theme. How did they do?

Our first layout is from pjm117. Full points for the colors, but she seems to have missed the part about the theme. That photo though! So CUTE! I like that she added some dusty mauve and white to the palette, and her clusters are gorgeous!

Next up is this pretty one from pizzaz. She went with a softer, brighter green, and more pastel blues and yellows, Those pops of orange are very eye-catching. But alas, she too missed the theme.

SusanSays has the color, 100%. And her photo is so sweet. The banners really move the eye around the layout. Theme? Um. No.

Here, snickels has also used the palette with an almost perfect tone match. The blue stucco on the house is front-and-centre, contrasting nicely with the palette. Theme?

Tamsin McAtee met the first part of the Challenge quite ably, but again, the theme is missing. (Maybe random selection wasn’t the best way to go?) I do like how she’s tucked her elements behind the photo to anchor them.

Windswept‘s layout is beautifully created. The green is muted so the blues and yellows really pop. Her title is cleverly arranged.

I think Kristi Martin has hit both targets. Somebody in her craft circle has to be a scrapper, right? I like that she’s added some brown to augment the rustic aspect of the retreat’s location.

Now we’re talkin’! Flighty-188 has the theme fully locked down. Her cluster hits just the right notes. And those colors are definitely there.

Lucky lawyerlyn got to meet one of her favourite digiscrap designers. She kept her layout simple so the photo could take centre stage. Palette? Check.

The palette chigirl used is muted but ticks all the boxes. The theme? Maybe. Whatever they were doing, they clearly were having fun!

I absolutely LOVE the papers lilholmes6 has used, and how they showcase her photos. (I also love tulips!) Now, if only the theme was “spring”. <sad trombone>

Yes! This layout from macsandy scored ALL the points! They’re scrapping the old-school paper way and all the elements she used are related to the theme.

AlyciaIN has also ticks all the boxes. Makes me nostalgic for the crops I used to enjoy so much… although I brought my laptop, not a bag full of paper and glue.

Is there anything better than having friends who share your passions? KatherineWoodin is surrounded by them. I see several laptops in her 2011 photo too.

What a clever take!! AJsRandom plays with words, but still hits the mark. Her simple layout really captures the essence of the Challenge.

Hazel’s learning the ropes at day care so she can become honeybee‘s scrappin’ buddy. This layout is simply beautiful. The way the patterned paper is masked behind the photos leads the eye around and the scattered beads accent everything.

Purple71 brought the color, but not the theme. I like the cutouts behind her photo and use of the journal card though!

This layout by hichchei makes me smile, although I’m not fond of Irish stereotypes. She’s got the main color palette nailed, and added a rainbow of other colors to the mix.

The last layout of the day is from digiscrapmomma. Colors? Check. Theme? No check.

Okay, now I have to go back to the Challenge Gallery and take a closer look at the ones that fell in between the every-fourth-layout to see if I could have gone with a different randomizer… I feel like I was scoring a figure skating or gymnastics competition!

I hope you’re seeing signs of spring where you are (northern hemisphere peeps). The golf course behind our house is currently hosting a large flock of cobra chickens and the racket they make is unreal. I think our resident coyote might have fallen into the water hazard trying to catch supper last night.

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Scrap-a-thon, Tutorials Tagged With: challenge spotlight, Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

February 21, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Word Art

This month we’re looking at Word Art, the challenge sponsored and hosted by Cheré Kaye Designs. The supplied word art looks like this:

Now, you’d be forgiven for thinking you have no possible use for word art, but there are so many ways to be creative with it if you just give yourself permission. I’m going to show you, in the order they were posted, the first 16 layouts posted to the Word Art Challenge Gallery using this exact word art so you can see some of the ways it can be made your own. Each layout is linked to the Gallery so you can get a better look or offer some good vibes to the scrapper. Just click on the scrapper’s Forum handle!

The first layout is from demma_b13. She’s used the word art exactly as it was designed, pulling the colours for her layout from it and adding some photos of a very sweet little gnome to go with her kit selection. I like how she’s “painted” the big heart over the edge of the top photo. That touch of transparency is divine!

Here, trinanne has used the word art as is too, but made it the focal point of the layout, surrounded by photos of her loved ones.

As you can see, scrapcrazy has departed from the traditional. A simple layout about a very handsome dog needed something a little less “romantic”, so she recoloured everything to work with her photo and kit choice. I’m intrigued by the gradient effect she’s used on the outline for “love”. So cool!

Here again, the unaltered word art is supported by the colours in both the photos and the kit dkane has chosen. Just gorgeous!

For her layout, lulutoo has recoloured the letters in “love” to coordinate with the russet and peach tones of her kit. Those colours work so nicely with her vintage-looking photos.

When I first looked at alexandergirl68‘s layout, I didn’t notice that the mask she used makes a heart, I was so caught up in the photo of that precious baby! For the word art, she dispensed with the white border, pulled from the varied shades of russet ink for the letters, and added a shadow to make them look cut from cardstock.

branma has left the word art unchanged and used the same background paper as trinanne to show off her photos. Those pops of black add dimension and interest. The depth of her shadow gives the word art a embossed appearance.

Here, dhariana has recoloured the word art, ditched the white border and added a stitched border to the “love”. Clever!

Look at these kitties! The nuzzles! alasandra has clipped two different papers to the letters in “love”, while sticking closely to the original palette.

When creating her layout, firstoscartgrouch used the colours in the word art for inspiration, leaving it as it, but adding some flowers and a bunny sniffing them to replicate the subject of her photos.

I like how larkd has incorporated the word art into her clustered border. The purple in “hello” is the only place purple appears on the layout, causing it to draw the eye to her photo.

Here’s a novel idea! Not only has chigirl recoloured the word art to coordinate with her layout, she’s turned it into a tag.

The word art’s original colours wouldn’t work at all with ranchcreations‘ photos, so she clipped a paper to it. By using a brown paper for the word art and for the brad border under her square photo, she’s bringing the eye right to her large photo.

The word art on nimble4u‘s layout looks like it’s made from something very sturdy and offset with those foam tape things paper scrappers and card-makers use.

I would have known this is a KatherineWoodin layout anywhere! Katherine is so diligent about chronicling life every day; I stand in awe. She recoloured to pick up the colours of the boys’ uniforms and their basketballs. The way she’s shadowed it, it looks like it could be acrylic, not paper. Good job, Katherine!

We’ve seen quite a lot cats this time around! (I’m not a cat person, but know a few.) Our last layout is from lebjs, where the word art is as designed. She’s cleverly used strips of white as whiskers to give her main photo the appearance of a cat’s face. So sweet!

I wish someone would have used some layer styles to really customize the word art. Maybe I’ll do a mock-up to see how it would look.

I have a question for you all about dating your layouts. Do you include the date? How do you do that? Do you have a preferred method of including it, such as using a tab or paper strip? I’m working up an idea passed on to me by gmae (Ellen) and need your input. Please send me a private message (ObiJanKenobi) and share your wisdom!