Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

July 18, 2023 by

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 (Individual Style)

June 20, 2023 by

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 (Individual Style)

May 23, 2023 by

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 (Individual Style)

April 18, 2023 by

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 (Individual Style)

March 21, 2023 by

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: ,

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

February 21, 2023 by

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!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

January 17, 2023 by

Challenge Spotlight: Real Moments

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3DlA2Ay

Did you notice there are a couple of new Challenges for 2023? Today we’re going to check in on the Real Moments Challenge hosted by Cindy Ritter. This is how Cindy describes the Challenge: “There’s a quote that says “Life isn’t measured by time, it’s measured by moments.” and that’s what this new challenge is about, preserving those moments that stand out; the good, the bad and everything in between. Many of those moments in our lives are not accompanied by photos so feel free to experiment and think outside the box while making your layouts.

Each month I will give you a theme and prompt (it might be a quote, a song, a poem or something different) and you should create whatever you are moved to do.

This months theme is Change.
Please use the following quote to inspire your page.
“Sometimes change requires you to take a giant leap. But, you won’t be able to fly unless you are willing to transform.” ― Suzy Kassem”

I love the idea of scrapping REAL moments, even the ordinary ones. Each of us has our own idea of what that means, and our Individual Style will guide how we approach the Challenge. I think as memory-keepers we tend to scrap the happy stuff and pretend the no-so-happy stuff even happened. But we all have REAL moments, and we shouldn’t shy away from them. The layouts in the Challenge Gallery cover the gamut; there are a couple of them that might be too REAL for some of our readers; if that’s you, no one will know if you skip over those ones. The layouts will appear in the order they were uploaded to the Gallery. You may notice that a number of them have been created using Cindy’s Real Moments – Metamorphosis collection, and each participant will be gifted a matching mini-kit. As always, each layout is linked to its spot in the Gallery so you can drop by and leave some love; just click on the member’s name. Ready?

First up is a layout by lulutoo; her journaling, paired with that Pinterest-worthy photo would fit in well with our discussion on resolutions, wouldn’t it? I love her vertical cluster and how she’s combined all the papers she’s stacked behind it. Tucking elements between papers always adds interest.

As a former military spouse, I found 01lousmith‘s journaling to be very familiar. Change can be really hard, and not always good. She’s created a beautiful but haunting photoless artsy layout.

We’re all our own worst critic! AJsRandom proves it. The smiles in her photos and the cheery-ness of her clusters is a little at odds with her journaling. But I commend her for taking such a personal approach to the Challenge.

I really think I need to buy this collection! This beautiful, simple layout from dkane has me really convinced. There’s so much warmth and optimism here.

Talk about making lemonade outta lemons! Look at how mafrerichs has transformed that dorm room! The colour palette of the kit coordinates beautifully with the photos and those clusters… total thirst trap for me.

This simple but celebratory layout from twizzle made me smile. Congratulations! Feeling good about oneself is the key to happiness.

How gorgeous is this?? I love the way kabrak1207 has blended the gold border into the background paper and how that stitched heart is SO 3D. The quote from Wicked really captures the theme of the Challenge without needing a photo.

As dorannmwin says, change can be scary. Kudos to her for going back to school! She looks so confident in her photo, and the way she’s surrounded it with ephemera and clusters keeps the feel-good going.

NHSoxGirl has infused some humour into her layout. I knew instantly what she was going to focus on when I saw those photos. In keeping with the  serious-but-still-funny-ish topic she kept her layout clean and linear.

 

Our own AimeeHarrison has chronicled a significant challenge that changed her whole life. Her layout reflects triumph and hope through the bouncy clustered swag and all the hearts. Strength is a good trait to have!

A-M kept her layout simple and clean. Downsizing is definitely a change! We UPsized… I can’t even imagine.

(Content-warning) Katherine Woodin has always been very open and comfortable with her journaling as she records daily life. She’s probably the most dedicated Project 365 scrapper I know. She doesn’t gloss over the tough stuff, and this layout is an example of that. Her beloved Fred passed on to his next life on Christmas Eve and she strips bare her feelings as she details the events of that day. My deepest condolences, Katherine.

I can’t even count all the ways basketladyaudrey has covered “change” in her layout. She chose the most perfect colour palette possible for her photos, which tell the story of becoming a grown-up. Love it!

Leaving home is one of the hardest changes we all go through. Blaise used a list as journaling, and her photo tells the rest of the story.

If you were to participate in this Challenge, what would be the change you feature? Seeing all these layouts has given me some ideas – on top of the absolute determination to acquire Cindy‘s kit. Off I go to sort through my photos…

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

December 20, 2022 by

Challenge Spotlight: Scraplift

I’ll admit that I’m a purist when it comes to scraplifting another scrapper’s layout. I think that if I like a layout enough to want to lift it, I should try to stay as faithful to the original as I can while still making it my own. I also know that scrapping is an intensely personal craft and we all approach it from our own points of view; this is very true when it comes to scraplifting. There are so many options! Let’s take a look at this month’s layouts and analyze them a bit to see if we can figure out what the scrapper chose to emulate. But first, the Scraplift Challenge is hosted by Dagi; she chooses the layout inspiration and this month she chose this layout by Effie3047. Each of the Challenge layouts is linked to the Gallery so you can pop in and offer the scrapper some praise. Just click on the scrapper’s “handle”. This is the inspiration layout for reference.

These layouts are in the order they were posted to the Gallery. First is this blue confection from dhariana. She chose to follow the blueprint of the layout fairly closely, with the photo, journal card and elements in the same arrangement. The doodle circles are her own touch.

kristal has also stayed close to the blueprint, but kept her layout crisp by increasing white space. She also has used a wooden background like the original has.

For her layout, lulutoo chose a much brighter palette, but stayed true to the basic layout and the wood background. I like that she went with a narrower paper strip behind her elements and tilted her photo a smidge… an original touch.

Tbear‘s layout is quite different, but you can see the basic shape of the Challenge layout. A single photo, a journal card, a Christmas theme with carefully-constructed clusters and a similar palette are what ties her layout to Effie‘s.

I can see the bones of the Challenge layout here in robinoes66‘ entry. She’s gone with a dark palette, positioned her photo in the same place but omitted the journal card. She used a good amount of paint and her primary colours are beautifully supported by her black background.

To me, ayla63‘s layout looks more like a scraplift of robinoes66‘s layout than it does Effie‘s! And that’s alright. Their visions are very similar. I like that she chose to turn her photo into a sketch, which makes her layout unique.

I love what Jill has done; she went with a portrait-oriented photo rather than a landscape and used gears instead of paper circles, while adding a couple of extra paper pennants. Her layout looks quite different than the original, but still has the important components.

Pippin has stayed true to the original layout in most ways. Her blended background is beautiful, but can we talk about that photo? So cute!!

For her layout, pinklily went bigger with her photo and paper strip base, supersized her title, flipped the script horizontally and kept her clusters small.

AJsRandom chose to increase the size of her photo but has kept most other aspects faithful to Effie‘s layout. The twined strings that anchor her journal card are a great substitute for the strings of lights Effie used.

I like that breoni chose to place a row of circular photos across the lower third of her layout rather than clusters. That krafty background really makes her photos pop off the page.

The choices Kristi Martin made of a large photo and minimal embellishments against a black canvas really gives her layout presence in the Gallery.

Our second Hanukkah layout by zanthia is another faithful lift. She made her title really do the heavy lifting here! The word-cloud journal card is a clever twist too.

Treemoon took a really different approach by enlarging EVERYTHING. She kept the horizontal aspect and the basics of the design. Her palette compliments her photo so nicely and I love the clusters she’s anchored her banner with.

We’ve had some really miserable weather here in the BC Interior. We have a ridiculous amount of snow and it’s bitterly cold. I was planning a road trip to see my parents and bring them a box full of treats for the holidays but we were snowed in! I hope wherever you are and whatever you’re celebrating, you’re warm and safe!

 

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

November 15, 2022 by

Challenge Spotlight: Created With Rewards

Here we are, at the third Tuesday of the month again. Crazy how time flies!! This month our Challenge Spotlight falls on Created With Rewards. For those unfamiliar, each month our GingerBread Ladies – the GingerScraps Design Team – work together to produce two Rewards kits, one for completing 10 Challenge layouts and one as a Free-with-Purchase. The Created With Rewards Challenge requires participants to use only the previous month’s Rewards kits; templates are the exception – they can come from anywhere. For October 2022, the Free With Purchase kit is called Bootiful; the Challenger Reward is We Are Family. Let’s see how our intrepid GingerScrappers have risen to the occasion. The layouts are in the order they were posted; each is linked to the Gallery – click on the scrapper’s nom de plume and you’ll jump right to the Gallery, where I hope you’ll leave some words of praise.

Our first layout is from Dovedesign. Her layout has a good portion of white space. She used Bootiful and took it off-theme, which is awesome!

Next up is this CUTE little Hallowe’en layout by Jill. I really like the spiderweb base for her paper cluster. She too used Bootiful.

For this layout, becky_a has used a block style to anchor her photos and added some seasonal clusters. Bootiful is getting lots of airtime!

Ah! Finally We Are Family makes an appearance. I like how hiddenartist has stacked papers in several ways and positioned her clusters to frame her photo.

I love how fontaine has used blended masks to such good effect here. The green and orange contrast beautifully and the little Bootiful witch and warlock are cute additions.

See how kabrak1207 has turned a very theme-specific kit into an all-purpose one? Without the word strip and sticker, it’s hard to tell this started out as a Hallowe’en kit.

This looks like greenfiend27 went to a lot of trouble adding all those little bats! I think they’ve been cut from the background paper and individually shadowed. Impressive!!

I love how Katherine Woodin used the Hallowe’eenie kit for a fall layout that has no Hallowe’en flavour at all.

 

What a clever riff on the donuts mum23ms has in her photos!

Here’s another mainly purple layout using Bootiful. The pops of orange breoni has added, along with vignetting some photos, give the layout depth.

Look at all the spookiness angbrey has injected into her layout! I love how the elements move the eye around and right back to the photos.

Here’s another look at We Are Family. The way gadawg83 has echoed the bluebonnets in her photo with her tiny-flower borders is perfection.

 

Tbear has used some incredibly inventive techniques here to give the impression that the beaker has bats painted onto the glass. And maybe I’ve been watching too much paranormal investigation TV, but I think I see a ghost flying out of the test tube!

Tamsin McAtee went for complementary colours here, with her orange and blue palette. I like how she picked out the brown from the ceiling in her photo and included it in the elements she used from We Are Family.

Our last layout comes from mom2triplets04. She too has used We Are Family and kept her layout simple, focusing on the photos and her journaling.

I find it fascinating that more than 75% of these layouts were created with the Free With Purchase kit. It tells me there was a lot of traffic in the shop in October, and that’s fantastic! It’s also really interesting to see how different scrappers’ visions are when it comes to using a single kit. It’s inspiring!!

See you next week for Quick Trick Tuesday.

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

October 18, 2022 by

Challenge Spotlight: Minikit

Hey GingerScrappers! It’s time for another Challenge Spotlight. This month I’m going to take you through the October Minikit Challenge Gallery. This challenge is hosted by the Polka Dot Chicks, Tammy and Shelby. The Challenge revolves around a minikit they design and provide to participants at no cost. Participants can use all of the kit, or only part of it, and are allowed to use a template. Here’s a look at the October kit, which coordinates with this month’s Buffet colour palette.

Let’s have a look at the layouts that have been posted up to now. The layouts are in the order they were posted to the Gallery and are linked through the member’s user name so you can pop into the Gallery and leave them some praise, if you should so desire.

First up is sparky_mom with a special event announcement. She’d used the entire kit, tucking part of the wavy string under her photo strip and using the large circles on her background as journaling blanks. Congratulations, family!

NHSoxGirl went minimalist with her layout, using the paper with the huge circles as a border for her large-and-in-charge photo.

Alasandra has used the whole kit, with a large-circle paper divider and the paper with the triangles on it cut in triangles to repeat a theme.

MarilynZ has added a word cloud, a soccer ball flair and a silhouette to her minikit. She slightly recoloured the photostrip. Using the large-circle paper as her background compliments the soccer theme.

The big-circle paper is pretty popular! Branma has it in her background too. She’s created a sweet little cluster with the flower elements and anchored her photos with the brads. Cute pup!

AnnieA has a cute series of photos in her photo strip. She’s used everything, with the big-circle paper forming more of a border around the tiny-heart paper. The cluster in the centre ensures the eye goes right to the photos.

I LOVE dhariana‘s use of white space here. I can see she resized the papers, adding a border mask to the tiny-heart paper in the background. There’s only a single photo, and every piece of the kit is visible. Very pretty!

The only part of the kit fontaine didn’t use was the paper with the triangles on it. She recoloured the photo strips and used them as ephemera, using the Paint Bucket to fill her background with the russet colour from one of the big circles. And her photo is masked so it spills over onto the paper behind it.

I so admire people who can use bold prints like these with such great results. Big, bold prints scare me! But not willow… she’s used them very nicely here, and turned one of the circles into a frame for her title.

PixyGirl has used it all, cutting the sides of the photo strip off, recolouring them yellow and using them as paper strips to anchor her photos. The photo strip makes another appearance, but separated into three independent frames.

I’ve never seen this effect jenazs has created before. It looks as though she’s turned her elements into overlays, allowing the papers’ patterns to show through. She has recoloured some of the flower elements with colours pulled from the papers and her photos and turned the brads into flair. Very interesting.

There’s a good amount of white space in this layout by mum23ms. She’s added some ricrac (maybe created using one of our tutorials?) and some splotchy paint behind her photo cluster. She clipped the big-circle paper to the photo strip – it took me several looks at it to figure that out!

Last but not least, we have this very inventive layout from Tbear. She’s used the whole kit, but in some unusual ways. The triangle paper has been snipped into tiny triangles, and scattered like confetti with some super-shrunken brads. The twine has been turned into stems for the flowers. The tiny heart paper has been desaturated somewhat and the big spot paper has been made smaller, duplicated and laid end-to-end to create a border along the bottom. I think this is my favourite of them all.

The first half of October has been unusually summery here in the Okanagan valley. But I see the forecast is showing a sudden descent into much chillier weather, bringing rain with it. I’m actually looking forward to it!

How many of last week’s fonts did you download? I picked up 14 of them! See you next week with a Quick Trick.

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