Challenge Spotlight

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

December 20, 2022 by Jan

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

November 15, 2022 by Jan

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: challenge spotlight, Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

October 18, 2022 by Jan

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: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

September 20, 2022 by Jan

Spotlight Challenge: Recipe

Have you ever taken part in the Recipe Challenge? It’s a lot of fun! Hosted by Sweet Pea Designs‘ Penny, the basic objective is to take the Ingredients List and create a layout. Sometimes, there are additional Directions – for example, “Place one of your photos in the top left quadrant of the layout” – that are required to meet the Challenge goals. Participants can add to the Recipe if they want to, but MUST follow the basic Ingredients List. Let’s take a closer look. Here’s the September Recipe.

There have been quite a few layouts posted for this Challenge. We’ll check them out and see how each GingerScrapper has met the requirements. Each layout is in the order it was uploaded and is linked to the Challenge Gallery so you can see them in greater detail and leave some praise, if you’re so inclined. Just click on the GingerScrapper‘s user name.

First up is Windswept. Her first-day-of-school layout has each of the required ingredients, and she’s added an extra journal card.

This layout from alexandergirl68 ticks all the boxes, and then some. I needed to take a good look to see the ‘bling’ – gold lettering on the large flair. Very subtle!

KatherineWoodin‘s layout seems to be missing the pocket card. Do you see one? I love the visual impact of her arrangement.

I had to look for the bling on jenazs‘ layout too; it’s a subtle glitter spray behind her clusters. The pocket card is the size of a postage stamp, so it’s there but not center-stage. That crocheted border though!!

I LOVE this one from ElkFan! The kit she chose coordinates perfectly with her photo. The glittery paint, the little fishes, the lacy border… just beautiful!

Jill‘s layout just jumps out of the Gallery. The bright colour palette against that dark background is stunning.

The beach photo that inspired khoskins‘ layout really pops and is beautifully supported by her tiny clusters. The very narrow white border around the photo was the right choice. Simple elegance.

Could this layout be any cuter? I’m not sure I see a flair, but kristal has all the other goodies in there.

Using a paint swatch as a pocket card, as basketladyaudrey has done, is genius! And her interpretation of bling, a pearl dangle, is also brilliant.

Lisa Campbell chose to pull colours from her photos, then supplement them with themed elements. Love the sparkly crown that suggests the Magic Kingdom.

Daydreamer understood the assignment. Such a cheerful, colourful layout is an attention-grabber. Glitter paper… YES!

The woodgrain and plaid papers and hinges play to all the fallen leaves in the background of robinoes66‘s photo. Is there a hidden pocket card somewhere?

And last but not least, curio has created a simple but eye-catching layout. I like how she’s used the offset purple frame to draw the eye to the focal point of her photo. And the paper lanterns are amazing!

Have you been playing along with the monthly Challenges? Which one is your favourite? Maybe we’ll feature it next month!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

August 16, 2022 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: PINTEREST CHALLENGE

The Pinterest Challenge is a new-to-you-in-’22 challenge, brought to us by Lisa Minor. I’ll confess, when I first read the premise for this challenge I wasn’t sure how it would work, although I LOVE Pinterest and have to actively discipline myself or I’d never get anything done. I digress. The August 2022 Pinterest Challenge Gallery shows us how well the challenge works – really well. It works really well. Let’s have a look. In no particular order… the scrappers’ names are linked to their layouts in the Gallery, in case you’re inclined to leave them a comment.

The basic premise is that Lisa provides a pin (or several) she’s saved to one of her Pinterest boards as inspiration, with a brief description of what she’d like to see contained in the layouts participants create. For August 2022, she provided this image, followed by: “This pin says to me “beach, seaside, vacation time, travel, elegant, relax and make memories”. So what does it say to you? Scrap it!”

First out of the box is this layout by garrynkim. Can you see which aspects of the pin were chosen? Of course you can… the mood, the water and the colour palette are right there.

This layout from bkasko also features water, and the theme of rest and relaxation. I really like how her photos all have the waterfall in them, and how she’s masked her large group photo.

Oh look! B2N2Scraps has water photos too! I sense a trend. She’s also incorporated the colour palette from Lisa‘s photo. I just love the water droplets in the background here.

More water! These underwater photos are amazing!! The tropical sea elements robinoes66 has clustered around her photos mesh really well with the topic of the photos and she’s also pulled colour from Lisa‘s image. Strong work!

I’m starting to think water is an integral part of vacation… if I only had these layouts to define the word, that would be the most obvious aspect, amirite? I’ve gotta say kristal, that’s one HUGE pond! The colours from Lisa‘s image are there too.

Water sets the scene for basketladyaudrey too. She was inspired by the making memories part of Lisa‘s impressions. That woodgrain paper reminds me of a dock, and she’s pulled colour from her photos into her choice of papers and elements.

Even mary-lynne has included water in her layout, but more as a backdrop to their leisurely breakfast. Her colour choices echo her photo beautifully and she’s masked her large photo perfectly.

pjm117 took her inspiration from both the watery view and to a lesser extent, the colour palette. I love the quotes she’s used for her word strips… as I wiggle my bare toes.

Ah! A layout that was inspired by the food in the image… both are focused on breakfast. route66 kept it simple, with the breakfast photos taking the spotlight.

KarenDiamond really understood the assignment! Beach, vacation, relax, memories… they’re all in there – without literal water – and the kit she used screams summer and heat.

The summery colour palette of grannyNKy‘s layout, and yes… water, meet the criteria for the challenge too. They look like they really had a great time on the lake.

Last, but not least, this layout from DianeInOz went all the way down the vacation-making-memories path. The incorporation of a lot of photos tells a story of a busy, fun-filled day and the few elements she used to embellish them kept the overall impact from being overwhelming. Truly a case of less-is-more!

What would your layout look like if you took up this challenge? I’m not a beach person, but I do enjoy breakfast overlooking a scenic view.

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

July 19, 2022 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Daily Download

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3zE9jwD

GingerScraps is, without a doubt, the most generous digital scrapping store on the web. There are SO MANY freebies!!! The monthly Daily Download is just one of them. Each day for the entire month, pieces of a FREE kit are provided to readers on the GingerScraps Blog (right here!) so by the end of the month, you have a whole kit. (Don’t worry, If you missed a few days’ DLs, the kit will be available for purchase in the GS Store later.) But it gets even better… the following month, that same free kit is the basis for a GingerScraps Daily Download Challenge. For the month of July 2022, the kit in question is CarolW Designs‘s Way to Grow (linked to the bundle).

It looks to me like Carol‘s kit was a huge hit with our scrappers. There are 20 layouts in the Daily Download Gallery already and there are still 12 days in the month! Let’s check them out – in random order. (Each layout is linked to the Gallery via the scrapper’s user name so you can drop in a little praise for the ones you like best.)

Our first sample is from willow. I love all the white space here. She’s taken only a small handful of the elements in the kit and created a beautiful, calm layout.

I like how chigirl has melded some grunge via her choice of papers and paint splatters with the flowery prettiness of the elements into this loveliness.

wendeeds has pulled colour from her photos and used coordinating elements and papers to create her fun Date Night layout.

I salute the dedication of people like makeyesup who create a new themed desktop for their computer every month!

202207 Calendar

How sweet is this? PixyGirl has used the Artsy Bits from the bundle to create a secret garden with a delightful little person in it.

This layout by NHSoxGirl is another gorgeous white space layout with a sparing use of elements. When you don’t have photos that work well with a kit, but you’re dying to use it anyway, you can always convert a fave photo into black and white.

Lucky for hiddenartist, she had a perfect photo! Her clusters and shadowing are top-drawer.

This layout from Danissa makes good use of the Artsy Bits and one of the grungy Edges in the bundle combined with a lovely cluster.

Sweetpea2020 lets the papers do the heavy lifting here. The stitching adds an earthy touch.

Look at how Alasandra has clustered these flowers so the kitty seems to be sniffing one. Beautiful!

The paper strips tie all of roxana‘s photos together and the clusters enhance them, leading the eye from photo to photo.

The vintage feel of this layout from kabrak1207 is quite pleasing. I’m such a sucker for old photos…

But then… bagheertje pops up with this brand-new photo of a brand-new human showcased by a lovely, grungy but extremely simple layout.

The kit’s palette seems tailor-made for this chipmunk’s portrait and bumblebeee has framed it exquisitely with papers.

For another delectable white space layout, look no farther! The photo dhariana chose pulls colour from the kit, her choice of background paper makes it pop, and her brush use enhances the overall image. Spectacular!

LidiaG has created another grungy-gorgeous-great-white-space layout here. The large cluster draws the viewer right to the eyes of that sweet child in the photo.

I’m at a loss for words when I look at this layout from Jill. She’s skillfully clustered the elements in a natural arrangement, and divided the photo over two frames in such a way that it’s the focus. There’s a lot going on, but in the BEST way!

Every picture tells a story, but sometimes it needs a little support from the wings. AJsRandom explains and balances her photo in a minimalist layout full of movement.

in her layout, wvsandy has created a beautiful frame for her prayer, and I’m pretty sure she’s used every element in the basic kit but the flair, bead spill and bottle cap.

Last but not least, alta2014 has pulled from various parts of the bundle to create a lovely, soft layout that enhances her photo. The messy stitching adds a nice casual touch.

Are you enjoying the monthly Individual Style/Challenge Spotlight posts? I find myself inspired every time I write one. Seeing how others interpret a challenge and use a defined set of tools so creatively really gets my mojo motor revving. Time to get some scrappin’ done!

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3zE9jwD

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 21, 2022 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Back It Up with ADB Designs

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3R85Xdc

Today we’re going to dig into the Back It Up Challenge brought to you each month by Diane of ADB Designs. She likes to remind us to BACK UP our photos so they don’t disappear into the ether and has built this challenge around that reminder. Each month, she chooses a theme for participants to think about while they’re reviewing their files. This month the theme she chose is “reflection”. There are two main definitions for “reflection”, the main one being the concrete “image seen in a mirror or shiny surface”. The other is “serious thinking or careful consideration”. The layouts you’ve created for this Challenge very closely conform to one or the other of those definitions, as you’ll see. As usual, each layout is linked to the Gallery so you can offer the scrappers your praise. Click on the scrapper’s name and you’ll zip right into the Gallery.

We’ll start with the shiny surfaces. Branma‘s layout doesn’t actually SHOW a reflected image, but she describes one pretty clearly in the text she added to her post in the Challenge thread, “My sister’s and I all favor each other and our lovely mother, even facial recognition program mistake us for each other. It’s funny to catch a glimpse in the mirror and think one of my sisters has come to visit.”

If there’s anything more beautiful than a waterlily, it’s a waterlily AND its reflection, as kabrak1207 shows us here.

I love how mary-lynne has this photo of reflection that she’s both blended and cleverly overlaid on her title. That’s running away with a theme right there!

I don’t know anybody who doesn’t love seeing autumn’s best colours reflected in still water. kimberlyschiehahn lets those colours take centre-stage here.

This layout by TheLethargicPoet (aka Shilo) is stunningly gorgeous. And it covers both definitions!!

Katherine Woodin‘s layouts are ALWAYS given serious consideration; she documents all the minutiae of life in Project 52-style. With this layout she’s also giving a nod to images in a shiny surface.

And then we have gnana96. She’s been very creative with her title here, creating a reflection of it, as well as showing off the reflected images of these flamingos.

basketladyaudrey has laid out the process of choosing which of her son’s t-shirts deserves a spot on his quilt, which was through serious consideration of their merits.

This lemonade stand was the subject of some serious thinking for Kristi Martin. Probably both before and after the fact. 😉

Rhewko chose the lyrics of a song to act as her journaling for this wedding layout.

Weddings seem to trigger a lot of reflection! Daydreamer reminisced about her own wedding while looking at her sister’s wedding photos.

And what is more likely to bring about reflection that our relationships with the Creator, as etycz has documented?

I often find myself giving serious consideration to what needs doing in my garden. much like grannyNky does with her layout.

I feel like pjm117 is sending us all a message about finding the silver lining in the COVID cloud.

And finally, ranchcreations takes the most literal reflective approach to a quote to derive some inspiration and guidance.

Wow. This is the 10th Challenge Spotlight post. Do you find them interesting? Have you seen something you’d like to emulate? Are you inspired to bring your own Individual Style to a challenge? It always amazes me the different ways each scrapper interprets a Challenge. Awesome!!

Remember, if there’s something you’d like to learn and can’t find a suitable tutorial, you can reach out to me via Private Message any time. Here’s a link to my mailbox: ObiJanKenobi I get email notifications that I have a PM waiting, so I’ll see it right away and can start planning for you!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3R85Xdc

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

May 17, 2022 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Perfectly Paired

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3NEtX4Y

Have you given any thought to taking part in the Perfectly Paired challenge brought to us monthly by Dandelion Dust Designs? We’ve already talked about combining two templates into a single creative layout earlier this month, so let’s look at five layouts and see how the scrappers did it. Each layout is linked to the Gallery via the scrapper’s user name, so please check them out and leave them some love. [Editor’s note: Jan had some issues with the Gallery today and might have missed some entries. She blames the two firmware updates her laptop forced this week. Mea culpa!]

First up is this artsy blend from Karen Diamond. For her layout she melded a template from Neia Scraps Artsy You Volume 2 and Jumpstart Designs Caught in the Act: Friendship. Take a minute and see if you can figure out which parts are which.

Next is khoskins‘ layout, where she’s used a template from the GingerBread Ladies’ Fruity Fun and Connie Prince’s Travelogue Hawaii. I think you’ll see instantly how she’s combined them.

Pixel Palette mashed up a template from Kristmess’s Single Page Layered Templates Volume 5 with a Miss Fish template I was unable to find in the Shop, but I have an image for it. You’ll easily see what came from which.

I like how Katherine Woodin melded two templates and still has a clean and tidy layout with lots of white space. She uses one of Connie Prince’s Full Circle Volume 11 templates with a free template from Miss Fish that was part of the A Love for Layout Templates Blog Train in December 2021*.

And last, we have this beauty from glee. The templates she blended came from Miss Fish’s Just the Basics and her 2017 Holiday Swap templates. Both those sets have been retired.

Now that you’ve seen some examples of how this template mash-up game is played, does it make you more confident in your ability to do it? I really hope so! You can really expand your repertoire and your stash.

* So… if you’ve never heard of A Love for Layout Templates, you’ve been missing out! If you’re a Facebook member, you can find the Group with the link above. The Group‘s purpose is to showcase the infinite versatility of templates, as laid out in their Group Rules. Every other month they run a Blog Train or Hop, and each stop has a free template attached. Of course, like with all freebies, there will be some you would never use, and others that just don’t suit your style. But you won’t know if you don’t check it out, and if you only download the ones you love, you still come out ahead!

Next week I’ll be sharing another Quick Trick with you. See you then!!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3NEtX4Y

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)

April 19, 2022 by Jan

April Quote Challenge with CathyK

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

Yes, we’ve made it to the third Tuesday of April – time for the monthly Challenge Spotlight! Last weekend we had a rare confluence of high holy days with Easter, Ramadan (which is ongoing until May 1) and Passover. I daresay a lot of us were busy!! But even so there are some great examples of individual style in the Quote Challenge Gallery. Each month CathyK provides a quote around which the layouts are to be based. In the past she’s created word art with the quote, and the last couple of months, she’s had some very cool message boards with the quotes on them. If the quote isn’t actually used in the layout, the scrapper must explain how it inspired her. Let’s take a look… [narrator’s note: Each layout is linked to the Gallery; click on the scrapper’s user name and you’ll be whisked off to the layout so you can indicate your admiration.]

This layout from poki04 is stunning! She used the quote as a border around that amazing long-exposure photo of the night sky. The use of muted cool colours creates a beautiful, monochromatic layout.

I like how at first glance this layout of dragonstarr‘s looks quite abstract, with so many repeating shapes. then, once you read the text border, you see beyond the obvious.

khoskins‘ layout just POPS! She’s got starry skies everywhere. I love her use of complimentary colours, blue and orange. Eye-catching for sure!

What does one do when one hasn’t any photos to match the quote’s theme? Go photoless and let the quote do all the heavy lifting, as Got2Scrap did!

NHSoxGirl really ran with the rainbow theme! We lived in Montréal for 3 years, but it was before the Biosphere was constructed. My daughter has visited it with our grandchildren, who loved it. Here it’s showcased by both the rainbow and the elements arranged around it. Cleverly, the dark navy band of paper hints at its location on Ile-Ste-Hélène.

Look at how nimble4u has used some symbols in place of words in the quote. It’s pretty clear from the photos they’re looking for rainbows.

It’s not often one is able to see both ends of a rainbow, and gmae even points that out in her journaling! She’s created a journal card with the quote to support the theme.

Look at all that white space! 01lousmith has highlighted her whimsical photo so perfectly, and the use of the paint swatch as a journaling tag is genius.

DianeInOz has taken the rain angle and run with it. She kept the embellishment to a minimum, which is a good idea when the background paper is boldly patterned as this one is.

Is there anything more joyful than a child jumping in puddles? Windswept has captured that joy in so many ways. Her nod to the quote is the sticker she created.

And finally, this masterpiece by hichchei… it’s so moody and just a little spooky. The stars are there, but not obviously so, which works beautifully with her vision and with how she’s used the quote.

Don’t forget to let the ladies know you like their layouts! See you next Tuesday.

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

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

Tutorial Tuesday: Individual Style

March 15, 2022 by Jan

Making Magic with Brushes

Yes, it’s the third Tuesday of March already. It’s a sad day here, as our daughter said goodbye to her furbaby Lucy this morning. We knew this day was coming, and tried to prepare, but it’s not that simple, is it? I’ll be working on a tribute layout later as my therapy, and seeing all the amazing ways our GingerScrappers have created magic with this month’s Challenge Brush has given me some inspiration.

When I chose these layouts to show you, I was looking for uniqueness, and I had a lot to choose from. Each layout will be linked to the Gallery; the GingerScraps user names are your links so if you’re inclined, you can pop over and give them some praise. But first, let’s talk about the Challenge. This year, the host for our Brush Challenge is Alexis Design Studio. She’s brilliant with creating brushes, so we’re all very lucky she’s giving them away! The Challenge is to use the brush she provided (free) on a layout, and there are some very creative ways to use brushes. Let’s have a look.

This layout by wendeeds is filled with shamrocks. I had to look hard to see the brush – it’s behind the journaling! I thought she’d used patterned paper.

Here, pippin has turned the brush into confetti and it’s showering the couple with luck.

I love how Rhewko has blended the brush into her background and added a touch of gold leaf to it. It’s both subtle and obvious.

Here, jcfdelaware has overlaid the brush with her photo mask, blending them. The little boy blowing on the dandelions is blowing the brush’s shamrocks into the universe.

Look at the tone-on-tone beauty of this layout from ysgbo! The brushes are randomly positioned, with the layout divided diagonally. The upper right are embossed and the lower left are debossed. Brilliant!

Dannisa has the brush repeating and gradually shrinking, with the shamrock pouf overlapping and creating a cloud of parachutes.

My eyes went right to this layout in the album. The way Grace has turned one of her photos into a pencil sketch is lovely, and who isn’t drawn to sunflowers right now? But it’s the way the brush seems to mingle with the paper scatter that is the real genius here.

The way barbaraj has duplicated the brush is clever; it looks like she die-cut them from paper and carefully positioned each tiny piece.

Macsandy makes the brush an integral part of her background, and has pulled the green from other aspects of her background to create a seamless image. Using a black-and-white photo was a great idea.

For her layout, Effie4037 used the brush in a very subtle way. I like that she chose to echo the mint green from her border paper rather than the more traditional green of her title strip. The brush ties her photos together and grounds them to the background beautifully.

The way willow‘s brush explodes into the layout makes it so hard to know where the brush ends and her photo begins. Great choice to invert the colour where the brush extends into the central gray paper strip too!

To me, the brushwork on garrynkim‘s layout looks like a stencil applied with a very gentle hand.

At first, I thought Jill had put her layout into the wrong album. So I took a closer look. The brush is there… russet and blended into the old wood background and providing a landing pad for that gorgeous cluster.

At first glance, you might think this layout from PixyGirl has popcorn on it. But it’s the brush, in white and with a pearl glued to many of the shamrocks.

Tsubasa went to a lot of trouble to blend the brush into her photo. Look carefully at how she’s lightened the main part of the photo, framed that focal seedhead and then augmented the blowing seeds with the brush. Amazing!