Creative Style

Designer Spotlight: November 2024

November 3, 2024 by Jan Leave a Comment

Twin Mom Scraps!

It’s my great pleasure to introduce to you Rebecca, aka Twin Mom Scraps. This is her first Spotlight!

One thing quickly became apparent when I was chatting with Rebecca… she doesn’t much like talking about her creative process, so we glossed over that stuff. Check it out…

J: Tell us about your path to designing.

R: I started designing back in 2008 (I think) and continued through 2013. Life got busy with young twin daughters and a booming business, so I took a 10 year retirement. Once my girls graduated high school, I decided to come back in 2023 (although, I never stopped scrapping and have completed albums for every year since they were born!)

J: Wow, I didn’t even start digiscrapping until 2010. Late to the party, as always. What are the colours you love to design with? Do you have one you really don’t like?

R: BLUE is definitely my favorite color. I don’t really have a least favorite, but I guess I am least likely to use the color ORANGE in my designs.

J: So all the “fall” kits are really hard for you, Got it! It’s funny though… I don’t love orange or yellow, but I LOVE scrapping autumn photos. While we’re talking about colour, do you have a green thumb?

R: I have a BROWN thumb. LOL. No matter how hard I try. Things go great for the first few weeks, but then always seem to take a turn…in the wrong direction.

J: I love growing plants, indoors and out. I get lots of compliments for my flowerbeds, and it’s a good feeling. Do I love the workload spring and fall? Not so much. What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?

R: It is a huge compliment when people say nice things about my kids.

J: I know what you mean! I like hearing nice things about my kids too, although I can’t really take credit for their greatness. None of them went the career direction I expected them to, but ended up being wonderful humans. What did you want to be when you grew up?

R: I think I wanted to be a veterinarian.

J: My oldest wanted to be a doctor, and she is… a PhD-type doctor in a related field. Second wanted to do something with athletes, and instead is a criminal behaviours analyst. Youngest was determined to be an engineer until his brain injury. Now he’s just the light of everyone’s life. We all end up where we’re supposed to, I think. If time travel was possible, would you go back in time or ahead? Why?

R: Probably BACK in time, to give my mom a proper goodbye ☹

J: This time of year will always be difficult for you; it’s barely been a year since she joined your dad in the next world. I wasn’t there when my dad died, but I’m okay with that. He wouldn’t have wanted me there anyway. May I give you a hug? I’m a hugger. I can’t help it. I should put that on a t-shirt, like a warning to unsuspecting strangers. If you had a warning label, what would it say?

R: Don’t ask me a question, if you don’t want an honest answer. I often don’t have a filter.

J: That’s actually a super-power. People will always know where they stand with you. Kinda like Bette Midler. I admire her for that. Do you have a celebrity crush?

R: Paul Walker

J: Ooh, yeah! I can see why. Another one gone too soon. He was a fine actor… I know there are a lot of adjectives we could use describing him. What one word would your family and friends use to describe you?

R: Perfectionist.

J: Ouch. That’s gotta sting! But would you change that?

R: No, I’d worry less if I could

J: I can relate to that too. Thanks for the meet-and-greet, Rebecca. I’m just going to tell everybody about the business side of all this now. Safe home, ‘k?

As part of her Spotlight, Rebecca is providing this month’s Daily Download. Have you checked it out? Every one of us with kids will find it useful. 😉 She’s also hosting this month’s Designer Spotlight Challenge in addition to her usual Memory Mix-Up Challenge. She has generously provided a HUGE discount code for her GS store too!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

October 29, 2024 by Jan 5 Comments

Quick Trick: About Those Shortcuts…

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

I know I’m always harping on keyboard shortcuts… every tutorial has a bunch of them. They’re really great time-savers once you have them memorized, but they’re not all that intuitive. Some are, but surely not most. There are plenty of spots on the internet where someone has made lists of them, but how well do those lists apply to digital scrapbooking, when Photoshop and Photoshop Elements have such broad graphic design application? Hmm. So I made a list of the ones I use most often and made a little chart you can print and save.

Let’s look at them individually.

B : Activate the Brush Tool – The Brush Picker menu opens so you can choose your Brush, make adjustments to size, angle, roundness and so on.
C : Activate the Crop Tool – The Crop Tool has so many options! You can set a specific size and you can move the overlay around to get it perfect.
E : Activate the Eraser Tool – I don’t use the Eraser that often, but it’s handy for quick tweaks… like if a leaf has a long stem that sticks out oddly.
I : Activate the Color Picker (Eyedropper) – This is such a versatile tool, especially for those artsy layouts.
K : Activate the Fill Tool* – aka the Paint Bucket. I use this one ALL the time for my custom shadows. The process is quick with shortcuts!
M : Activate the Marquee Tool – The default is the rectangle… or whichever one you last used. Click M again to choose the other one.
N : Activate the Pen Tool – Super-useful for those times you want to draw lines.
R : Activate the Smudge Tool* – There are three tools in this set, so make sure you’ve got the Flying Fickle Finger up there so you can adjust your shadows.
T : Activate the Text Tool – I think everybody already knows and uses this one.
V : Activate the Move Tool* – I firmly believe this is what you should select right before you close your software to prevent messing things up with you use it again. I use it automatically when shifting my shadow layers.
X : Toggle the Foreground and Background Colors – I mostly use this one for my tutorial screenshots, but also when customizing text, Styles and oh yeah… when I’m using a Layer Mask to interweave elements seamlessly.

The next batch uses a combination of keystrokes. I provide both the Windows (CTRL and ALT) and Mac (CMD and OPT) versions for accessibility.

CTRL/CMD> + or – : Zoom in or out – get in realllly close to see details, pull waaaay back to see the overall picture.
CTRL/CMD>A : Select All – This snaps the marching ants to the outside edge of the entire project.
CTRL/CMD>C : Copy – So handy for bringing objects from one project onto another, and for importing text from outside documents.
CTRL/CMD>D : Deselect* – This turns the marching ants off, to allow ongoing changes to other parts of the layout. When they’re on, you can’t do much.
CTRL/CMD>E : Merge selected layers – This is useful in so many ways, especially when you’re trying to create titles, word art or decreasing the size of your file.
CTRL/CMD>F : Repeat last Filter* – This goes for ANY Filter; my most used is the Gaussian Blur for my shadows to replicate the softening effect distance creates.
CTRL/CMD>I : Invert – This changes the colour of your object to the OPPOSITE on the colour wheel. Woohoo! More goodies for your stash!
CTRL/CMD>J : Duplicate layer(s) – You’ve seen this one a million times! It also works for multiple layers, so if you wanted to Duplicate a cluster, activate all the layers in that cluster and CTRL/CMD>J BOOM!
CTRL/CMD>L : Adjust Levels – Good for lightening or darkening images.
CTRL/CMD>N : New document – I like to build my titles and word art on their own documents then import them into the layout.
CTRL/CMD>O : Open last folder – I always fill a folder with the things I think I might use for a given layout, but sometimes I need to go back to the kit folder for more paper or whatever. If I’ve opened that kit folder once after starting my process, I can quickly get back to it using just these keystrokes.
CTRL/CMD>P : Print – You probably use this one a lot already.
CTRL/CMD>S : Save – If your computer is misfiring at times, or you need to interrupt your creativity to make supper, you might want to just Save what you’ve already done so it doesn’t vanish when your back is turned.
CTRL/CMD>U : Adjust Hue/Saturation – Very useful for recolouring on the fly.
CTRL/CMD>V : Paste – Whatever you last Copied or Cut will magically appear on your canvas.
CTRL/CMD>Y : Redo – For when you’ve overdone the Undo!
CTRL/CMD>Z : Undo – Undoubtedly my most uses shortcut of all time.
CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>S : Save AS – Elements creates a PhotoShop Document (PSD) so if you want you work Saved As a JPG or PNG, use this.
CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I : Invert Selection – When I’ve Selected the edges of an object and want to alter everything outside of it, the Selection must be Inverted.
CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>I : Resize document – Quick way to get to the Resize menu so you can Save your layout As a 600×600 Gallery-friendly pixel version.
CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>C : Resize canvas – When you need more room to create your title, word art or cluster than you have, use this.

* : these shortcuts are my go-tos for custom shadows These are the shortcuts I reach for automatically while creating shadows. My fingers just know where to go!

I’m getting a bit closer to that new laptop I mentioned. Hubby was at Costco this morning checking out the options. (As IF he knows what I need…)

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

October 22, 2024 by Jan 6 Comments

What Do I Do With All My Layouts??

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/40irfvl

I know I can’t be the only one who has hundreds of completed digital layouts. I’ve been digiscrapping since October of 2010, after all… and I was late to the party! So that got me thinking about what we do with all the wonderful things we create. I’ve had several 8×8 hard-cover photo books printed, had quite a few layouts printed in both 8×8 and 12×12 format so I could put them in old-school albums or frames, and I’ve done a couple of calendars. With Christmas and Chanukah fast approaching, maybe some of you are planning to give scrapbook-related gifts. Did you know there are lots of options out there for what you can do and where you can do it? Here are a few!

<Editor’s note: where you see bold, coloured, underlined text, there’s a URL link embedded there which will take you directly to the site.>

I’m not going to talk about Kinko, Staples, Vistaprint or any of the more business-oriented print shops. I want to focus on scrapbooking!

I think we all know about Walmart Photo Centers. They’re typically found in the same part of the store as the electronics department. They offer prints, posters, photo books, canvas prints, calendars, plaques, greeting cards and a few other options. Prints-wise, they don’t do 12x12s, but they DO have 12×12 photo books in both soft and hard cover. I believe you can skip their “themes” and just upload your full-sized layouts to fill the pages. If you scrap in 8×10 or 8 1/2×11, you’re in luck – you can get prints at Walmart. You have a choice between going into the store to order, or an online store. Canadians, this is your link. Of course, as Walmart is a budget option, quality may be somewhat diminished.

The next one I think most of us know about is Shutterfly, the OG online photo service. Recently Costco eliminated both their in-warehouse and online photo services, moving their business to Shutterfly. Since this is where I’ve had most of my photo books printed, I wasn’t all that mad; their products run the gamut – anything you want printed on anything is possible here. I’ve uses the Costco service before and was quite annoyed that they ROLLED my 12×12 prints for shipping, so I was a bit trepidatious of how the 12×12 prints for my dad’s memorial service would arrive. Thankfully they were packaged flat and well-protected. One great thing about Shutterfly is that they run sales all the time! Quality is decent, and sale prices make this a good choice. Canadians, your link is here.

Persnickety Prints is, in my opinion, the BEST option for prints. They’re completely online, based in Utah. They offer a wide variety of print sizes and types, as well as calendars (yes, they DO have 12×12 calendars!) and soft-cover photo books, but only 6×8, 8×8 and 5×5. Best of all, they use a credit system so you can buy an bunch of prints without having those prints ready to go. A couple of times a year (Black Friday, anyone?) they have a sale… I have 127 credits for 12×12 prints just waiting for me to give them the go-ahead. (I plan to print all my Ireland layouts and put them in an album.) As far as quality goes, they use Fuji photo paper, REAL silver halide photo paper, for crisp, clean, vivid prints. Turnaround time is quick, too.

Presto Photo is entirely devoted to scrapbooking. They offer prints and photo books in a variety of sizes, calendars (yes to 12×12) and gift options. Although they’re based in the US, their site supports currency from multiple countries. I did note some negative feedback in their comments section. so proceed at your own risk.

For non-US readers, I have a PSA for you. If one of the shipping options on your chosen site is UPS, choose any other mode! UPS charges a brokerage fee that often is more than the value of the contents of your package, and will harass you if you refuse delivery. This is on top of any duty you may be required to pay. I’ve never had to pay duty on any of the prints or books I’ve ordered, but I HAVE been harassed by UPS over another type of shipment I refused at the door.

Okay, back to our regularly-scheduled programming… you may have heard of Blurb, which is based mainly in Canada, but has a US site as well. Their focus is self-publishing, so for the family historian they’re a great choice. They have a variety of sizes, covers, paper choices and even magazines! They have a few wall art options, but they don’t do just prints, or any of the tchotchkes. I have a book that was produced by Blurb and the quality is very good. I think I might use them for the children’s book my brother wants me to illustrate.

Milkbooks is another printer that only provides books. They have a selection of sizes and options, including magazine format. And they’re pricey! But on the plus side, their site supports multiple currencies.

The last site I’ll mention is Treasure Books. I left them until last because they require the use of proprietary software. Their website refers to some issue with creating on Windows-based systems necessitating a call to their toll-free number. That by itself would make me leery, although they say they don’t use an automated call-answering system so you’d speak to a human right off the bat. Based in Canada, they also have a support number in the US. Their basic books are 20 pages, but can go as high as 200.

I hope you’re not disappointed that I have no screenshots for you this week. 😉

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

October 15, 2024 by Jan Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: DSD Brush Challenge

This month has been a bonanza of Challenges! Rather than choose one of the usual 37 (!) monthly Challenges, I looked at the Digital Scrapbooking Day Challenges and opted for the Brush Challenge hosted by CarolW. I decided that I’d show you all the odd-numbered layouts this time. As usual, wherever you see bold, underlined, coloured text, I’ve linked that text to something, either a thread, the Gallery or a specific URL. Each layout is linked to the Gallery via the Scrapper‘s user name so you can pop in and take a closer look, and of course, leave some praise for the Scrapper. But first, let’s have a look at the brush Carol has created and provided free, no-pennies.

Isn’t it gorgeous?? Now let’s see how our Scrappers have used it… starting with this one by demma_b13. She’s done a tone-on-tone blended paper with it, combined with some other brushes, and it’s perfect. I’m also a sucker for a cute blue-winged kookaburra.

For her layout, andastra has gone with one of the grays from her photos and with the bird peeking out from behind the large cluster, it echoes the leaves. Very artsy!

At first glance, I thought dhariana had designed a mutant half-rabbit-half-bird! She has created a landing space for her beautifully simple white-space layout with the Challenge brush and some others.

Branma went for a paint look as part of her mixed-media background paper. The green she used is a close match for the leaf embellishments you chose.

Here, echoes77 went for a high-contrast look, layering the Challenge brush over another botanical brush, and if I’m seeing it clearly, she changed the Blend Mode to Multiply. It has the effect of mimicking the bark on the tree in her large photo and it’s stunning!

I’m hoping jenasz will see this and tell us how she used the Challenge brush, because my eyes are failing me! I see lots of brushes, just not that specific one.

To ground her masked photo, glee went with a taupe colour and has the bird looking in the opposite direction, providing some visual tension.

DebraB made the brush the star of her show!

Windswept has kept her layout very simple, using mostly brushes to achieve a pretty, monochromatic, white-space layout.

And last, we have this artsy, mixed-media masterpiece by biche57. The bird section Challenge brush fades into the paint, while part of the text area is tack-sharp. It’s an interesting look I may have to try and dupe!!

Since October has 5 Tuesdays, next week I’ll have a regular tut for you, and will save the Quick Trick for the last one. Now to come up with a topic……

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

Designer Spotlight October 2024

October 6, 2024 by Jan Leave a Comment

Cheré Kaye Designs

It’s still October, right? I can’t be the only one finding that time is compressing, am I? Before any more of this month disappears on me, let’s get to know Cheré Kaye!

We had a chance to chat last week. I’ll paraphrase our get-acquainted session for you.

J: Thanks for being willing to let me pick your brain for awhile. I think this is your first Designer Spotlight, so most of our GingerScrappers won’t know you. Why don’t we do the obligatory “why did you decide to start designing” thing and get it out of the way.

C: I was a card maker and paper scrapbooker for a long time. When my daughter came home, I wanted different products that I could not find in my local store, and I discovered digital scrapbooking. THEN, I wanted to make things that fit what I was doing even more specifically, so I started designing so I could have exactly what I wanted. It snowballed from there, and I never looked back.

J: I hear something along those lines a lot. Necessity (or simple desire) is the mother of invention. “Nobody’s doing it: somebody’s gotta do it, and maybe I’m the somebody.” But not everybody will share their creations, so thank you! Now, what tools do you use to create your designs?

C: Everything always ends up in Photoshop eventually, but my favorite program to start in is Procreate on my iPad. It just gives me so much freedom and it feels like ‘real’ art supplies without the mess. I love it.

J: I’m not an Apple person, so I know almost nothing about Procreate. It’s great that you’re able to move your work between platforms. One of the best things I learned was about hex codes, so I could coordinate colours. Do you have any favourite colours, or ones that you really hate?

C: I love jewel tones, like teal and coral and navy. I love the LOOK of yellow, but I have a difficult time with it, because it always ends up looking muddy if I’m not careful.

J: I like jewel tones myself. But yellow always makes me think of isolation gowns and that’s not a pleasant connotation! Had I known I’d spend so much time wearing them, I might have changed my mind about having a nursing career. <winks> What did you want to be when you grew up?

C: I wanted to be a musician and an artist. I’ve had the opportunity to be both, so I know I’m really lucky.

J: Ooh, can you play a musical instrument?

C: I can play several, although I’m probably most proficient at the piano. I can also fiddle around with guitar, trombone, flute, and a few others. I also love to sing.

J: Wow! That’s awesome! My oldest grandson is learning to play the cello. I like to sing, but only for my own consumption. I do sound pretty decent when I sing in the garage – I’m refinishing some furniture to a 60s and 70s soundtrack. I seem to bite off more than I can chew, and wish I didn’t. Is there anything about yourself you’d like to change?

C: People pleasing. I worry so much about what other people think that it drags me down and I seldom do what *I* want to do. I would love to be able to still be kind to everyone else but have my spine firmly in place.

J: Mmm. Saying no can be really hard when that’s not how you’re wired. I know there are more than a few things I’d never do if I had the chance to go back and undo them. If you could time travel, would you go ahead, or back?

C: I’d go back just a few months and meet my granddaughter a little sooner. 🙂

J: <big smile> I hear you! I’d love to spend more time with my own three, but international travel is so expensive and unpredictable. What would you do if money was no object – a lottery win paid off all your bills and you can do anything?

C: Honestly, pretty much the same things I do now, but without the worry about our day to day needs. I’d pay all our bills, get us some reliable things that we need, give to people and organizations we know that need, and bank the rest.

J: There’s that people-pleaser again. So that opens the door for this: Aside from necessities, what’s the one thing you could never live without?

C: Probably my iPad. I use it for everything. My business, watching movies, exploring new ways to be creative, playing games, all sorts of stuff. I love that thing.

J: Technology. Our double-edged sword. It’s made our world so much smaller. I use it for so many things, but one constant is looking up recipes for foods I’d like to try. One of these days I’m going to make some runzas, after seeing Tim Walz talk about how good they are. Is there one food above all others that you could eat everyday?

C: For sure, sushi. I love it.

J: I’m more of a katsu/donburi fan if we’re having Japanese. Now I’m hungry. And I just realized I didn’t take anything out for supper. So I’ll have to run!! Thank you again for chatting with me!

Before I jet, I want to make sure I’ve done Cheré justice with this post. Make sure you check out her Daily Download, AND her Designer Spotlight Challenge. Cheré is generously offering a 40% off coupon for the whole month, with the coupon code Spot40CKD. And don’t forget she also hosts the monthly Word Art Challenge. I know there’s a lot going on right now in the store and the Forum, so I’ve linked stuff up for you. Wherever you see some bold, underlined text, that’s your link. Make sure you give it all a look!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

October 1, 2024 by Jan 3 Comments

Paper-to-Digi Tone-on-Tone “Heat Embossing”

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3Y74JUO

Faithful readers, I have to thank you once again for your tolerance! So much has happened in the last 6 weeks, my head is still spinning. But I’m ready to get back to normal now.

Where are my paper-scrappers? I’m always looking for ways to bring paper techniques to digital scrapbooking, with the goal of creating realistic dupes. When I was watching a video tutorial with the über-creative Gina K, it never even occurred to me that this particular technique would translate as well as it did, so hang on! I’m talking about tone-on-tone heat embossing, of course! For those who were never paper-creators, let’s explore. Heat embossing is a technique that uses slow-drying watermark or pigment ink, stamps and embossing powders to create slightly raised, slightly (or brilliantly – depending on the powder) shiny embossed looks on paper. The ink is applied to the paper with the stamp, then powder is poured over the ink. Yes… it’s messy! Then the embossing powder is carefully melted using a heat gun. Yes, fingers get singed… unless like Gina, one holds their paper in a clothespin. The look is beautiful, which is why people do it. But how does it work in the digi world, you ask? Let’s check it out.

Gina demonstrated with gold and silver paper, as well as a solid colour so let’s do just that. We’ll start with gold. The cardstock she used had a slight shimmer and this one doesn’t but it doesn’t matter.

The digital version of stamps are Brushes. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, please get in the habit of putting your Brushes on their own layers. First, and most important, by doing this, when you make changes to the Brush, you only change THE BRUSH. For example, I’ll be using Styles to dupe the ink-embossing powder combo; if the Brush is right on the paper layer, when I apply the Style, Elements is going to change the whole shebang, not just the Brush… and you’ll be mad. In addition, by isolating the Brush this way, you can Resize, Rotate and Flip your Brushes for the best effect.

Are you familiar with brusheezy.com? They have millions of FREE, no-pennies Brushes. The one I used comes in THIS set (which isn’t free any more, sorry!). As the screenshot says, you’ll get best results with a Brush with some solid areas and sharp details. THESE ones would be great, too, and it IS free.

There are 3 ways to find your Styles. The long way is to click Window>Styles. The keyboard shortcut is F6, and the quickest way is just to click on the Styles button at the bottom of the Layers Panel.

To see all the Styles that have been Loaded in Elements, click on the bar shown at the top of the Layers Panel. Scroll down the list and find the set you want. Or if the set you want isn’t there, Load it. [If you’re shaky on how to do that, The Style File: Where is It? can help.]

I tried this particular version with several different gold Styles and settled on this one. It came from a non-GS source, so I won’t link it here. I wasn’t able to find anything suitable in the GS shop, but maybe we could ask for one!

Wut?! Look at that! I think it’s just a bit too thick – the paper method would need several coats of ink and embossing powder and nobody’s got time for that! But it definitely is pretty!

Shaving some of that Bevel is super-easy in Elements. Just double-click on the fx icon on the Brush layer and the Style dialog box will open. First thing I like to do is make sure the Lighting Angle is the same as the rest of my layout so it doesn’t make the brain scramble. Then I slide the Bevel slider to the left until I like the result. I went from the default 20 pixels to 6 and it’s a lot less in your face.

I followed all the same steps for this silver version, only this time I was able to use a GS product! It’s a Karen Schulz Style set. The result could use a little deflation… kinda chunky.

This time I did something a little different. I went literally tone-on-tone. You can see the red Brush against the red paper, and it’s a nice look. Changing Blend Modes might make it really spectacular, but that’s not what we’re doing today.

The closest to a heat-embossed look for this example was to apply another Karen Schulz Style set, this time Glass. [We’ve used that set before.]

Just for kicks, I tried the gold Style on the red.

And the silver one too! I think I like it better than the gold.

Really, the possibilities here are endless.

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Let's Get Crafty, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

September 24, 2024 by Jan 4 Comments

Challenge Spotlight: Real Moments

Yes, it’s me. I’m back. Dad’s celebration of life was on Saturday and life can go back to normal. Thank you all so much for you condolences and words of support. They really meant everything. So it’s quite fitting that today I shine the spotlight on you and your talents! (Must be the universe talking…)

This month’s Spotlight Challenge is Buzzbee Scraps‘s Real Moments. Here’s how she worded her Challenge: “This month I would love you to think about music. How does music feature in your day to day life? Do you listen daily? What motivates you musically? Or, is there a particular piece of music that always takes you back to a moment in time?” Music is as personal as fingerprints, so I think you’ll find these layouts, tied together by a theme, are revealing and moving. This month, rather than go to the Gallery and Save all the layouts there, I decided to instead pull only the ones that have also been added to the Forum thread. As alwaus, each layout will be linked to the Gallery so you can take a closer look and leave a comment, if you’re so inclined. Just click on the GingerScrapper‘s user name and you”ll be whisked right to it!

First up is this pretty, nostalgic layout by demma13. It’s clear that music soothes her, and the AI image she’s used, with that little flock of doves, certainly reflects that. How perfectly placed is that old-time radio!

Next up is zippyoh. She’s chosen to share her favourite Spotify playlist for 2023. I zoomed in to read it and it’s an eclectic mix of genres, tempos, topics and moods. The iPhone element and the speedwalking gnome are just right to accompany the list.

For her layout, lawyerlyn chose to journal the lyrics of Let the River Run, an incredibly beautiful Carly Simon song – one I have on my own playlist. The photos appear to be sharing her favourite river scenes with us in support of her theme.

CathyS is all of us! Who doesn’t listen to their favourite music while they’re driving their car? Yesterday when I was driving back from Kamloops, I had my SiriusXM set to The Highway and I was belting out all the tunes. Like Cathy said, music takes my mind off the traffic and the winding mountain road, without distracting enough to be dangerous. She listens to praise music, I listen to country. 😉

It looks to me like fontaine and her granddaughter use music as a falling-asleep routine away from home. (I can’t do that because the lyrics will run through my brain all night!) There’s that iPhone element again!

Ooh, do I relate to this photo!! Windswept must be in the same demographic as I am; not too many people listen to music on vinyl any more. Her comment about good and bad is an astute one. I know you know what we mean, that some songs evoke very strong reactions based on memories and the emotions they elicit.

I love this layout so hard!! Margaritaville is part of the soundtrack of my teenage years and gadawg83 has really captured the whole vibe.

For linweb, music is like a touchstone she uses to inspire, to comfort and to praise God.

5grand hears the music of nature. Birds have songs that are identifiable to those who take the time to listen. I hear red-winged blackbirds and quail everyday. At night I hear a screech owl calling to his mate, crickets chirping and frogs croaking. Sometimes I hear coyotes yipping to each other. Soon the crickets and frogs will be replaced by ducks and geese as they make their way south. And indeed, that is the music of life.

Here, kabrak1207 is simply celebrating music. The fellow in the top hat seated at the piano gives a sense of a sweeping crescendo of notes.

Tbear and her grandchildren play the same game I play with my son. He LOVES made-up lyrics and sometimes forgets they’re made up. Don’t you adore the little girl, standing on the staff of music, smiling enthusiastically?

MarilynZ‘s playlist is filled with oldies from the 50s and 60s. Did you know that the music popular when you were 14 to 17 is the music that will always be the music you love most? For me, that’s 1972-1975. And it’s 100% accurate! What’s your heartsong playlist?

DiDi’s Mom‘s layout showcases her favourite hymn. It confuses me a bit, with its somber colour palette, when the lyrics are quite optimistic and joyful. That makes me want to know more…

This layout from granny5pics made me laugh out loud. Acoustics are everything when it comes to music and my singing voice always sounds a LOT better in the shower.

Musical theatre is another one of my loves. I related so strongly to the journaling Pups_r_Paps included here. I’ve been that person! Her focal photo really sets the mood, don’t you think?

Music often tells a story, as Pixel Palette does with her layout. Her simple background and minimal embellishment allows her journaling to be the focus.

I quite enjoy the tongue-in-cheek comment echoes77 made here, then expands in her journaling. I too am grateful for headphones.

Music is a great motivator when engaged in fitness activities. The right playlist can make a workout just fly, and pacing is automatic. Daydreamer is on the right track by incorporating music into her fitness goals.

Here, mdusell has hit on yet another truth about music. Our brains process various stimuli in different areas and in different ways. The music centre is incredibly durable, remaining active and intact for a long time after some other functions have faded. My son is a survivor of multiple childhood strokes that severely damaged the area of the brain in charge of speech. It took him a long time to learn how to communicate verbally again. But the part that’s in charge of music was left alone, so he has the ability to memorize lyrics after only a couple of listens. Music is a key to memory!

GrannyNKy has demonstrated that music can be the message.

And last, beccasue has created this mostly monochromatic layout that really brings all the foregoing bits together in one place. Music is powerful.

This little stroll through the Real Moments Challenge music theme has given me some inspiration but I haven’t figured out how I’ll execute yet. Stay tuned!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

August 20, 2024 by Jan 2 Comments

Challenge Spotlight: Use It All

Time for another Challenge Spotlight, where YOU are the stars of the show! I’ve been keeping track – in a haphazard sort of way – of which Challenges I’ve showcased so far; today I decided I’d go back over all of them and add dates to my list so I can try not to be too repetitive. Y’all. This is Challenge Spotlight #36!! Not all Challenges lend themselves to a head-to-head comparison; some have too many variables to work well in this type of post, so some repetition is a given. If you’re wondering, the last time I focused on Use It All was in October 2021… so it’s time!

The Use It All Challenge is hosted by the very talented Karen Schulz. She provides a FREE mini-kit – part of a larger collection – and the Challenge is to USE IT ALL. That means every item in the mini MUST be on your layout somewhere. Karen also allows us to use any or all of the rest of the collection. This month’s mini looks like this:

The rest of the collection can be found HERE. Let’s take a look at some of the layouts posted to the Use It All Challenge Gallery. There were a LOT of entries there for this month, so rather than show them all here, I’ve instead chosen to go with every fourth layout, beginning with the very first layout posted. Otherwise this post would be so long, no one would want to look at it. As usual, each layout is linked to the Gallery so you can take a closer look, and leave some praise, if you’re so inclined. Just click on the Scrapper’s user name and through the magic of technology, you’ll be whisked right to it.

Our first entry is from Windswept. I can see all the bits from the mini, and a couple of additions from the collection. I like how she’s blended two of the papers.

Next is a layout from pbhill. It’s the first time she’s been part of the Spotlight! Hers is an interesting take;, she’s desaturated the colours of the papers. But I don’t see the pink flower……..

I’m not seeing any flowers on this one from jenasz. The doodles appear to be floating over the page.

Looks like makeyesup understood the assignment. All the items from the mini are there and she’s added some gesso too.

I can see dj_w has added some elements from the larger collection to her layout. The blended papers in the background are lovely. Do people just not like the journal blank, though? Seems like everybody wants to use just the border…

Macsandy has added a bunch of elements from the collection. The warm palette she chose really works well with her photos.

I see mdusell employs the KISS principle. Her layout keeps things simple, and she’s included all the required elements.

I LOVE this photo; it reminds me of my youngest two grandchildren. Her creative use of papers is another thing I like about photocrazy‘s layout.

Aha! Our first furbaby layout! I think that cat actually IS laughing, amirite, larkd? Don’t see the solid white paper anywhere though.

Celestine had added some daisies, a rub-on, and a bunch of other elements from the collection. I like the diagonal arrangement of her layout.

There it is! The elusive journaling block makes its first true appearance on mom2triplets04‘s layout. I’m glad to know my dogs aren’t the only ones on their best behaviour at day care!

Aw… bathtime photos are always a favourite. It looks like pepsibubbles borrowed the Beatrix Potter elements from another of Karen‘s kits.

The flowers got the royal treatment by lisar. Does anyone see the white solid paper though?

That paper fold is genius, dragonstarr! Lovely cluster, too.

I’ve been very busy here this last week and have had limited time for scrapping. Thanks for letting me look at your layouts, ladies!

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 (GingerScraps)

August 13, 2024 by Jan Leave a Comment

Multitasking: Gallery Uploads

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

Last week’s tutorial was a lot, wasn’t it? It was pretty much a 3-in-1 and covered a lot of ground. Somewhere in the middle, I mentioned that it’s possible to batch-process your layout uploads, so today I’m going to show you how to do it. It’s a lot easier than you think, and the tut will be a quick one! I won’t go back over the entire routine, since it’s easy enough to review the tut from last Tuesday. We’re going to start on the Upload Photos screen.

It’s okay to leave the Category box on Member Galleries. We’ll change it on the next screen.

Choose your layout files. You have the opportunity to add 5 layouts per upload. [More about that in a minute.] The app will reorder them in alphabetical order by title when we move to the next screen. If you’re uploading a two-layout spread, it’s hit-or-miss if they’ll end up with the proper orientation. It helps if you’ve given both layouts the same name, but with a number at the end to distinguish one from the other. Leave the Title and Description boxes empty.

You can leave the Keywords box blank. If you’re uploading creative team layouts, you can put your designer’s name in here. If you’re uploading Challenge layouts, you can put a generic “month/year/Challenge” label in there. If you choose not to allow comments, click on the Upload/Submit bar now.

BUT… if you want praise and you want to KNOW what others have said, flip these boxes to Yes, then click the Upload/Submit bar.

Thumbnails? CHECK! So I know my layout files are the right size.

Find the correct Category for your layouts here. Again, if these are Challenge layouts, make sure the correct year is there so Missi can count them toward your Reward. The GingerBread Ladies‘ (designers’) names are also listed in the drop-down menu, as well as special-events galleries too. REMEMBER: IF YOU SELECT MORE THAN ONE CATEGORY HERE, THE SERVER WILL COUNT EACH ONE AS A ‘NEW’ LAYOUT AGAINST YOUR DAILY TOTAL. There’s a work-around though. I’ll tell you that bit at the end.

Put in the title for each of the layouts you’ve got showing. One thing I forgot to mention in last week’s tutorial is that if you enter your title on the first screen above and it contains any special characters, like quotation marks or an apostrophe, when it pops up on this screen, the special characters are lost. But if you wait until this screen to add your title, they stay put!

Now add in your credits. Please don’t skip this step.

Edit the Keywords box with the appropriate Challenge, if applicable. Then click Process. The next screen will move to your Gallery and you can proceed from there to update your Cookie Jar and post your layouts to the Forum.

Now, If you want to bypass the 8 layouts-a-day limit anomaly, once your layouts are posted to the Gallery, you can Edit Photo in the Gallery! You can also fix typos, replace lost credits (a known issue that occasionally happens and isn’t really fixable) or even replace the layout itself with an edited one. Look just to the right of your avatar and you’ll find User Options and click Edit Photo.

You can add your extra Categories here without them impacting your daily limit, as well as heal other wounds.

So now we’re all GingerScraps Community experts!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (GingerScraps)

August 6, 2024 by Jan 3 Comments

Step-By-Step: Gallery Limits, Challenges and Filling Your Cookie Jar

[editor’s note: Sorry this is so late! I got caught up watching the Olympics. 😉 ]

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/4fLz9D5

Over the weekend I got a message from Ginger with a plea from a new GingerScrapper. This is a very timely request, given GingerScraps is running a Summer Scrap-a-Thon with a mega-collab reward for completion. In part: ‘Here is her message, ‘Help please. I’d love to do all the challenges, actually have a couple that would qualify as already done for August. I just do not understand how to post these with links and all. Could somebody do a step by step for me? I see those cute colabs as rewards every month and hate to keep passing them up. Something simple like Facebook’s dropping an image in a box I can handle, links & things I don’t understand.‘” Well, that’s a big job, but I’m up for it! That is… if our newbie is using Photoshop Elements. 😀 Warning: This will be a long tutorial and many of you aren’t going to need it. But if you do, I’ve got you!

First things first. The GingerScraps Gallery has strict limits on image size, type of file and number of images posted per day. I’ll go over them, starting with image size. The usual pixel size of a digital paper is 3600×3600 – clearly way too big for the Gallery, but good for detail, clarity and ease of use. So most layouts tend to be 3600×3600 and will need to be Resized for the Gallery, down to 600×600 pixels. To do that, click on Image>Resize>Image Size… OR use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>I.

This dialog box opens up. Make sure all the boxes at the bottom left are ticked and choose Bicubic in the long bar for best results. Change the Pixel Dimensions to 600×600.

Then click File>Save As… or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>S. This will give you several options.

I always Save my layouts as a full-sized PSD, a 2400×2400 JPG and a 600×600 JPG (except signatures – those are PNGs). So I have to change the name of my file when I go to save the 600×600 version. I add GS to the title. Just a note: if I want to use your layout in an Individual Style tutorial, it’s a lot easier for me if you Save As a JPG…

So, format is figured out. Now File Size… it can’t be bigger than 500KB. Depending on the complexity of your layout you may be well under that… or well OVER it. See the box outlined in red. If that number is lower or barely more than 500KB – like 510KB, you’ll be okay to go ahead and Save As is. (There’s a tiny bit more compression that takes place after you hit OK.)

But if it’s too big, do this instead.

First, make sure the image is Optimized (#1). Then look at the File Size at #2. If it’s less than 500KB, you’re good to go. And it usually is. If not, make adjustments at the Quality box, #3. The size drops REALLY fast, so watch it closely! Then when your file is at or less than 500KB, click Save.

Okay! On to Gallery uploading and Challenge entering. I find it easiest to have 3 GingerScraps tabs open at the same time, one for the Cookie Jar, one for the Gallery and one for the Forum. Then I just move between tabs.

Take a moment to commit the Gallery limits to memory. (Just kidding – the Gallery will tell you is you’re overstepping!) A lot of other digital shops use the same platform for Gallery posting, and have the same or similar limits. When you first open the Gallery tab on the GS site, the default is the Member Galleries – your personal Gallery, as it were.

To choose a Challenge Gallery or a Designer Gallery, click on the arrow shown below then scroll through the list that pops up. Pay attention when choosing a Challenge Gallery because sometimes the one you choose is actually last year’s version and you don’t want that**. The label should say (2024) after the name of the Challenge. [There are also some special-events Galleries.]

Once you’ve got the right Gallery, click on the bar that says Choose File. (As you can see, there are five of those. Yes, you CAN upload five different layouts at a time. But… you can only have a total of eight in one day. I’ll expand on that in a few.) The last folder you accessed on your computer will appear. If it’s not where your layout is, find the correct folder, then click the 600×600 image you Saved. Then click Open.

The title of your layout will appear to the right of the button as shown.

Okay, let’s recap. The correct Gallery is selected. The correct image is chosen. Now enter the title you want displayed with your layout once it’s up in the Gallery. It doesn’t have to be whatever you named the image when you Saved it.

Leave that big box empty for now. We’ll fill it later. You can skip the Keywords step if you want. I always just fill it with the name of the Challenge. Here I have August 2024 Signature Challenge. Then look at that bottom section. It’s asking if you want people to be able to leave comments on your layout, and if you want to be notified. If your answer is no, click on the Upload/Submit bar in either section. If it’s yes, click on the bottom Upload bar.

If your image is small enough, you’ll see the thumbnail. If it’s too big, you’ll get an error message on this screen where the thumbnail is.

NOW we’ll fill in the big Description box. At the very least, type in your credits. The Designers deserve recognition, it’s part of their Terms of Use, and if you’re entering Challenges, you have to meet content requirements. So don’t skip them! You can also add other Galleries in this step. BUT… each additional Gallery you add on THIS STEP will count toward your daily limit. Yes, it’s only ONE image, but ON THIS STEP, each Gallery counts as a separate image. Weird, right? [I’ll do another tutorial on multiple uploads later if y’all think it’s needed.] Then click Process.

There! My siggie is in the Challenge Gallery, and in my Member Gallery as well. (Oddly, the platform does that automatically, but doesn’t count it toward the limit. I know… weird!) You can see my credits there too.

If you’re interested in earning the monthly Challenge Reward, you’ll need to have a Cookie Jar. It’s where you record links to all of the layouts you’re entering for the month. Highlight the text in the address bar at the top of your browser, which is the Universal Resource Locator (URL) for your layout. Right-click and choose Copy.

Then click over to your Cookie Jar tab on your browser. I like to set up my Cookie Jar on the first day of the month with just the Total Challenges Completed:(0) bit filled in. Then when I’m ready to add a layout, I just have to do this next step. But you can just type in the name of the Challenge then Paste in your URL. Up to you. I type in the Challenge and the title of my layout.

Then I highlight the title and click on the globe-with-chainlink icon (in the little red box). That opens the link box option.

Set the cursor inside the box, right-click and choose Paste.

That adds a direct link to the Gallery where the layout title is, which makes it easy for Missi to verify at the end of the month, and for any of the Challenge hosts who need to check content.

Are you tired yet? 🙂 Almost there!! The last part is to add your layout to the Challenge thread in the Forum. Click your cursor somewhere inside your layout then right-click and choose Copy Image Link from the pop-up.

Now click through to your Forum tab in your browser. Find the Challenge thread and scroll to the bottom of the page. There’s an Add Quick Reply box there. You can add some text in the Reply box if you like. Click on the icon that looks like a stretchy photo, as shown,