Digital Scrapbooking Freebies

Designer Spotlight: April 2022

April 4, 2022 by Jan

It’s Miss Fish!

Oops! I meant to share my conversation with Juli, aka Miss Fish, with you over the weekend but I fell down a genealogical rabbit hole and spent the weekend reading barely legible military service records looking for proof of a hitherto-unknown marriage in 1915. ( I was successful!) Of course, that opened up a bunch more avenues for research. It’s like a snowball rolling downhill. But I digress again. Let’s get to know Juli. (Since we have the same initials, for clarity I’ll be “O” today.”)

O: Thanks for chatting with me, Juli. Let’s get the mundane stuff out of the way first. Can you describe your work space?

J: I have several workstations. I have a laptop that I move around. I have a desk area in the bookcase of our family room where I spend most of my time designing while my husband watches TV. That way we can talk. I also have a hook-up in my home office and when I have to travel for my full-time job I work from the hotel at night with an extra portable monitor to make it easier.

O: Holy cow! How many hats do you wear?? Don’t answer that. It’ll make me feel really lazy. What motivates you when you’re designing?

J: I am inspired by designs that I would use myself to document our travels. I’m also inspired by ideas I get from my Creative Team and my customers.

O: Admirable! I love to scrap my travel photos… I’m sure the Sugar Cookies are very sick of Ireland by now. What one word would people who know you well use to describe you?

J: Kind. I am a people pleaser and I always try to make everyone feel well taken care of and loved.

O: Hmm. I bet your Enneagram is 9. And what a segué into asking you what you’d do if you won the lottery.

J: Is it bad that I already have this planned out? I would quit my full-time job and travel full time between houses all across the globe. I would spend my days exploring and taking photos and my night making travel albums. That would be heaven!!

O: Is it bad? NO! Especially when you’d do something so life-changing with the money. In a perfect world, I’d do something similar. Okay, time for the really stupid question of the convo… Are you more likely to sing, or to dance in the shower? (I have a HUGE shower in my bathroom, big enough to have a party in, so this question comes from that.)

J: Sing and badly. I’d probably slip and kill myself if I tried to dance in the shower.

O: I understand! But nobody can hear me dancing. The neighbours would complain if I sang. Now, if time travel was a thing, would you go back into the past, or ahead into the future?

J: I would want to go back to the early 1900’s just to experience life as it was so I had a better understanding of the history that created America and the cities I’ve visited.

O: I’d be happy if I could make more than one stop. I’d tell my younger self a few things that would change the future. But I’d love to go back to maybe 1930 and visit my Swedish great-grandmother, about whom I know only basic facts. She would be around the age I am now, and would have so many stories to tell. But let’s move on. What colours are your most, and least, favourites?

J: My most favorite color is blue. I always want to buy blue shirts when I’m shopping for casual wear. My least favorite color is orange. I only like certain shades more in the coral range.

O: I’m with you on the orange! I don’t love it at all. Yellow is a close second. You can bet if there are flowers of either colour in my garden, somebody else planted them. Are you a sports fan?

J: I love to watch American football and I often listen to games while I’m designing.

O: I’m glad you clarified without me asking if you meant FOOTBALL or FUTBALL. I don’t enjoy soccer at all. What did you want to be when you grew up?

J: When I was small I wanted to be a teacher. Probably so I could tell everyone what to do. I liked being the boss (still do!)

O: I can relate. One of the things I really loved about nursing was the opportunity to explain what was happening with my patients to their parents. It’s the only way they can make good choices for their kids. The boss part was what drew me to critical care, where nurses have a lot of autonomy. And there I go again, back to you. Aside from necessities, what’s one thing you couldn’t live without?

J: My cell phone! I use it non-stop to communicate with my kids, work, my husband plus it’s the best way to check in with my fans and my Creative Team while I’m at work.

O: Uh. Necessity!! I know you’re busy with all the jobs you have so I won’t keep you any longer. Thanks for the visit!

Ladies, Juli has put her entire store on sale at 30% off, from April 3rd to the 30th! If there’s a template set (or 6) in her store that you’ve been eyeing up, now’s the time. In addition to this sale, she’s also providing the Daily Download this month and hosting the Designer Spotlight Challenge. You don’t want to miss a minute!

See you all again soon! (Tomorrow. I have a nifty trick for y’all!!)

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

March 22, 2022 by Jan

Creating Art with a Photo

I’ve been procrastinating over this tutorial for awhile… because A) I wasn’t sure I could articulate how I do this and B) other, quicker techniques kept presenting themselves. 😉 But I bit the bullet. Today’s the day! I want to show you how to turn a photo into a watercolor work of art, and it started when Karen asked how the scrapper got the paint effect on this layout, shown below. (Sorry, I’m not sure where the original is posted or who the scrapper is to give them credit… if it’s yours, you did a fantastic job!) Anyway, I want to make one thing clear before we start: this is a labour-intensive technique, and much will depend on your choice of photo how much work will be involved. But your skills will get a good workout!

I chose this photo from Pixabay as my canvas. It already has a bit of an arty look to it, but when I’m done with it, it’ll be very different. It was already a square so that helped, although you can do this technique on any photo.

First, I’m going to use a Guided Edit. This one was introduced with Elements 2019. If you’re working with an earlier version, you can follow this tutorial, or this tutorial for the sketchy part. I’ve also used the Guided Edit we’ll be working with for a previous tutorial back in July 2019, so if it looks familiar that’s why. The outcome today will be very different from that other though.

Choose Pencil Sketch from the options in this menu, the one in the upper left corner there. Then drag your cursor over the parts of your photo you want to be sketchy. The cursor can be sized to fit the area you’re including, and you’ll have the ability to “unsketch” parts if you go too far.

I decided I wanted the WHOLE photo to be sketchy, so I made my cursor brush huge and rolled it over everything. But let’s say you only want part of your photo sketched. In my experience, it’s easier to ADD an area to my selection then SUBTRACT with a smaller brush where the details are. You’ll see what I mean a bit later. In this step, it’s also possible to decrease the Opacity of the effect so more of the original shows through. But not today!

Once I had my sketch the way I wanted it, I went to the lower right corner of the workspace and clicked Next. (Be careful you don’t click Cancel, because that’ll undo everything you’ve done and take you back to the starting gate.) Then I chose Continue Editing In Expert.

Now it’s possible to see what Elements was doing in the background while we were busy and oblivious. Now I have 3 layers: the original, a sketch layer with a black Layer Mask and a sketch layer with a white Layer Mask. It’s possible to do the following steps using these two masked layers, but it’s a bit more challenging than my approach, so we’re not going to do that. The layer that I want to work with is the one with the white Layer Mask, but I need to Simplify it. Right-click on that layer – over on the left of the layer near but not ON the link icon – then choose Simplify Layer.

Then I Deleted the layer with the black Layer Mask.

You can turn visibility for the colour layer off if you like, or leave it be.

Next, I made a Copy Layer of the sketch. You can right-click on the layer then choose Duplicate Layer>OK. Or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J.

I put the Copy Layer in my back pocket for later and made the first sketch layer my active layer and added a Layer Mask to it… I know what you’re thinking – but I’m really not making work for myself. I tried it with the previously masked layers and it didn’t do what I needed it to do.

For those not familiar with Layer Masks, they allow removal of part of a layer in a “non-destructive” way, meaning that if I erase part of the image that I didn’t really want gone, I can just paint it back in. See the colour picker? The Eraser Tool is active with a white foreground and a black background. When white is the foreground colour, whatever the Eraser rolls over with be revealed – in this case it’s the transparent background. When black is the foreground colour, it conceals – the transparent background in this case. Toggling back and forth between removing and replacing parts of the image plays a big role in getting this technique nailed. I started by Erasing her face and neck as well as the green in the upper left corner. As I mentioned, I find it easier and quicker to Erase (white) past fine details like wispy hairs, and then paint them back (black).

I also discovered that toggling the colour layer on and off makes it easier to see edges of things better.

Aaaaaand toggling the sketch layer on and off helped me see where and what needed more help.

Her fringe didn’t seem too important when I first got going, but to be really successful, I figured I needed to make it as sharply detailed as possible. I work on a laptop with a trackpad, and lemme tell ya… it’s a SKILL!! I found I got better results when I started at the tip of a strand of hair and dragged the cursor back toward the fringe than when I tried to go from fringe to tip. Try it both ways and see which works best for you. This is where most of the time expenditure happens. If you’ve chosen a less detailed image to work with, it’ll go a lot quicker.

So, I’m happy with how I’ve isolated her hair. What do you think the next step will be?

Did you guess right? If you’ve read a lot of my meandering tutorials, you probably did!

And you probably knew this step was coming too. Make a Copy Layer of the hair. ALWAYS have a copy of something you’ve done a lot of work on, just in case you need it!! Now I have a Copy of the whole sketch and a Copy of just her hair.

It’s really hard to see the marching ants in this screenshot, but they are there. I activated the whole sketch layer then CTRL/CMD>clicked on one of the hair layers to Select the edges of the hair on the whole sketch.

I want everything BUT the hair so I clicked Select>Inverse. (In reality, I used the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I…)

Then I clicked Edit>Cut (CTRL/CMD>X).

At this point I have four layers, one colour, one just her face and the green in the corner and two hair layers.

Now I took some time to experiment with my watercolor brush collection. The ones that worked best are the ones that are a square swatch, like the ones you can grab here for free. I resized the brush so it filled the whole photo so I could see where the colour was most opaque and how it looked overall. Because I was just looking at options. I didn’t create a new blank layer for the brush, although in retrospect I should have.

Did you know you can make lots of adjustments to your brushes? Click on Brush Settings and you’ll see this. I wasn’t happy that the brush I chose didn’t cover all of her hair, so I rotated the brush 90° to the right and fixed it.

The next two screenshots are still part of my experimentation, but the process you’ll follow after you’re settled on your brush and have it on its own layer is the same as I’m showing.

After the hair is Selected and Inverted, I’ll Cut it away to see what effect I have.

Alrighty! I’m ready to commit. I have a brush and a colour I like, it’s positioned well and I can go ahead with the brush on its own layer. I put the new, blank layer in between the hair layers by clicking on the sheet of paper icon at the upper left of the Layers Panel.

I really wanted the ability to manipulate her face separate from her hair, as you can see here. That’s why I went to all the work of Layer Masking her hair. I’ll change the Blend Mode on the FACE layer to Luminosity.

I’m almost happy now. But I’ll look at it for a bit to make sure.

So I played with some Blend Modes and decided all I needed to do was decrease the Opacity of the painted hair layer to 80%. It looks pretty good, even if I say so myself. The untouched hair layer adds some necessary detail back to the hair, and the effect can be enhanced with Blend Modes if desired.

Here’s what it looks like on a layout. I used a mask-and-frame combo in PSD form so that I could move the frame around. I’m really pleased.

Again, I apologize for the formatting mess I’ve made here. I haven’t figured out how to make spacing adjustments in WordPress when I’ve had to move an image around. Or when I’ve made a booboo after I’ve added the images. It’s a problem!

Sherri, I haven’t forgotten about your paper-punch-tear but haven’t figured it out yet. It’s a work in progress…

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3wy8xkz

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, 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!

By blending the brush into this dreamy, soft watercolour paper, wvwendy has really added oomph to her layout.

I saved this version from linweb for last. She used it very cleverly to create a St Patrick’s Day card and I LOVE it!!

I hope you’ve gotten some flashes of inspiration from this stroll through the Gallery. I know I did!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3KKY6Oz

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Fabulous Fonts)

January 25, 2022 by Jan

Romantic and Corny… Valentine’s Day Fonts

How is it even possible that January is almost over already? It’s not even like I got anything accomplished this month. Except getting back on the one med that controls my “functional dyspepsia” and also treats my insomnia… that was a good thing. Anyway, I thought we’d get a jump on Valentine’s Day and check out some new(er) fancy fonts that would be useful for layouts, wedding invitations and cards so I popped in at DaFont.com and had a look. They’re always adding new fonts (and dingbats!) so there’s often some new and unexplored (FREE) goodies there. Each of these is linked through the name of the font – bolded and in red. Just click on it and you’re there. I’ve got a dozen fonts and three sets of dingbats, so let’s have a look!

First up is Xhers Alove. As shown, both regular and italic versions are included. It would be good for titles and to draw attention to your message. Look at all those cute little heart cutouts!

Ready Lover can be manipulated in SO many ways. I’d throw a Bevel at it to bulk it up and maybe put it on top of pink or fuchsia paper. It’s a title font, without question.

I’m such a sucker for swirly script fonts. Billy Bella ticks so many boxes for me. I can see it as a subtitle or without the extra glyphs, as text. What are your thoughts?

I adore this upright script font, Hanifah. It’s sophisticated, pretty and only a little fussy. It would work nicely for journalling, I think.

This one, Romantic Dates, is a bit sturdier but swirly. It’s versatile like Billy Bella, with many options for use.

Beauty is another very useful font. Pretty, swirly but highly legible, you can use it for anything your heart desires.

Isn’t Love Match quirky? With or without the glyphs, it’s got potential.

I think I swooned a little when I saw Hello Valentine. That cupid-heart dot over the “i” is so fun! The uneven baseline and the scripty look are so current.

Valentine Soul has a broader wheelbase than some other script fonts, and it’s a great all-purpose font too!

This font is such a contradiction… compact AND zaftig at the same time! I can see it on a wedding invite pretty clearly. Lovea Hegena could even be used as a divider.

Love Story has those cute little cutout hearts, and would be a perfect title font. I might apply an acrylic Layer Style to it, and then stick it on a contrasting paper to give it real presence.

This is an older font, but I’ve never seen it anywhere else. Don’t let it throw you, it’s Kinkee in name only. It’s got so much potential too. Layer Styles would turn it into a phenomenal alpha!

Now for some dingbats. These are little pictograms tied to the alpha keys. Hey Babe looks a lot like graffiti and could be stunning on a chalkboard paper.

Loveya Doodle is chock-a-block with doodly hearts. They could be used like brushes to jazz up your background papers.

Last, but not least, Romantine Dingbat is a more solid doodly set, and I think they’d make amazing scatters. Maybe with a glitter-gloss Layer Style?

For next week’s tutorial, I’m planning another paper-to-digi technique very appropriate for Valentine’s Day. It’s coming together in my head, I just have to translate it into something approaching coherence. Til then,

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

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

January 18, 2022 by Jan

Photo Mask Challenge with PrelestnayaP

Omigosh, the 2022 Challenges are fabulous! There are some new ones that I’m still familiarizing myself with, but I wanted to highlight the new-for-2022 Photomask Challenge brought to us by the incredibly talented PrelestnayaP Design (Irina). I’m always intrigued by how each of us interprets a Challenge based on a single, specific element and how we arrive at such unique results. For this Challenge, Irina has provided this photo mask that must be part of the layout.

I visited the Challenge Gallery and randomly (well, not exactly) selected a dozen layouts to share with you. I’ll offer my critique and why it caught my eye. Each layout will be linked to the Gallery so you can take a closer look if you like, and maybe leave a little praise for the scrapper too. Just click on the scrapper’s name!

The first layout is from etycz. She’s blended the plaid paper with a snowflake paper quite seamlessly by placing the mask the full width of the page. I suspect there’s another mask at play here too, under the Challenge mask. Then she concealed the edges of the mask with clusters. Beautiful!

PixyGirl has used the mask to create a paint swatch, and then used it again for her photo. See how the photo follows the contours of the larger painted mask?

The way chris01 has used the mask is to focus the eye on the heron in her photo, an effect she amplified by framing it with foliage. It looks like it could just fly away!

I love this layout by HalinaMiga. She’s used the mask to make the skier look like he’s surrounded by blowing snow. The stone cottage, fir tree and leafless bush with birds in it create such a charming image.

What drew me to Pippin‘s layout is the overall vintage look she’s obtained by using the mask to blend her sepia-toned photo into a dark brown background. It’s hard to tell where the photo ends and the cup-and-saucer-pitcher cluster starts.

Jill‘s layout is another example of flawless blending. The grungy paper she chose for her background is an inspired choice. Her clusters enhance the overall look of the layout and the whole effect is amazing.

Here, gmae has created an echo of sorts with the build-up of colour variation. It reflects the principle behind the cairns in her photo, careful stacking to achieve a stable foundation. And what a whimsical touch, tucking the photographer behind her cluster.

Wait! What?!! How clever of fontaine to cut the mask and rearrange the pieces to create a mask map of California! (Please tell me I’m not the only one who sees it…) Her layout is super-simple, but eye-catching nonetheless.

Katherine Woodin documents all the little moments of each day through photos and layouts. Here, she’s used the mask to frame that beautiful snow-covered mountain. The kit she chose pulls colours from her photo so accurately!

I’m positive Karen Diamond has used multiple brushes and masks for her layout. I zoomed in on it and there are so many layers of paint and snippets of paper, then a stack of paper pieces, the Challenge mask and her photo. That cluster is exquisite – balancing out the photo stack without taking centre-stage.

For her layout, Lisa Campbell has used the mask to create a paint swatch that ties the the whole layout together. Her clusters are perfectly positioned to put the focus on her photo.

And finally, NHSoxGirl has evoked a sense of dreaminess and imagination with both the photo she’s masked and the elements she’s surrounded it with that wouldn’t be there if she’d simply framed her photo.

Examining all these layouts has given me some inspiration for my own Challenge layout. Off the dig through my supplies!

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3GIbxx8

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

November 23, 2021 by Jan

November Challenge Spotlight: Template Challenge

Is the timing for our Challenge Spotlight perfect this month, or what? This week nobody has to try following Jan’s twisted and tangled directions! Because who’s got time for that right now? This month I’m shining a light on one of my faves, the Template Challenge. I LOVE templates… and for those who think they stifle creativity… well that’s simply not true. Templates enhance creativity! I look at them as a foundation, not something to follow slavishly; the template designer takes some of the guesswork out of layout creation, but leaves the scrapper in the driver’s seat. Sure, if you love a template exactly as you see it, you can faithfully duplicate the designer’s vision to create a beautiful layout. But if you’re like me, you see a template as more of a springboard; I often flip or rotate my templates, resize or reposition photo spots, add, subtract or substitute elements and make my layout uniquely mine. Let’s look at some examples of what can be done with a single template and how amazing the results are.

Before I forget, I’d like to welcome Dagi back to the family. Dagi has been designing templates for many years; her nom-de-plume was originally Dagi’s TEMPtations, then more recently Dagilicious. She’s taken a couple of sabbaticals from designing when life has required, and now she’s back again with lots of fresh looks. She has provided the November challenge template (did I forget to mention they’re FREE every month?) and it’s fantastic! Here’s a peek, in case you haven’t seen it.

Her Creative Team member Karen took the template and created this layout with it. As you can see, Karen kept her layout true to the template, and it’s gorgeous.

Now on to the Gallery! [PS… Each Challenge has its own Gallery. You can find the Template Challenge Gallery here. Each layout is also linked: click on the scrapper’s username!] First up is a cute layout by Yvonne55. She stayed pretty faithful to the template, but has blended some papers, added a stitched border, substituted some string for wordstrips, stitched down the journal card and added that little clothespin to anchor her single wordstrip.

I’m going to guess that Cinna doesn’t like bows… she’s substituted wings for one and some brass elements for the other. She tossed in some sequins, some scribbles and extra paint, but the bones of the template are easily identified.

KatherineWoodin is a storyteller. Her layouts are daily diary entries and she does a beautiful job of enhancing those stories with her choices. Here, she’s rotated the template 90° to the left. The large photo spot became her notepaper and the journal card is replaced with a photo. She added some scattered flowers and butterflies too. And check out that cool font for her title!

I admire people who can capture good photos of birds. granny5pics subbed a tag for the journal card, some fine curly ribbon for one of the bows and some wooden bird cutouts for wordstrips. She added some twigs behind the paper/photo stack.

Look at this little cutey! Got2Scrap has added a photo in the upper right, a grungy brush behind all the paper and photos, eliminated the wordstrips and perched a cowboy hat on the photo stack. The template is recognizable, but not in a cookie-cutter way.

This layout from Glee is a significant departure, but the bones are still there. She eliminated the paint splatters, going with a patterned paper instead. Her focal photo is long and skinny, and she’s filled the space with doodles. Then she tied the ribbon cluster to the photo/paper stack with a hot air balloon. She’s used word art rather than wordstrips. Very cool!

When I look at Jill‘s layout, the template influence isn’t really obvious, but the more I look at it the better I can see it. She’s made the photo spot smaller and framed it in black rather than white. She moved one of the large clusters to the opposite corner and tucked it underneath. She deleted the journal card, filling it instead with paper. Her stitched border and the addition of a pair of buttons to it is a deft touch. And what can I say about the rubber ducky?

There are SO MANY creative tweaks to the template in cinderella‘s layout. She’s turned the photo spot into a cut-out and has that amazing extracted photo popping up from inside it. The elements in her clusters are positioned with the template’s placement as a guide, but she has a very different look with the die-cuts. Tucking some strong into the background and scattering some beads rounds out a interesting and eye-catching layout.

At the most basic, makeyesup‘s layout has the look of the template, but not. I know that’s not really sensible, but she’s made a lot of choices that really sets her layout apart. Her dark background and muted colours are visually pleasing. Rather than use a journal card, she’s created a dialog box to describe her photo. The primitive bird atop the paper immediately made me think of “plain” folks, like the ones who settled Salem more than three centuries ago.

Derby Wharf

Now, where have I seen that background paper before? Oh yes… in the first layout I showed you. And the template’s form is quite apparent. But the layouts couldn’t be more different! greenfiend127 replaced the journal card with a circular tag and it works beautifully. She replicated the stitched border on each of her papers and her photo, giving the layout such an organic look. Exchanging the zigzag paper strip borders for a narrower papercut border is another way she’s made the template her own.

I hope you’ll find some inspiration in these layouts and begin to see templates with a new perspective. If you see the Challenge layout I’m going to post later, see if you can identify the changes I’ve made. What are some ways you can bring your unique style to a template? Give it a whirl!

Next week I hope to have something really different to show you. If my experimentation works the way I think it will… Meanwhile, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the USA. While y’all are watching football, I’ll be binge-watching Yellowstone. See you soon!

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3IbAXo7

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

Designer Spotlight (November 2021)

November 2, 2021 by Jan

Jumpstart Designs!

How the heck is it November already? Before we know it, Christmas will be here… and Jan won’t be ready. Given! New month, new Designer Spotlight. This month I’m chatting with Sheri, the creative mind behind Jumpstart Designs. Sheri is a relative newcomer to GingerScraps, but I’ve known her for years and was so happy when she joined our little digi-family. (She might not remember, but once upon a time I was on her creative team.) Our chat went sort of like this…

J: Sheri, let’s get the business part of this out of the way first. Tell me how long you’ve been designing.

S: Ten years this last July!

J: Wow, you’ve done a TON of designing in that time. Your (amazing) portfolio is HUGE! Where do you do your best work?

S: Our main family room is kind of long so I use one end of it for my office because I have windows on two sides that keeps this beautiful fall sunshine coming in. I have a desk with three large monitors because I’ve always got Photoshop, Illustrator, multiple folders, and several different browsers and tabs open all the time. I generally have music or television streaming in the background. I just recently purchased a new PC system and a stand-alone disk station. My “techie” son keeps my system in optimal working order, and I have no idea how I would do this without his help because it seems like something is always needing to be fixed or tweaked. I also have a tablet and just recently got an iPad so I can play around in Procreate. I keep my work area very organized because my brain is already in chaos mode, and I need all the structure I can get. Oh look! A shining thing! Or in my case… another email, memo, new event to add to the design calendar, or another deadline I’m running close to. I’m a great planner, but not nearly as good about keeping on top of it.

J: I think you do a brilliant job of keeping all those balls in the air. We’ve got the where, now let’s talk about the why. What inspires and motivates you?

S: Color, and spending time on Pinterest and similar sites. I always have a bunch of ideas of what I’d like to design and do differently but finding the extra time to play around with new ideas doesn’t seem to happen very often.

J: The way you use colour has always drawn me to your designs… which explains why I have a gigantic folder of your stuff. I won’t get into the whole Pinterest rabbit hole! Which of your current collections is your favourite and why?

S: EARLY AUTUMN WHISPERS. Fall is my favorite time of year and I wish it could stay autumn all year long! I try to enjoy every minute of this season before the cold and snow sets in.

J: Ooh, that’s a beautiful one! Oh look… it’s in my Downloads folder. How did that get there? 😉 Tell me, what one word would your family and friends use to describe you?

S: Probably “smart ass”. LOL (oops, that’s two words)

J: Right… okay! So what would you do if you won the lottery?

S: Probably buy just enough property in the mountains to build a few little homes so my kids and grandkids could all live with me forever. If I had my way, they’d be with me no matter how old they get! Oh yeah…. And I guess saving for retirement might also be good idea so I don’t have earn a living until my last dying breath.

J: We did something like that after my mother-in-law passed away. Except that our grandkids don’t live anywhere nearby and we haven’t seen them in a long time. But we have the mountains! And we’re both retired, so there’s that. Next up, a really odd question that I found on a human resources website: Are you more likely to sing, or to dance, in the shower?

S: Neither! I’d probably trip and fall over the edge of the tub, and God help anyone who’d have to hear my voice! That’s one talent I did NOT inherit from my parents. They were both musical and had a country-western band for many years. They were even good enough to play for President Ronald Reagan when he came through town back in the day, but it’s better for everyone if I don’t attempt singing myself! LOL

J: Wow! How cool is that? I love country music. But can you play a musical instrument?

S: I played the piano for many years but haven’t touched one in a long time. I also bang on our bongo drums now and then and have always thought it would be fun to be a drummer.

J: A minute ago you mentioned your parents and your grandkids. Speaking of both previous and succeeding generations, if you could travel through time, would you go forward, or back? Why?

S: BACK IN TIME for sure! I’m not too thrilled with society these days. I think we’ve lost our collective minds and I fear for how things will be for my children and grandchildren. I miss the good old days when most people valued self-reliance, integrity, and knew how to be respectful of others.

J: I hear you. We’ve really lost the best part of our society, where we all looked out for each other. There was a lot to be said for how much more respectful the world was a few decades ago. What has been the best compliment you’ve ever received?

S: That I must be a good mother because my children are awesome! Some days I question my parenting, but I’ll take that compliment any day!

J: Yes! I ‘ve always said our jobs as parents is to raise responsible, independent and genuine adults, with a good helping of courtesy and caring for others. What would your dream car be?

S: I’m an SUV sort of gal but ultimately I’d just like one that’s paid for, haha.

J: Hahaha! No car payment is a good place to be. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

S: Homemade tacos! Actually, anything Mexican with lots of cheese!

J: YUM!! Too bad I took pork chops out for supper tonight. Now, if you could have one superpower which one would you choose?

S: Being able to make time stand still.

J: Just think how much more we could get done in a day! (Or not. I’d probably just curl up with a book!) Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?

S: Hugs from my grandkids!

J: I adore kids. All kids. If you came with a warning label, what would it say? Mine would say “Harmless old woman who WILL talk to your children in the grocery store”.

S: WARNING: Subject prone to sarcasm!

J: Maybe that’s why we get along! Last question, maybe the most difficult. Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?

S: No clue but several years ago I was told that I looked like Jaime Pressly so many times that I finally had to watch that sitcom called “My Name Is Earl” just to see who she was. I think the only resemblance was in the “dumb blonde ponytail” I did sometimes. LOL

I don’t know anything about her, but I’d love to have her figure!

J: I can see the resemblance! I love the role she plays in “Mom“.

So ladies, Sheri’s entire store will be 50% off for the month, on top of her free Daily Download and Jumpstart Your Layout Challenge kit (and I can’t wait for them!!), maybe with some minor adjustments around Black Friday. She has given me permission to share a bunch of links with you, too. She has a highly-talented creative team, and you can see their work in Sheri’s Gallery. [Remember, whenever you see coloured text in my posts and it’s not someone’s name, there’s a hyperlink attached – just click and go!]

Newsletter

Facebook (and TWO freebies!! Here and here.)

Instagram

Pinterest

Thanks for chatting with me, Sheri! Enjoy your time in the Spotlight!!

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

October 26, 2021 by Jan

Use It All! Challenge Spotlight

The response to my Jumpstart Your Layout Challenge post showcasing YOUR layouts and YOUR individual style was so good, I’m going to choose one Challenge each month and shine a Spotlight on it. It’ll be the last post of the month and I think it’ll be really a lot of fun! This month I’ve chosen another Challenge that includes a FREE mini-kit, the Use It All Challenge with Karen Schulz.

Each month Karen provides a mini kit – shown above – but for this Challenge, ALL the items in the mini MUST be included in your layout. Karen’s Challenge minis are add-ons to larger kits she has in her store, so if you like the mini you’ll LOVE the full collection! (Find Trick or Treat here!) [Pssst… Karen has a little surprise in the download, but I’m not going to include it in the upcoming layout showcase. Only those layouts using the 6 papers, 5 elements and 1 word art in the preview are shown.] Let’s have a look at how YOU have been inspired by this mini!!

In this layout, willow has given us a layout that isn’t about Hallowe’en. I had to really look to see how she blended the arty background paper with the much brighter orange-and-plaid paper, so skillfully was it done. Her beaded flower clusters frame her masked photo and the graffiti piece grounds it.

Sweetpea2020 has used a variety of paper shapes to mat her photos. The pops of orange draw the eye and the curly ribbon provides a frame for them.

Here, Flighty-188 has also blended the arty paper with the brighter orange-plaid paper but in reverse, and she’s given the graffiti the look of an actual piece of screen. Add in the raffia bow in the upper left corner of her photo and the cluster in the opposite corner, and she’s made great use of a visual triangle to create movement around the layout.

AlyciaIN‘s layout made me smile. Her little Hermione looks like she’s levitating! The basics of her layout are similar to Flighty-188‘s but with the paper borders’ straight edges, it looks quite different. Can you see a visual triangle here?

This simple layout isn’t as simple as it looks! khoskins has stacked the papers in a pleasing arrangement, and turned the graffiti into a pretty anchor for her photos. I like how she framed her photos with black paper to bring them into focus. She also created her own custom tag using the brighter orange paper and word art very creatively.

By clipping the lighter-coloured paper to a mask on a black background, KatL has cleverly drawn the eye right to that grinning Jack. Placing the beaded flower off-centre on the raffia bow adds interest to the cluster and tilting the word art is a nice, informal touch.

The way galaviktor has spread out the sheets of paper form a pattern that frames her photos nicely. Creating a brushed border for the word art, she’s pulled the colour variations from the arty paper into focus.

Isn’t Zelda just the cutest girl on four legs? For all its simplicity, NHSoxGirl‘s layout is very eye-catching, and the heart paper behind the word art has a lot to do with it.

The interlocking paper-strip squares AJRandom has created here both ground and highlight her photos. I like how she’s tucked the ribbon between the photos and then anchored them with the beaded flowers. I just noticed that she’s positioned the paper with all the eyes on it so that only one set of eyes is peeking at us. LOVE it!!

What can I say about greenfiend27‘s layout? It’s genius! Her paper borders are shadowed beautifully to give the appearance of papers overlying each other. Blending the graffiti into the paper behind it and using it to anchor her cluster shows her creativity. Having the ribbon dangle adds focus to her cat’s beautiful eyes and her clever alterations to the word art is just the right whimsical touch. A+!

Can you believe that October will be over the next time we meet? There’s snow on the mountains already but none here in the valley yet. It’s crazy how quickly time flies. Considering how awful this year has been for so many people, I’m thinking the sooner 2021 is in the rearview mirror, the better.

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/2ZZoWAO

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

Tutorial Tuesday (GingerScraps)

October 19, 2021 by Jan

Giving Credit where Credit is Due

Or: Editing your Gallery images

Hi again ladies! Today I want to talk about something a bit more serious than usual. I’m going to do a Featured Challenge post next week, and have been perusing the Gallery to check out the layouts I want to include. I noticed that there are quite a few layouts that don’t include any credits; whether it’s an oversight or intentional, I don’t know. But I do know this. The Terms of Service at pretty much EVERY digiscrapping website that hosts a Gallery, and the Terms of Use included by every designer in every kit include a requirement for providing proper credit to the designer(s) of the content the scrapper uses. I know that when I see a layout that’s exquisitely created, I’m going to look at credits to see which kit(s) the scrapper used so I can go shopping! If we think about it, giving credit to someone whose products inspire us and help us improve our skills should be automatic, as a courtesy if nothing else. And really, who wants to be accused of theft of intellectual property? Those who are new to our hobby may not realize they’re missing a step. And then there’s the well-known GingerScraps Gallery glitch that deletes some of the things we add to the first Upload screen that’s easy to overlook. (I think that might have been fixed, it hasn’t happened to me in a while.) But what can you do if your layout posts to the Gallery without that important information? Let me show you!

Here’s the layout I created for the Jumpstart Your Layout Challenge this month. At the bottom of the layout inside the red oval, the only detail that appears is the title I gave my layout. OOPS!

A quick word about titles… if you use a special character like a # or a @ or a ? for example, the Gallery uploader will lose everything you’ve typed AFTER the first of those characters. It’s going to mess up your Member Gallery but if you know ahead of time that will happen you can remember to follow these steps to fix it. Other things that may need to be changed in your layout’s details could be typos, omitted information, or an error on the layout itself that you’ve corrected already but the image you’re seeing is still the one with the mistake. When you click on My Photos and then choose the layout you need to fix, scroll down past the image until you see your avatar on the left, as shown. In that User Options box, click on Edit Photo.

When you upload a Challenge layout, if you want it to count for the Challenge Reward, it must be posted in the current month’s (and year’s!) Challenge Gallery. The website’s uploader default is to place uploaded images in the Member Gallery, which is fine, but not for being rewarded! (It’ll also sometimes default to the last Gallery you chose, or some other random Gallery, so check and see where it’s going!) This first change I’m making is to put my layout in the Jumpstart Your Layouts October 2021 album.

This next (optional) step is especially useful for people who create for designers on their Creative Teams. The layout can be Copied to other Galleries just by making a selection in the second dropdown. There’s also another advantage to using this Edit part of the uploader. If you put your layout into multiple albums when you first upload them, EACH of those copies will count as one of your 8 permitted daily uploads, but if you Copy them with the Edit feature, they only count once! Yeah, it’s an extra step and it’s a bit of a drag, but it’s a lot better than getting told you’ve already used up all your uploads for the day on only 2 or 3 layouts.

Okay, so let’s pretend you spotted a glaring typo in your title – maybe I spelled my title OTCBREO because I was tired, in a hurry and wanted to get my layout into the Gallery so I could go to bed. I get up this morning to several comments on my layout, all of them politely ignoring OTCBREO, but I’m still upset with myself that I didn’t notice it. So I open up my saved PSD version of my layout, fix my title, save it with a slightly different file name (more about that in a second) and now I want to post the corrected version instead of the trashed one. I can click on the Choose File button and select the corrected version to replace the other one. [If I didn’t Save my corrected layout with a slightly different file name, the uploader won’t know the image has been changed, and it’ll use the original one. So if you end up having to do this kind of big correction, add a number to the end of your file name and the uploader won’t be confused.] I can also fix the title if I notice it’s missing some special characters, or if in my addled, sleep-deprived state, I used the mis-spelled title here too. I also have the ability to add my credits here too, in the Photo Description section. Last, if I’ve changed my mind and don’t want to share my layout with the world after all, I can Delete it. It and everything I’ve typed about it will disappear forever. There’s no way to UNDO this step, so be really sure you can’t Edit it before you take this drastic step. When all the needed adjustments have been made, Submit changes.

Now everybody can see which kit and template I’ve used for my layout. The only time it’s not necessary to include credits is if you’re using Commercial Use products. Oh darn… I just realized I forgot one very important credit! Back to the Edit screen…

I neglected to give credit to my dear friend Sandy, the photographer who rescued Beau so that Beau could rescue her. She has graciously given me permission to use her photos for scrapping and deserves to be recognized for her talents too!

Now, which of this month’s Challenges should I Feature next week?

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3xD8rqw

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

Designer Spotlight October 2021

October 3, 2021 by Jan

Have You Met Christie (Scrappin’ Serenity)?

I’d like to introduce you all to Christie Dawn, whose wonderful designs are sold at GingerScraps under the Scrappin’ Serenity banner. We had a nice chat so I could know what to tell you about her. Here’s a transcript of our chat for your perusal.

J: Christie! So nice to see you! Let’s get comfy and get to know each other. First, tell me, how long have you been designing?

C: I started dabbling in 2009 and opened my first store in 2010! Wow…hard to believe it’s been 11 years!

J: Hey, that’s about the same time I started learning about digital scrapbooking. When I look at those first layouts, I cringe. I know why I wanted to start digiscrapping – saving money, not having to clean up, and being able to use kits over and over and over. What made you decide to design?

C: I was a stay at home mom, and I just needed an outlet. I loved Scrapbooking, so I figured I might as well try it.

J: I didn’t actually start paper scrapping until 2005, long after my kiddos were grown up. When they were little I did things like counted cross-stitch and crochet. If digiscrapping would have been a thing then, I’d have been all over it! What do you use to create your designs?

C: I mostly design in Photoshop Elements 13, I should probably upgrade, but it still works, so why change!?

J: No kidding! If it ain’t broke… I do all of my digital stuff on a Dell laptop, sitting in a wing chair in my living room. Would you mind describing your design workplace?

C: Most of the time I work at home, downstairs, on my desktop. But I do have a laptop I bring when we go camping and have worked from the RV many times.

J: My “other” creative space is a work-in-progress; I have so many boxes I haven’t even opened after our move… 17 months ago. Organizing it all is a big job! But back to you. Which of your current kits in the GS shop is your favourite? What makes it so?

C: Currently my Favorite Kit is – Gamer Girl. We are big time gamers in my family!

J: My husband is a big gamer too. I’m not. Words with Friends is enough for me! Do you sing, or dance in the shower? I’ve been known to dance in mine a time or two…

C: Definitely Sing! If I were to dance in the shower it would probably lead to a visit to the ER. lol.

J: I can relate – it didn’t end up in the ER but I discovered the shower base needed some no-skid strips that way. Here’s another odd-ball question: If time travel was possible, would you go back in time or ahead? Why?

C: I would go back in time and spend more time with my Granma. Miss that lady so much!

J: I’d love to spend a few hours with my mom’s paternal grandmother. Maybe then I’d know more about her than just her name… Do you have a favourite colour? Are there any colours you really DON’T like?

C: Purple, Pink, Teal or Black are my favorite colors. I tend to dislike oranges, yellows, and reds.

J: We’re kindred spirits! What would your dream car be?

C: A 1967 Mustang! We actually found one on FB market place and bought it about a year ago…but it still needs a lot of work!

J: How awesome is that?! Will you paint it purple? You don’t have to answer that. Last nosy question. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

C: Love me some Sushi!!

J: You can have ALL of mine. Thanks for letting us peek into your world. Now I should spend some time outside before it gets too cold. Enjoy your month in the Spotlight!

Faithful readers, Christie is hosting the Designer Spotlight Challenge this month and is providing all of us with her Daily Download kit. And… she has this little gift for everybody. Check it out!!