Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

September 9, 2025 by Leave a Comment

Greatest Hits: Work Smart, Not Hard!

Today’s Tutorial first appeared in April 2017 and was the thirtieth tutorial I’d written for GingerScraps. I’m a firm believer in working smart, not hard, so I put together a whole post filled with tricks and tips to make scrapping easier and more efficient. If I’ve missed anything that I’ve come up with since, I’ll add them in!

Here are all my Work Smart Not Hard tips and tricks in one place. We all have busy lives and could use a little help to streamline our workflow. So we can scrap more layouts, right? Can I get an AMEN??

  • Use a template if you’re short on time. They take out the drudgery without eliminating creativity. If you’re like me and have a gazillion templates in your stash, it can be more time-consuming to find the one you want to use than it would be to wing it and build your layout from scratch. I’ve developed a way of expediting my search by relabeling the previews with some key words my File Explorer search menu can track down. It was a gargantuan job to go through all of the ones I already had but it was so worth it! What do I do, you ask? I had to decide what system I wanted to use first. To do that I had to think about how I select them in the first place. I usually choose photos first, so my labeling system needed to reflect that. And although I rarely make 2-page spreads, I thought it might be easier to find what I’m looking for by putting that in the label too. My main categories then are “single#” and “double#”. Then I thought about some other factors that relate to templates and started adding labels like “large” to templates with large photo spots, “circle” and “square” for those predominating shapes, “blend” for templates with blended photos, and “mask” for those with masks. Your labels should reflect how YOU work, so don’t feel like you need to duplicate what I do, just because it works well for me. Do what works for YOU. If you start with the new ones you download and do it as you’re unpacking your zip files, then gradually work your way through your existing collection, it’ll save you a lot of time in the long run.

This is what a search for a “single3” template in my GingerScraps stash looks like:

With the extra-large view, I can scroll through the whole list in a matter of a couple of minutes and choose the one that fits my desired photo(s) and kit(s) selections. Right-clicking on the preview image and selecting Open File Location takes me to the folder where the template lives. And away we go! (P.S… keyboard shortcuts to follow in a single list.)

  • When working with templates, once you’ve added an item onto your canvas and moved it into position over/under the place-holder template symbol, look for all similar items. Duplicate the one you’ve just added and move it up or down the Layers panel until it’s just above or just below the symbol. Then nudge it into position on the layout over/under the place-holder symbol. **If you’re working with a pre-shadowed template, copy the symbol’s Layer Style and apply it to your element BEFORE duplicating, so you don’t have to do each layer individually.** Do this with each element of your template and all that will be left is to create a title and do your journaling. If you’re not using a pre-shadowed template, you can select all similar layers and shadow them with your Drop Shadow Styles (either default ones that came with your software, or those you’ve purchased) all at the same time. Trust me, this will save you a LOT of time! [Editor’s note: IF you’re doing your own thing – no template – and you’ve created a cluster or other assemblage of objects you’d like to Copy to position somewhere else on your layout, you can Select all of those objects by clicking on the first layer, holding down the Shift key and clicking on the last layer, then use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J to Duplicate all of them in one set of moves!]
  • Speaking of shadows… remember that whatever you’ve typed should never look like it’s floating. Journaling, sub-titles and date labels – anything you use a FONT for – should sit directly ON the paper below it. No shadows. NO shadows. The exception to this rule is if you’ve turned your font into a sticker; then you can apply a very slight shadow to it to show that it’s a sticker.
  • And speaking of text… If you’re going to use more than one font, remember to Simplify your text layers as you go along to prevent the software from changing the font on ALL your text layers. This is more than annoying!
  • I like to create my titles on a separate canvas. That lets me see what I’m doing without any distractions. I have a general idea how I want it to look in terms of shape and size, so I’ll select a canvas size big enough for me to move things around and see it all clearly. I like to use alphas with or without a font, and it’s nice to see what I’ve got going on without trying to take everything else into consideration. Once I think I have it right, I Merge the individual alphas for each word together then Link all the layers together so that when I move the title onto my layout, everything goes, but I still have some flexibility to adjust placement in order to fit it better into the layout.
  • Don’t be afraid to turn off the Visibility of other layers if you’re trying to stitch a ribbon down, apply a staple or brad, or for any reason. Stitches and staples, just like text, should be on the layer immediately above whatever they’re securing. (If you want to turn on or off Visibility for a lot of layers, hold down the left-click mouse button as you move the cursor over those creepy little eyeballs.) Once you’re happy, you can turn all the other layers back on.
  • Make good use of Layer Masks to add more realism to your layouts. The advantage of the Layer Mask is that it’s easy to correct over-zealous erasing by simple toggling the white foreground colour to the background, the black background colour to the foreground and painting back whatever you oopsed on. With this nifty trick you can dangle a charm from a string or a ribbon, make a paper clip look like it’s really holding two sheets of paper together, twine a ribbon or a vine around some flowers and twigs, tuck a flower into a pocket… really, anything your imagination can conjure.
  • If your Panel Options aren’t set to give you a full-sized thumbnail in the Layers panel, you may want to rename your layers as you go along so you know what’s where. Don’t know how to change the layer name? Double-click on the label PSE has given the layer in the Layers panel and type in whatever you want. Want to change your thumbnail size? Click on the little icon that looks like a stack of papers at the upper right corner of the Layers panel right next to the trash can icon. Then select Panel Options>Thumbnail Size>Jumbo. Also make sure Thumbnail Contents>Layer Bounds is selected, otherwise what you’ll see in the Layers panel is a tiny little image in the area where it’s located on your layout inside the thumbnail box. I tried that and hated it!
  • Learn some basic keyboard shortcuts. There are a lot of them, but you’ll probably only use about a dozen with any regularity. Once you’ve incorporated them into your workflow, you’ll wonder how you ever got anything done without them. I find that my fingers just do it automatically. Below is a list of the ones I use most often, roughly in order of use. Windows users will use the CTRL and ALT keys, Mac users CMD and OPT.

If you want to save this to your computer just right-click on the image and Save Image As… and then name it something you’ll be able to find later.

A few other keyboard shortcuts I’ve incorporated into my workflow are:

CTRL/CMD>G = Create Clipping Mask (attach paper or photo to shape, mask etc) for PSE 14 and earlier

CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>G = Create Clipping Mask (attach paper or photo to shape, mask etc) for PSE 15 and more recent

CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>N = New Layer

CTRL/CMD>V = Move

CTRL/CMD>K = Fill (Paint Bucket Tool)

CTRL/CMD>F = Last Filter Used

CTRL/CMD>R = Smudge Tool

CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>Z = Haze Remover Tool

CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>B = Convert to Black and White

CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>S = Select Subject

If you have any WSNH tips I’ve missed, or haven’t discovered yet, please share them in the Comments below!

 

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

August 26, 2025 by 4 Comments

Quick Trick: Caps Lock ISN’T ON, PSE!!

Have you ever been working away on a layout, right at the point where you’re ready to journal, and EVERYTHING is in upper case, no matter what you do? You check the caps lock, it’s not on. You save your layout, close out of PSE completely, go get a cold drink, come back and get started again, only to find it’s STILL messed up. So you reset all your Type Preferences, and that fails too. You’ve tried different fonts, you’ve cursed under your breath, gotten another cold drink, taken a walk around the block and are so frustrated you could scream. You’ve done a Google search, but the answer you need is either paywalled or requires a subscription. That was me the other day. You might want to bookmark this post so you can find it again…

There’s no discernable reason why this happens randomly when everything had been completely normal before. But it can give you an ulcer. The fix is stunningly easy.

  1. Activate your Text Tool.
  2. Choose your font.
  3. Set your cursor where you’re planning to put text.
  4. Before you put anything in your text box, click CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>Y.
  5. Voilà!! It’s fixed!

I know!! It’s ridiculous, but it works!

See you next week when I’m back with the Designer Spotlight. We’ve all met this Designer before, so we’re going to have some fun.

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

August 19, 2025 by Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: That’s Entertainment

It’s that time again when the GingerScraps Blog celebrates YOU… the reason we’re here… by shining the spotlight on your creativity. And boy howdy, are you all being creative! With Scrap-a-Thon going this month, the Gallery is literally hopping with layouts. Choosing a Challenge to feature was a challenge in itself. Enter Boomers Girl’s That’s Entertainment. The prompt Lori gave us is as follows: “For the month’s challenge, let’s talk about commercials. I know, most aren’t widely entertaining, but there are some that are. I’d love to see you create a layout with the title being a slogan for a product used in a commercial.” What a fantastic prompt! Let’s see how it’s been put in play.

Layouts will appear in the order they were uploaded. As usual, each layout is linked to the Gallery so you can get a better look, and maybe leave a comment on the ones you really like. Just click on the Scrapper‘s name and you’ll zip to it.

First up is a layout from photocrazy. That background paper adds a sense of explosive movement that plays well with the Red Bull tag line.

To be totally honest, I had to look this one up – I didn’t recall it at all until I heard the music. But let me tell you, ktmoonblue has used the PERFECT textured paper for her title. It looks good enough to eat! The cookie elements are pretty darned realistic, too.

Formby Girl went super-simple for her MasterCard layout. Who could resist that face? (I’m kinda cracking up over the very feminine little girl holding a Batman umbrella, but that’s just my terrible sense of humour.)

I haven’t worn make-up in what feels like a lifetime, but I can recognize a great product when I see one. These artificial lashes and this mascara! Keeping the glamour aspect front-and-centre, dj_w reinforces it with her great photos.

Okay, who hasn’t got a favourite McDonalds jingle? My 42-year old son still likes a Happy Meal! I think dkane‘s layout could easily be a print ad.

KAPOH typically doesn’t “scrap” in the traditional way. I love that she took Clara Peller’s Burger King slogan from the 70s and created a little farm vignette.

So, imafishtank has gone quite obscure for her layout. I don’t recognize an advertising slogan here at all. Her journaling helped me make sense of the photo series.

Overachiever msbrad used two different, more recent product taglines, Energizer and Burger King. I love how she’s blended her focal photo and embellished with fun, summer elements.

Katherine Woodin is another over-achiever. She used both the tagline from a British cooking show and an older Burger King jingle for her memoir.

This was the main McDonalds message back in the day when I worked for them. (We won’t mention how long ago that was…) The photo stater used looks like a much nicer break that the ones I took in the basement of the Duluth (Minnesota) McDonalds back in the day.

Connie – Gerbera is of the same vintage as me, and she too liked the 70s McDonalds jingle. Her photo sets the tone for the patterned papers she chose to layer behind it, and she’s created a lovely memory.

I used to love the Kool-Aid man! (Sometimes I feel like I married him… my husband is about the clumsiest human I know.) I like how beccasue incorporated a photo of a partially-demolished wall as a nod to the ad.

Last, but not least, Briannasscrapper went with that golden oldie, Campbell’s Soup. She’s also got their signature red, gold and white colour scheme in there!

Now my brain is just humming with ideas for this Challenge! If I can find the photo I’m seeing in my mind’s eye, I’ll be back!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Fonts)

August 12, 2025 by 1 Comment

Back-to-School

If you live anywhere in North America, you can’t escape the back-to-school frenzy, even if you have nobody in your life who’s in school. It worked out well for us though… our son’s backpack came home from his day program last week with a totally fubar zipper. Walmart had a wide variety of options and I grabbed him one that holds everything he needs on a day-to-day basis. Score one for Jan!! I managed NOT to buy any pens, paper and paint this year, so that’s another point for me. So how did we end up looking at back-to-school fonts, you’re thinking. Well, when my mom came to see me on my birthday back in May, she brought me a bag full of things she found when cleaning her house after my dad died. They were all things I’d saved from high school. I KNOW, right?! Looking through them was a real walk down memory lane. One thing that really struck me is how much my handwriting has changed over the course of my life. That bag had half a dozen different variations! So that led me to thinking about how much it bothers me that schools aren’t teaching kids cursive writing any more and how that will severely hobble them in the future. But I digress. I’ve rounded up a baker’s dozen of schoolish fonts, from learning basic printing to more “sophisticated” teenage girl script. (I don’t have to describe that one, do I?) 😀 They’re all from dafont.com and 100% free for personal use. Just click on the font’s name and you’ll go right to the download screen. Oh, yeah… they’re not in any particular order. You’ll see.

First one up is KG Perfect Penmanship. Many of you already know Kim Geswein‘s fonts… she’s a machine! This one is the most perfect example of grade-school printing ever. You’ll see a couple more of Kim‘s fonts in a minute.

This isn’t one of them. 😉 Learning Curve BV is exactly how I remember being taught cursive writing. Very controlled, perfectly shaped and spaced letters, easily legible.

Kindergarten looks a lot like a real child trying very hard to make every letter perfectly. I love it!

Makes You Stronger is Kim‘s controlled middle-school cursive. My handwriting looked a lot like this when I as about 12.

I liked Second Son School for the notebook lining. Doesn’t it bring back memories?

I feel like English Essay is an evolution of a typical girly cursive hand from the basic to beginning to add some personality. Remember writing big, loopy, widely-spaced letters to fill up the page faster? 😉

Why do I think this could be a serial killer’s first printing? Just kidding. The Writer is definitely a beginner’s hand.

Very Simple Chalk is exactly that. It’s an all-caps font, with two sizes to represent upper and lower case characters. It includes numerals and a wide range of punctuation, as well as multilingual characters.

When I saw this, I HAD to share it with you. The crayon shape is part of the character map and you can point the business end in either direction. To point to the left, use the { and } at each end of your word. To point right, use the [ and ]. Each of the letters in Crayonized has the lines above and below, so they all connect up. It’s pretty cool!

Then, if you want your journaling to look like you wrote it with a wax crayon… Crayon Hand.

Ooh, teenage boy time! Most of the guys I’ve ever known mix printing and cursive, with small letters – Random Handwritten. My husband’s writing is so tiny and tight it’s hard to read; it’s like he has to pay for the ink. And he likes superfine pens, to make it worse.

Here’s another must-conform-avoid-attention-and-meet-expectations-at-all-costs late middle-school girly hand. Ironic name, though: The Only Exception.

And last… the tween girl who wants to assert some individuality but still craves the approval of her teachers……. Simplify Notation Single Line is tidy, controlled but has little circle tittles. How many of us dotted our I’s with hearts at some time in our lives? 😉

Did you see one that you might use for the Journaling Challenge this month? I hope so!

 

 

 

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

July 29, 2025 by Leave a Comment

Quick Trick: Twisted Template 

What do you do when you really want to create a layout, can see it in your head, want to use a template but don’t have one that matches the layout you see in your mind’s eye? You alter one to give you what you want! Let me show you.

I had a vision of how I wanted to use some seaside photos I took on my first trip to Ireland. I wanted a blended/masked area for the lighthouse and two horizontal photo spots for the other photos I wanted to include. I went through my templates, using the keyword search technique I shared with you many tutorials ago. But alas, I didn’t have anything in the dozens and dozens I looked at that would work. But I DID find one that could be twisted to my purposes, so I went with it.

This is what I chose. It’s from JB Studios’ JDoubleU V.29. It doesn’t have a blended/masked area, but it does have potential white space where I could add one. And the photo spots are vertical, but that’s fixable too!

The first thing I did was to decide how I wanted the page to be oriented, then made some decisions about how to get there. I clicked on Image>Rotate>Flip Vertical. (I know… still not horizontal, but give me a minute!)

Here’s how I got them oriented correctly. Image>Rotate>90° Left. There’s still no white space for my masked photo, but don’t worry! It’s coming!

But first, I had to put the clusters toward the centre of the page, not the left edge. So I clicked Image>Rotate>Flip Horizontal. Getting close now!

I decided there were some elements there that I wasn’t going to use, so I just made them invisible. Now I can get things sorted.

I wanted to move that entire centre block of photos and elements over to the left of the page. I could do it one item at a time, but that’s not my schtick! So I Selected all the layers I want to shift by holding down the CTRL/CMD key and clicking on each layer, one at a time. It sounds time-consuming but it takes little more than a minute or two. I kept one eye on the Bounding Box so I could avoid including things I didn’t want in there. Once I had all the desired layers Selected, I just… moved them over!

I also nudged it up a bit. The cluster in the upper left corner could stay there, but I don’t think that’s what I want. I’d like to have a cluster in the lower RIGHT corner!

So I used the same process to Select all the layers there, and moved it too. There was one random little flower left out in the field, so I moved it down. Now to create a layout…

I used a mask from Prelestnaya-P, who was a GingerScraps designer once upon a time but isn’t currently. You might notice that the lower of the two horizontal photos has been made a bit wider; I wanted more of the waterfront in there. I’m quite pleased with the result. It looks nothing like the original template, and it was easy to achieve!

The next time you hear from me, it’ll be Designer Spotlight time again! August’s a two-fer and you’re going to love what I learned about these two ladies. See you later!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

July 22, 2025 by Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: Daily Download

GingerScrappers, you’ve really been crushing the Challenges this month! When I was touring the Gallery looking for a likely Challenge to Spotlight today, I was quickly inundated with layouts. And the Challenges that make the best Individual Style posts were very well-represented. There were so many, in fact, that no matter which one I chose, I could never include ALL the Challenge layouts in a post that didn’t run on for days. So I decided to try something a little different. I decided to go with the Daily Download Challenge, which has two Designers‘ kits this month, You’re a Peach from Aimee Harrison and Cleaning Day from Twin Mom Scraps.

There were THIRTY layouts in the Challenge Gallery so I had to decide how to proceed in the fairest possible way. I opted to use Random.org to decide for me! I numbered each of the layouts, then entered all the numbers that were created with Aimee‘s kit into the randomizer. Then I chose the top 5 on the list.

Then I did the same with the layouts using Twin Mom‘s kit.

Now that I’ve explained the process for choosing which layouts to feature, I’ll remind you that each layout is linked to the Gallery so you can get a closer look, and so you can leave some comments, should you choose to do so. Just click on the Scrapper’s name. Let’s get started!

VariaMoon chose the bold plaid and patterned papers from Aimee‘s kit. Placing the paper pieces behind the photos on an angle emphasizes the geometry of the plaid. I like that she used colour cues from her photos to choose the papers she used to mat them with.

Here, imafishtank used mainly warm colours with the cool colours as accents to feature photos of a very pretty child and proud mama. She has such a variety of papers framing them and made a statement with her title.

Using just a few bits of the kit, domino44 created a bold celebration layout, framing her photo with a warm, peachy cluster.

Ooh, this looks like another celebration! Maybe a 4-generation celebration? The clusters pbhill created help draw the eye to her photo, while the warm palette coordinates beautifully with the colours in the photo. That butterfly seems to be quite popular. 😉

I can almost taste that pie… photocrazy stayed on theme for her layout. I like that she has a good amount of white space here, so the ribbons, rickrack and banner serve as tractor beams to draw the eye to the pie.

Now let’s look at Twin Mom’s kit. First up is greenfiend27. I like everything about her layout! The elements she chose not only play nice with her image colour-wise, but they’re also representative. Those bead scatters are so perfect.

I’m always impressed by no-photo layouts like this one from dhariana. Her focus on creating calm in her layout led to blending papers, sticking to a very neutral palette and the creation of a single, cohesive cluster.

5grand had a similar idea. I love the humour in her layout! Her choice of paint splatters behind the cluster replicates water all over the floor int he photo. Very clever! And the banner made me laugh out loud. She’s so right… housework isn’t fun! That’s why I pay to have someone do it for me. 😉

GrannyNKy put the emphasis on her photos. I, too, really wish I could have a clothesline – there’s no better smell in the world than line-dried laundry.

This poignant layout from ranchcreations made me a little misty. She kept the layout very clean and simple, to keep the focus on emotion. Her clusters are understated but achingly beautiful. My mom will soon be 90, so this will be in my foreseeable future. I hope I’m as dignified.

Hubby and I have been diligently cleaning our garage now that our big dining room set has sold and we have room to move. The peaches are starting to ripen on the trees here, and I’m so looking forward to slurping a bunch down soon. We’ve had a LOT of rain in the last week, and the cherries still on the trees are being threatened with splitting. I have photos of the cherry dryer to scrap and I’m seeing layouts in my head for both these kits! See you next week!

 

 

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

July 8, 2025 by 2 Comments

Greatest Hits: Abstract Meets Graphic Art

For this month’s Perfectly Paired Challenge, Dani wants to see your artsy side. That made me think of this tutorial from 2017. I think I might do exactly this as the basis for my Challenge layout. Then, of course, I’ll have to combine bits from two kits to fulfill the rest of the Challenge requirements. I’m sure I have some kits in my stash that have brushes, overlays, paint and other artsy elements in them that I can massage into a cohesive layout. Wanna give it a try? (If you’re impatient, by all means scroll down to the end to see the finished product. 😉 )

To begin, you’ll need a great photo with a relatively plain background, because the image will be extracted. This photo of a skateboarder from Pixabay was a great choice for my example since my inspiration for the tutorial came from an image of a skateboarder. I dropped it on a white paper for the initial steps to make extraction easier.

I used the Magic Wand tool to extract my image. This tutorial will provide a refresher for you if you’re still getting the hang of extracting images. You can duplicate your photo now, or wait until you’ve got your extraction complete or the line of marching ants in place. But you will need to duplicate your photo. Make your duplicate layer invisible.

Working on the extracted photo, I clicked on the Filter menu, selected Stylize and Find Edges as shown. Remember when I showed you how to do this?

Once the image has been filtered, some of the colour from the image is still visible. Right now, I don’t want that. It looks a bit odd.

So to remove that hint of colour, I chose Enhance>Adjust Color>Hue/Saturation (CTRL/CMD>U) and pulled the Saturation slider all the way to the left. That leaves only the sketch.

We didn’t do this in the Sketchy tutorial, but for this one it’s a vital step. Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Levels will take you to the menu shown. What this step does is dramatically darken the lines in the sketched image.

The histogram shown below is part of the adjustment menu. You can adjust both sections simply by pulling the sliders. Make sure you can see your image so you know when you’ve gone far enough. If you need to move the dialog box, click and hold the gray bar at the top of the box then drag it up, down or to one side so you can see what’s underneath it. I wanted my background area to stay bright white and my sketch to be darker and more detailed. The changes I made are shown in the dialog box.

Now I have what looks like a charcoal drawing of the skateboarder. I want to have some of the colour from the original image in there, so I selected the topmost layer and added an adjustment layer mask by ALT>clicking on the Layer Mask icon (the divided circle icon above the Layers panel). The image disappeared but was really still there. I just had to reveal it.

I used a medium-sized soft round brush from the default brushes PSE comes with to paint back the colour, working on the Layer Mask. By using a low opacity (20%) I was able to build up colour where it naturally would appear darker and keep other areas much lighter. When you hold down your mouse button as you paint, you can overlap your brush strokes and have no visible overlap. Once you release the mouse button, the tool resets and areas of overlap will be darker. You want to brush over the whole area in one step to avoid those overlap spots. Keep that in mind as you go so you don’t end up with streaks.

Once I had the colour the way I wanted it, I Simplified the layer. (Right-click on the layer in the Layers panel and select Simplify Layer.) That step merges the mask with the image and prevents me from messing it up.

Now for the really fun stuff! I added a new blank layer underneath the sketch layer then used a watercolour brush at 100% Opacity from my collection of free brushes. I had an idea what colours I wanted to use so I just played around with both colour and brush selection until I liked what it looked like. By putting each brush on its own layer I can resize it, reposition it, decrease the opacity of it, increase the opacity by duplicating the layer, position it above or below my sketch and photo layers and whatever whim enters my head.

I experimented with lots of different watercolour and grunge brushes, deleting the layers that just didn’t work.

If you look closely you’ll see I’ve made a lot of changes by adding and subtracting, shifting and overlaying layers. You might also notice that the original photo colours are darker in this image. I duplicated the topmost simplified colour layer from the Layer Mask step then adjusted the opacity of that duplicate layer until I liked it.

To add a little more grunge and graphic feel I chose a gray colour and used a free graph paper brush that I duplicated and rotated. One layer is above the sketch and one is below it.

For the finishing touch I added some tiny gray splatters on top of all the layers and some below.  The process is one of playing with your stash and experimenting with things you never thought you could do.

I saved the finished image as a .png file for even more versatility. This is what it looks like with no paper behind it.

Now to find a good photo, decide on a theme and get to work!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (CANADA DAY!)

July 1, 2025 by 2 Comments

Happy Canada Day Eh!

Okay, so technically, this isn’t a tutorial. But it does show the power of using a search bar when you’re in the Shop… I just typed “Canada” into the box and got 9 pages of results.

Today is the 158th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada, and we Canucks are very proud of our country. But we don’t typically express it with over-the-top celebrations and rah-rah patriotism. That doesn’t mean we’re not patriotic, we’re just quieter and more intentional about it. The events of the last 6 months have brought out a fierce, determined pride in us and we’re growing into our love of country in a way we’re starting to become very comfortable with. We still won’t be throwing monster family picnics or parading down every small-town main street on July 1st, but we’ll definitely celebrating. If you’re a Canadian and you’re celebrating today, here are some GingerScraps collections to help you commemorate us.

What I love about this kit from Kristmess is that it recognizes our First Nations history and culture, which has never been more intrinsic to Canada’s identity. You can find it here.

Adrienne Skelton has included word art all the provinces, but I don’t see the three Territories, Nunavut, Yukon and Northwest Territories. (Sometimes I think they’re like Puerto Rico, Guam and USVI, out of sight and mind.) Anyway, she’s also named some of our major cities, got the hockey skates, stick and puck in there and lots of maple leaves. It’s here.

My son-in-law is a Mountie so I love that Scrappy Kat has them and their Stetson in her kit. I spy some maple syrup too. For a closer look: here.

Well, it definitely looks like Canada has a colour palette… Robyn‘s got the cutest moose so far! Find it here.

Heather Z has a bunch of little Canucks in her kit.

Magical Scraps Galore has also given a little nod to our Indigenous peoples with the snowshoes and totem pole in her kit. I think this is the first one with a snowflake in it. 🙂

Wetfish Designs has some lovely frame clusters that you can see here.

Connie Prince is the first to mention fireworks… Yes, Canadians celebrate their birthday with fireworks; the display over Parliament Hill in Ottawa is usually televised and is quite spectacular. Here in Kelowna, our fireworks are launched out over the lake to minimize our ever-present fire risk. We can see them from our deck, so we can avoid those crowds that I hate so much. 😉 Find it here.

Connie additionally has this older kit, part of her Travelogue series. I like the flairs she created with some map sections; they make the kit truly Canadian. Her Travelogue series also includes kits for three of the ten provinces, Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.

Most of the collections I’ve shown you here have add-on packs of papers, word art or clusters too. If you want to see them, just do the “Canada” search. 😉 Elbows up!!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, GingerBread Ladies, Lets Celebrate, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Windows)

June 24, 2025 by 6 Comments

Quick Trick: Install that Font!

Hidee-ho, Scrappers! Today’s Quick Trick is so simple it doesn’t need any screenshots. I know, right? But I’m going to give you some anyway… I downloaded a new font so I could show you that this Trick works.

Did you know that you don’t have to unzip font folders? Nope, you don’t! You can just double-click on the folder, which will open and you can see all the fonts within. (Sorry for the blurry image.) You can tell in Windows 11 that the folder isn’t unzipped: the Extract All button has appeared. On the far left you can see the font icons. I prefer to install Open Type files so that’s what I’ll do. Double-click on the desired font.

This window opens. Just click on the Install button and the font’s ready to use. You can now choose to Save the folder in case you lose your fonts, or delete it. I Copy the font into a Fancy Fonts folder so I can always find it again/transfer it to a new system. This too works without unzipping the folder.

One extra tip: For Windows 11 users, you no longer have to exit Photoshop Elements and re-enter to access those new fonts. It’s magical!! Want a new scripty font for an elegant layout and none of the ones you already have is doing it for you? Find one online that you love, install it as shown and proceed! That new font will be ready to go without any additional steps. Ta-dah!!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking, Fantastic Fonts, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

June 17, 2025 by Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight June 2025

This month I’ve chosen CathyK‘s Quote Challenge. I’ve often looked for a quote to express my thoughts or feelings in better words than I could come up with in the moment. In fact, I have an entire album of memes on my phone – the lazy woman’s communication strategy. 😉 I’ll admit I haven’t really been all that creative lately; my son’s knee injury has turned into a whole thing, which has eaten up so much of my mental bandwidth, so mindless activities are filling my inactive moments. But I know YOU, dear GingerScrappers, have NOT been idle! I’m going to share the layouts that have been uploaded to the Challenge Gallery for this month’s Challenge, with some comments on how they meet the terms of said Challenge. Each layout is directly linked to the Gallery so you can take a closer look, or leave your own comments. Just click on the Scrapper‘s name and you’ll zoom right there. But first, let’s look at the quote Cathy chose for this month.

“Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life”  – John Muir

Each of us will interpret those words slightly – or completely! – differently. It’s not a requirement that the quote itself appears on a layout, but the theme of the quote should be readily identifiable. Are trees a metaphor here for some sort of portal? What exactly does a new way of life mean? Let’s see!

Karen Diamond leads the way. Her photo shows us an idyllic spot surrounded by nature. Yep, there are trees in there! Her word art says “wander often, wonder always,” “finding my way” and “a beautiful path”. To me, this speaks to the struggle many of us face in figuring out how to be our best selves. But in a beautiful, meaningful way.

The message I perceive in glee‘s layout is one of trusting the universe to lead us in the right direction, as evidenced by the hiker and the panoramic view of a gorgeous vista.

Pixel Palette has created a true masterpiece here. The metaphor of trees-as-portals is demonstrated in her blended imagery. To me, the bearded gentleman is contemplating his life: Has it been what I wanted it to be? What can I do to make it more?

Paths and frontiers have informed pbhill‘s interpretation, and she’s even used an arrow to point the way. To me it says, there are no limits to your world but those you yourself impose.

FormbyGirl also used trees to represent the theme of the quote… literally! I love the perspective in her photos that illustrates the enormity of our world and how our places within it must be intentional.

For her layout, jenmoody23 chose a large photo of a prairie leading to the Grand Tetons. It says to me that there’s no one “best” place to be in life, that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. It also could suggest that trying new things – like moving from the prairies into the mountains – might be what we’re meant to do.

Trees do appear on msbrad‘s layout but they’re not the focus. Michi is filling her see-the-world bucket list and documenting as she goes. Her layout shows something very different from her usual surroundings, and it tells me she found something very compelling about that difference. But could she live on a tiny, rocky island in the middle of Lake Superior, or in the tiny town at the farthest point on the Sibley Peninsula? A Lake Superior winter would indeed be a “new way of life” for a Southern belle!

How would you interpret the quote? I have an idea of how I’d meet this Challenge and I might even be inspired to follow through! Winner, winner!! Pizza dinner!

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