Tutorial Tuesday (GingerScraps)

Users’ Guide to the New Forum and Gallery

[Link to PDF version will go here when Ginger has time to convert.]

Have you had a chance to take the new Forum and Gallery for a spin yet? The Store and the Blog are unchanged, so they should feel pretty comfortable. But the new Forum and Gallery are REALLY awesome! The look is so clean and shiny! But some things have different names and some processes are a little different, so here’s a quick User’s Guide.

Let’s start with the Forum‘s home page. This screenshot is pretty busy, but it needed to be. Across the upper right side of the screen there are 7 icons that are direct links; I’ve labeled them in case they’re not familiar to you. From left to right, the link to the GingerScraps Store, the GingerScraps Blog, GingerScraps on Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, a Contact Us button and a link to the GingerScraps Newsletter.

Right below them at #1, there’s a box where your Forum user name will appear (so you’ll know you’re logged in), with a Direct Messages (renamed from Private Messages) button and a Notifications button so you can quickly check what’s specifically yours. Direct Messages are only viewable by you and the sender, and Notifications lets you know when someone has Liked, Thanked or replied/commented to something you posted.

At #2, you’ll find the Forum access buttons. The New Posts button takes you to all the most recent posts to any Thread; you can click on the thread to see the comments and to make your own. If you’re a self-starter, you can start a new Thread by clicking the red New Thread button and you’ll see a list of all the topic SubForums, which are unchanged from our old Forum.

Featured Content #3 shows the top 3 pinned posts – those our Admins want to make readily visible and available; click on the coloured text and you’ll zip into the Thread without having to look for it. This is where you’d look for info on special events, like the St Patrick’s Day contest.

#4 is where you’ll find all the SubForums. For example the Welcome Wagon Forum contains multiple threads started by our GingerBread Ladies where they share links to little freebies they’ve created for us. As you scroll down the home page, you’ll see all of the SubForums listed.

Just below the Featured Content you’ll find #5, Trending Content. Here’s where you can see at a glance what’s catching other GingerScrappers‘ eyes.

Right at the bottom of the screen you’ll see #6, a list of all members currently online. This might be helpful if you’re wanting to message somebody with a time-sensitive message, or if you just want to know who’s up as late as you are. 😀

I dipped into the Home>Forums>GingerScraps Cookbook>Tutorials just to see what’s been happening there and discovered Grace has whipped up a couple of tutorials: How to LINK products from the Gallery to the Store and…

How to LINK images from the Gallery to threads. These two quick tutorials are important, especially to Creative Team members, so if you need to know how to handle these tasks, they’re right there for you.

I scrolled down to the Challenge Yourself SubForum and opened up the Cookie Jar. It’s laid out really nicely!

Go into the March 2025 Cookie Jar and read Missi‘s post about how the February Challenges will be managed. Right below it is information about Gallery posting to multiple albums, which isn’t currently possible.

While I was there, I figured I’d start my own Cookie Jar post so I could later add the layouts I (might) complete this month. I always Copy Missi‘s text and Paste it into my post. In the old Forum, the colours also Copied, but here they don’t so I changed the number in brackets to my usual red. Oh, and before I forget, look at all the places we can share our posts!! FacebookX, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Reddit, Tumblr, WhatsApp, email and a direct link are all there.

These icons in the top centre of the post box are going to be crazy helpful! To add a LINK to your post, click the little side-lying figure 8. Ooh, and there’s a keyboard shortcut, as if they knew I was coming. [Another thing to note: This new laptop of mine doesn’t disappear the descriptors seen when the cursor is hovered over an icon when I make a screenshot! I did a Snoopy happy dance when I saw that!]

Add an IMAGE, click the photo icon.

There’s even a SMILIES button.

I didn’t expect to see this! Sometimes a GIF speaks far more eloquently than words do.

This is a formatting icon that sets your Quoted text apart from the rest of the text. It’s very handy.

Let’s take a quick peek at the What’s New tab. Clicking on the little upside down tent symbol opens a drop-down menu. This Forum server has multiple ways to do almost anything.

The Media tab is where you’ll find what we used to call the Gallery. The drop-down lets you access a variety of Media related options. We have our own ALBUMS now!!

Have you ever wondered who posts the most? Or who has the most layouts in the Gallery? Or just how active you are here? Members has got you!

So, back to the Media tab. If you click on the tab itself, rather than the upside-down tent, the left side of the screen will have a list of all the Albums there are in the Gallery. I clicked on Member Galleries, but could have chosen any of the Designers or Challenges just by clicking on the inverted triangle to the left of the album title. That makes navigation really easy.

I opened up the Challenge Layouts Album and you can see the list is right there. Clickclickclick!

If you click on the Add Media subtab on the blue strip at the top of the Media screen, this menu opens. You can scroll down through the Albums list until you find the one you’re looking for. Remember, for now, add your Challenge layouts ONLY in the Challenge Album. Don’t upload your layout more than once. Wait for the add-on extension that Ginger and the tech team are working on. 

I’m going to add a layout to the Template #3 J Conlon and Sons Challenge Album for February.

This is the upload screen. I totally missed the change in allowable image size when I was doing this. I only saw it when I was editing my screenshots. We can go up to 1000×1000 pixels and 1MB now!!

Clicking on the Upload File box took me to the last folder of mine that I used. I found the correct folder and the version I saved for the Gallery. I could click on it then the Open button, or just double-click on the image. Notice all the ways I can verify I’m putting my layout where I want it to go.

When the Upload screen reappears, there’s a thumbnail of the layout but it shows the file name I gave it, which is a version of my title. I’ll change the entry so it’s exactly the title. Then I typed all my credits into the Description box. [Please don’t forget to include your credits. Our Designers deserve to be given credit for their work.] When everything I needed to include was there, I clicked Save.

And that’s it! My layout is posted. The title is correct, the credits are there. Fabulous!

There are still tasks I need to do before I’m finished. SO let’s update my Cookie Jar. I always have at least 2 GingerScraps tabs open on my desktop so I can move back and forth between them quickly and easily. I added the Challenge to my list on the Forum tab, then highlighted the name of my layout by click-dragging the cursor over it. I flipped back to the Media tab, Copied the Universal Resource Locator for my layout then back on the Forum tab, clicked on the Link icon as shown. Next, I Pasted the URL into the appropriately labeled box. Then I clicked Insert, and Save.

To add a Copy of my layout to the Challenge thread, I navigated my way to it in the Forum; the Media tab is still open to my layout. I right-clicked my mouse INSIDE the image in the Media tab and chose Copy Image Link from the pop-up menu. Next, I flipped back to the Forum tab, where I’ve got the correct Challenge thread open and waiting. This time I clicked on the photo icon as shown.

I usually don’t Drag and Drop, so I used the Link icon to add my Image Link URL. Feel free to do you, 😉

Once the URL appeared in the box, I clicked Insert then Post Reply.

And that’s how you add your Layouts to the new Gallery, top up your Cookie Jar and make sure your layout joins the proper thread.

I actually haven’t done any scrapping since I finished this layout back in February. I sprained the ring finger on my left hand… buddy-taped fingers really get in the way! Finger’s almost back to normal; although the knuckle is still swollen the pain is pretty much gone. As for the laptop setup, I still have a lot of MIA fonts, and I may end up not worrying about them. I’m finding out all the good things the machine does and getting comfortable with the keyboard. Those kinds of things I can do with just one hand! We have company coming for the weekend and I’m hoping to have a TON of great photos to work with afterward.

Next week, now that I know how the Media tab is laid out, I’ll bring you a Challenge Spotlight. Get ready to shine!!

Fresh Baked Friday @ GingerScraps: March 14, 2025

Good morning everyone. I have some good news. We’re getting so close to the forum and the gallery being up and running. There are still a few things being worked on in the background, but you can take a peek. I suggest not to upload anything until Ginger gives the okay to do so.

Spend $10 in the store and you will get this great collab for free.

I see a little green in this week’s new releases. We must be close to St. Patrick’s Day!

Ginger has set up a temporary blog home and made blog posts for most of the challenges for March so you can get a start on them before the forum is up and running. This might make scrolling for Daily Downloads, Tutorials, or other blog content a little trickier, but don’t worry—you can use the “tagged with” feature at the bottom of posts to quickly find what you’re looking for. Whether you want to see all the Daily Download posts or just the March 2025 Challenges, the tags will help keep everything organized!

Complete any 10 challenges and you will get this collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward.

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Greatest Hits: Faking it – Those Incredible Full Moon Photos…

How’s everybody doing on this first Tuesday of Daylight Savings Time? I’m not gonna lie, I’m riding the struggle bus right now. Between inadequate sleep, the gray, chilly weather and all the political nonsense going on, I’m exhausted. Oh, and I finally was forced to switch laptops, which ate up a ton of time and I still haven’t found all the 2500 fonts I have on my old one. Maybe that’s a good thing… remains to be seen. Anyway, we have an astronomical event this week, a lunar eclipse of a full moon – a Blood Moon. Thursday’s eclipse will replicate a sight not seen since 1504! It’s going to be visible across North America from 11:57 pm EDT on Wednesday until 6 am EDT on Thursday, with totality – the best part! – between 2:26 am EDT and 3:31 am EDT. Since I’m in the Pacific time zone, if the sky is clear I won’t even need to stay up late to see the beginning. So what has this to do with a tutorial? Well, let’s have a look!

Have you ever looked at those totally amazing full moon photos where it looks like the moon is rising out of the ocean, or it’s rising behind a silhouetted city skyline and it’s huge and bright? And have you ever wondered how the photographer was able to capture that image? I know how they do it, and after this tutorial you will too. Because it’s all faked!

I have a crystal-clear photo I took of the June 2013 Super Moon and that’s what I’m going to use to show you how I can make it look like the moon was over the mountain when it was quite far away in reality. This photo of the mountain that our subdivision snugs up to has been edited a bit to make the sky a bit brighter and the details a bit sharper. If I’m lucky enough to get Blood Moon photos, I’ll give this another shot.

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Faking It – Those Incredible Full Moon Photos…

 

Have you ever looked at those totally amazing full moon photos where it looks like the moon is rising out of the ocean, or it’s rising behind a silhouetted city skyline and it’s huge and bright? And have you ever wondered how the photographer was able to capture that image? I know how they do it, and after this tutorial you will too. Because it’s all faked!

I wasn’t planning to take photos of last weekend’s full moon so I didn’t prepare for it. But then I took the dog out for a potty break and saw it hanging so brightly in the sky with Mars at its shoulder. So I grabbed my pretty decent DSLR, my telephoto lens and my very sturdy tripod and set up on the driveway. Rushing never makes for good results though and every one of the 70 photos I took was out-of-focus. The shots I took of the mountain were better, but pretty grainy. Thankfully I have a crystal-clear photo I took of the June 2013 Super Moon and that’s what I’m going to use to show you how I can make it look like the moon was over the mountain when it was quite far away in reality. This photo of the mountain that our subdivision snugs up to has been edited a bit to make the sky a bit brighter and the details a bit sharper.

Here’s my 2013 moon shot. I used a long shutter, a tiny aperture and manual focus to get it this bright and clear.

To hang the moon over the mountain, I’m going to use a Guided Edit that first appeared in Elements 13Guided>Photomerge>Photomerge Compose.

Once you’ve activated the Edit, this screen opens. The instructions are fairly clear, even for the uninitiated. It says to drag the photo I want to extract FROM onto the space, so the Moon is going here.

Okay, there it is. All I want from the photo is the Moon, which has a nice, clear, sharp edge, so selecting it from my photo will be easy. I can use the Quick Selection tool for this step. If my desired extraction had more detail, I could choose one of the other options. AND… there are further adjustments that can be made in later steps.

Once I clicked on the Quick button, this tool tip opened to Guide me through the next part. It says, “Create new selection by dragging over the area you need to include.

It’s hard to see the marching ants in the screenshot but they are there. There’s even a little jaggy part that I’m going to adjust by switching from Add to Subtract and scrape it off.

Done! As I mentioned, there are more refinements you can make to extract your desired image using the Advanced Edge Refinement menu. It’s found just below the red circle.

But since I just basically have a circle, I can move on to the next step by clicking the Next arrow at the bottom of the screen. Elements always drops things right in the middle of the canvas, so it’s great that I can move my moon off the mountain and into the sky.

I decided to make it a bit bigger too, for dramatic effect. But I didn’t go too much bigger because I don’t want it to look completely phony.

Then I had second thoughts and decided to anchor it a bit by tucking it behind the mountain a smidge… after seeing that I had some Hide and Reveal options.

I started that process by Hiding the lower part of the Moon just roughly. I used a hard round brush at 100% Opacity to brush over the area that will end up being hidden by the mountain and trees. It takes several passes to completely hide the parts that I want hidden. Once I had an idea where the trees actually are, I could go back and Reveal the Moon where the trees don’t obstruct the sky. You can see in the screenshot that some of the moon looks more blue than gray – that’s where the sky hasn’t been completely Hidden. I also adjusted the size of my brush tip as needed to make the trees appear “normal”.

I switched back and forth between Hide and Reveal, adjusting the size of my brush tip until I had some natural-looking trees on my mountain. then I clicked on the Next arrow.

If your photos were taken at different times and in different lighting conditions, your composite might look pretty weird right now. Mine’s okay because night is night… But if you find your results aren’t making you happy, there’s still more in this Edit to help you get it right. The instructions say, “Click ‘Auto Match Color Tone’ to blend your extracted object with the background. You can fine tune the results with the sliders.” I highly recommend experimenting with this, because as you know, nothing is final in Elements until you say it is. If you click on the button and it does its thing but you hate the outcome, you can Undo it!! CTRL/CMD>Z should be an automatic movement. It sure is for me!

I didn’t like the results of the automatic process, so I made adjustments with the sliders. The image didn’t need a lot of adjusting to make it look more real. Then I clicked Next.

That’s the end of the Guided Edit. Now I can choose to SaveContinue Editing or Share my finished image. I want to clean up some of the noise by running the Haze Removal tool, so I’m going to click on In Expert and go there.

If you’re not familiar with the Haze Removal tool, I think you should give it a try! It sharpens your images and removes a lot of the graininess. You can get to it by Enhance>Haze Removal, or CTRL/CMD>ALT>Z works too.

It’s still an interactive process. This screen opens up and you can make adjustments to the amount of Haze Reduction it does, as well as the Sensitivity of the action. And if you’re not convinced it’s actually making a difference, you can flip between the Before and After images and see how it’s changed.

There! I think it looks pretty good, all things considered.

What do you think? Are you going to try this one? I think it would be good for adding a person who should have been in the photo but somehow wasn’t or to add someone who you only wished was there. Ooh, or maybe go right into fantasy and add a unicorn or a fairy to a photo of a baby. The sky’s the limit!

Next week, I’ll bring up a Guided Tour of all the changes here at GingerScraps, to help you navigate the new Forum and find the Gallery. See you then!

Fresh Baked Friday @ GingerScraps: March 7, 2025

Happy Friday Scrappers. Ginger and the team are still working hard on moving the information both to a new forum and a new hosting company. Both of these are great news for us.

Remember, the shop remains open with new products every week and all our usual sales and specials. Plus, the blog is open with new content posted daily to keep you inspired! We can’t wait to unveil the new forum—it’s going to be an amazing upgrade! Speaking of the blog, make sure to read all the way through this newsletter for some other exciting news!

I’ll keep you updated in our newsletters and on the GingerScraps Facebook page. In the meantime, join our private GingerScraps Facebook group to chat with your GS friends, share your layouts, and get tons of inspiration. Stay tuned—great things are ahead! .

As always, I’m here and happy to help! If you have trouble with anything or questions reach out to me via the support ticket system.

Spend $10 in the store and you will get this great collab for free.

Let’s see what we have new this week!

Now for the exciting news on the blog. Many of you have been asking about the March challenges. Ginger has set up a temporary blog home and made blog posts for most of the challenges for March so you can get a start on them before the forum is up and running. This might make scrolling for Daily Downloads, Tutorials, or other blog content a little trickier, but don’t worry—you can use the “tagged with” feature at the bottom of posts to quickly find what you’re looking for. Whether you want to see all the Daily Download posts or just the March 2025 Challenges, the tags will help keep everything organized!

Complete any 10 challenges and you will get this collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward.

Recipe Challenge {March 2025} Host: Angelle Designs

Recipe Challenge {March 2025} Host: Angelle Designs

Hey there, awesome scrapping people!

It’s Dasha checking in because the March Recipe Challenge is officially ON!

I can’t wait to see what amazing creations you’ll come up with while we work together to make our forum and gallery absolutely perfect! Get those creative juices flowing—let’s do this!

So, this month challenge’s recipe is:

  • 1 big title
  • 2 photos ( 1 MUST be blended or masked)
  • 3 flowers (at least, but you may add more)
  • 4 leaves  (at least, but you may add more)
  • 5 small elements ( brads, buttons, scatter etc.)
For example, this is my page made using this recipe
I’ve used my kit “Shh…I’m reading!”

You all know the simple rules: create your layout using this fun recipe, then upload it to the Recipe Challenge Gallery when it is back again. Don’t forget to share your LO here too!

Happy scrapping! I’m super excited to see all your amazing creations.

REMEMBER

Documenting Your Life {March 2025} Host: ADB Designs

Documenting Your Life {March 2025} Host: ADB Designs

Hello! This is Diane of ADB Designs and I am a genealogist and family historian as well as a scrapbook designer. I live in Blair, Nebraska (just north of Omaha) on a wooded 5 acre property not far from the Missouri River.

I am featuring my new March Buffet collection: SOAR . Individual pieces of the collection are on sale through March 9, 50% off; the bundle is 50% off for the entire month.

Page Creation Prompt(s):

  • Create a page featuring a bird or birds as the main image.
  • Create a page featuring journaling or photos about reaching for goals/dreams.
For this challenge create a page using any of the the scrapbooking prompt(s) above, suggested by the featured collection. You may use any GingerScraps current designers’ kits (minimum of 80%).

BONUS COUPONS: (These are not “stacking” coupons, you will earn only one.)

  • All participants, regardless of GS designer used, will receive a $2 coupon to be used on orders of $7 or more in my store.
  • All participants who use an ADB Designs kit/collection will receive a $4 coupon to be used on orders of $7 or more, in my store.
  • All participants who use the ADB Designs featured kit/collection: Shimmering Evening, will be entered into a drawing for an opportunity to win a $10 coupon to my store.
  • Freebies/gifts may be used in layouts, but those layouts are excluded from consideration for coupons.


I am always thrilled to see what you create!

ONCE THE FORUM & GALLERY ARE BACK ON LINE: Please be sure to post your layout in the challenge thread and in my “Documenting Your Life Challenge Gallery” AND please be sure to credit the designer and their product(s) as well.

I will announce the winner of the random drawing in this thread on the first day of the new month & then close the thread.

I will send PM (private message) via the forum to participants with coupon information on the first or second day of the new month. Be sure and look for it.

HUGS!
Diane

REMEMBER
  • All challenge layouts must consist of at least 80% GS products from current GS designers.

Find the FULL list of March 2025 Challenges and RULES HERE

Bucket List {March 2025} Host: Scraps N Pieces

Bucket List {March 2025} Host: Scraps N Pieces

Hi all!
This is a new challenge this year and we are excited to host it. My sister and I design together and the last few years we have used our scrapbooking money to take trips together to knock some things off of our bucket lists. These trips have inspired this challenge. We will have different prompts each month to help you document the things you’ve checked off your bucket list and inspire others.

This month we’d like you to do an act of service/reach out to an old friend/help in the community, random act of kindness

REMEMBER

  • All challenge layouts must consist of at least 80% GS products from current GS designers.

Find the FULL list of March 2025 Challenges and RULES HERE

Buffet Challenge {March 2025} Host: Kristmess

Buffet Challenge {March 2025} Host: Kristmess

Another month gone and a new Buffet challenge awaits! Feel the fresh breeze of spring with the beautiful pastel shades in the March Buffet collection!

Taking part in this challenge is very simple—all you need to do is scrap a layout using something from the March Buffet collection. Super easy, as there are lots of great choices!

Post your layout in this year’s Buffet Challenge Gallery, and don’t forget to come back here and post it in this thread as well.

Here is the color palette for this month:

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

REMEMBER

#2025 {March 2025} Host: Connie Prince

#2025 {March 2025} Host: Connie Prince

Welcome to my March challenge!
Use the free mini to create a layout & you’re done! I don’t mind if you use part of it or all of it or even combine it with the full collection (which is on sale in my store)!

Once you are done, just add your layout here and a link to where you posted it in the gallery!

Here is this month’s Mini-Kit!
Download Here

REMEMBER
  • All challenge layouts must consist of at least 80% GS products from current GS designers.

Find the FULL list of March 2025 Challenges and RULES HERE

Word-Art Challenge {March 2025} Host: Cindy Ritter

Word-Art Challenge {March 2025} Host: Cindy Ritter

Let’s have some fun while we wait for the forum! Same rules as always—save your layout, as this is the same word art we will use once the forum and gallery are working. Post your layout here for now. Anyone using my products will be entered into a drawing for a $10 gift coupon. (Last month’s winner will be announced when the forum is back up.)

Link to download word art: https://bit.ly/41pbvpw

REMEMBER

  • All challenge layouts must consist of at least 80% GS products from current GS designers.

Find the FULL list of March 2025 Challenges and RULES HERE