Happy Friday. We have big things for you today so we’ll just jump right in!
We have a special treat for you, our 2023 Newsletter Hop!
You can hop around our designers newsletters and collect tons of fun free goodies!
Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you get this great kit for free.
Let’s see all the new goodies in the store this week.
How are those challenges? Complete any 10 challenges and you’ll get this kit as a reward!
More Hearts and Flowers Fonts
PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3k05qOr
It’s been a rough week at our house, meaning no time for me to do anything really inspiring. But I’ve been seeing a LOT of inspiring Valentine’s Day projects so I had a thought… Surely there are some great new Valentine’s Day fonts and dingbats that y’all can use those Styles we talked about last week to make REALLY fabulous. And there are!! I’ve got eleven FREE fonts and six dingbats for your scrapping pleasure, from dafont.com. (If you want any of these, just click on the font’s name and you’ll be linked up.) Ready?
Couple Valentine is a fancy, all-caps font that would be perfect for pretty much any application. Titles, subtitles, journaling – all of it! I love that.
This romantic script font, Mybook Again, is another multipurpose gem. I could see this on wedding invitations, all kinds of wedding favours and Valentines. It’s beautiful, don’t you think?
I really love these bubble fonts like Romantic Love. There are SO many ways to use them and so many things you can do to zhuzh them up.
Pink Valentine is so retro and cute! It brings me right back to my teenage years when I still had rose-coloured glasses.
This font could be right out of a fairy tale. Lovaline Story is another versatile font that is suitable for any purpose.
Candy Kisses would make beautiful titles. Beyond Valentine’s Day and weddings, I’d probably use it for baby layouts.
Beauty Heart is a lovely farmhouse-type font. I’d love to see it with a glossy Style so it looks like candy.
I like the heart ligatures on Finding Love. It’s yet another all-purpose font with infinite options.
Ooh, here’s a swashy script called Jully Julia. It’s perfect for subtitles and journaling.
I don’t know that I’d use You Are My Valentine for journaling, but it would be good for titles and subtitles.
I was looking for dingbats when I found Quirky Love. It’s already pretty fabulous, and has potential to be even more so! Doesn’t it look like leather?
Now for the dingbats. Heart Salads is the first set I’ve found that has an anatomical heart in it.
I can see so many things that can be done with Romantine Dingbat. Yes, most of them involve hitting them with a Style… or three.
I love these heart emoji dings, don’t you? Fluffy Hearts Ding just makes me smile.
PW Little Hearts covers the gamut of things we love. That heart-with-the-ball-of-yarn would make a great element for a cat layout.
These are pretty romantic hearts in Vanlentines Day TBF. I think my favourite is the solid heart with the stars along the right side.
Last, but not least, we have Merciful Heart Doodle. I might use this one to create a border. What would you do with it?
Now I must run… gotta deal with all the errands I’ve put off for the last week while my son has been sick. Hopefully I’ll get ’em done before the rain turns to snow…
It’s Miss Fish!
Many of you will already know Juli, aka Miss Fish. Lately she’s moved past mainly template designing and is bringing more of her talent to entire kits. I know I’m happy to see that! She’s also been in the Designer Spotlight before, so we talked about some different things this time to keep it fresh. (Since we both have the same first initial, I’m going by “O” today.)
O: Let’s get the bread and butter out of the way. What motivates and inspires you as a designer?
J: I love designing templates that make me want to stop what I’m doing and scrap a page. I often will plus in my own photos
and some elements to make sure designs will look good for my customers.
O: Segué ahead… What one word would your friends and family use to describe you?
J: Busy! Lol…I work full time, plus I design and we like to have fun with friends and travel. I’m not one to just plop down and relax.
I go all the time!
O: It can be exhausting, right? I enjoy traveling too, so why don’t you describe your perfect vacation.
J: Anywhere in Europe close to a train station so I could go on different adventures every day.
O: So is that what you would do if you won the lottery?
J: YES! I’d quit my day job and travel full time. I’d bring along my laptop so I could design and scrap in my free time.
O: Oddball question, that I can probably guess the answer to: are you more likely to dance or sing in the shower?
J: Sing.
O: Yep, called it! Do you have a green thumb? What do you grow?
J: Yes. Currently growing Brussel sprouts, cherry tomatoes, peppers, arugula, and some herbs. Plus my cat’s favorite, carnations.
O: I’ve grown broccoli but never Brussels sprouts. Now I don’t have room for much but I have some flower boxes and a small bed in the front yard. Most of my blooms are purple, white or pink. What are your most favorite and least favorite colors?
J: My favorite color is blue. My least favorite color is orange.
O: Oh, I don’t like orange much either, or yellow. Hence they’re not prominent in my garden! {Except the Stella d’Oro lilies the developer planted. They can stay. What would your dream car be?
J: Something red and fast but in an SUV size, maybe a Porsche?
O: That would be amazing! My daughter had a BMW SUV, but didn’t love it so she’s driving a VW Tiguan now. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
J: I would make myself able to actually remember words and why I walked into a room.
O: I can definitely relate! Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?
J: My phone. I’m embarrassed to say how attached I am to it.
O: I’m finding myself falling into that habit too, at least until my eyes start protesting. If you had a warning label, what would yours say?
J: Caution: probably crabby, feed for best results.
O: Hahahahaha!! Me too! Let me get you a snack, girl!
Before we disappear with our treats, I want to remind everybody that Juli is not just the IN the Designer Spotlight, she’s hosting the Designer Spotlight Challenge this month AND is providing the Daily Download on the Blog too. Each snippet of the Daily Download is available for 5 days; if you miss one or two and are heart-broken, don’t worry. The entire kit will be available for purchase in March. (Egad, did I really just say that?)
Welcome to Friday everyone! I hope your week has been good and your February is starting off well.
Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you get this great kit for free. I’m totally craving pancakes now.
Let’s see what the designers have this week.
Have you gotten a start on your challenges? Complete any 10 challenges and you’ll get this kit as a reward!
It is the 1st of the month and you know what that means, a huge, exciting newsletter! We have a New Buffet, New Monthly Mix, New Free With Purchase Collab, New Challenge Reward, New Daily Download on the GingerScraps Blog & TWO New Guest Designers!
Let’s start out with the January Buffet. Don’t forget to check out the Buffet Bundles. One easy click to add bundles of Buffet goodies to your cart.
These colors make you think of the month of love. Valentine’s Day will be here before we know it.
Remember any $10 spent in the store gets you this great collab. I think it’s {time for pancakes}.
This Free With Purchase was created by: Aprilisa Designs, JB Studio, Neia Scraps, and Scrapbookcrazy Creations by Robyn.
This collab includes 1 Alpha {Uppercase & Numbers}, 47 Papers, and 79 Elements.
Don’t you think {it’s a beautiful day}?
The Monthly Mix was create by: Adrienne Skelton, Just So Scrappy, Kristmess, Lisa Rosa Designs, and Miss Fish Templates.
This collab includes 3 Alphas {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 68 Papers, 113 Elements, and Bonus Coordinating Photoshop Glitter Styles!
Now to the February Daily Download Sneak Peek. This month’s Daily Download is from Miss Fish Templates! Make sure you are checking the blog every day to get all the pieces of this kit!
We are excited to have a TWO guest designers join us this month.
Laura Burger’s Bio:
I never planned to be a designer, but it all started in 2006, and I have not looked back. I am self-taught in Photoshop, work a bit in Illustrator, and ProCreate, and I will say I believe I was born an artist at heart. I am thrilled to be teaming up with Marianne this year as she brings a different flair to the product. We have been best friends for 50 years, and I could not ask for a better partner in business. I have been married to my best buddy for the last 27 years, and we live in the country on 2 ½ acres in Northern Arizona. We ran a business that we have thus retired from after 25 years, and therefore I am free to design or play with my abstract art anytime, day or night. We each have grown adult children that have blessed us with four grandchildren. As for pets, we are a bit odd as we have a feral outdoor beautiful siamese cat, an indoor black kitty, one wild turkey (Lucy), two tamer turkeys, and one chicken that thinks she is a turkey.
Marianne’s Bio:
I have been an active graphic artist for 30+ years. Most of my experience has been designing packaging, logos, and creating websites. I am happily married to my best friend and I have a daughter that just graduated from UCLA in Graphic Design. I am lucky enough to be designing with my best friend of over 50 years and I look forward to this new venture!
AND
BIO-
My name is Jenn and I design as Triple J Designs. I started designing in 2012 and opened my first store in 2015. Unfortunately, I had to retire in 2017 when life took an unexpected turn. Life is good now so I am back!
I live in West Texas with my husband and our teenagers (mine is 17 and his twins are 18) and work full time for a Private Pay Health Care Company as the scheduling coordinator.
In my spare time, I design, throw competition steel tip darts and I am the Madam Vice President of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Are you ready for the February challenges? Remember any 10 completed challenges gets you this great kit. It’s time to {rise and shine}!
This collab was created by: BoomersGirl Designs, Dear Friends Designs, Jumpstart Designs, ScrapChat Designs, and Sweet Pea Designs.
This collab includes 3 Alphas {Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 61 Papers, 79 Elements, 3 Templates {2 12×12 & 1 12×24 Template} {png, psd, tif file formats}.
Loading Those Styles Files
PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3RxUyDK
Back a couple of weeks, I said I’d put together a quick tut on how to load Styles into Elements. That’s where we’re going today. It’s really easy, but I can complicate anything! I’ll show you the easy way, and the more complicated way then let you decide how you’ll do it. Sound good?
But first, let’s talk about Styles a little bit. What are they, anyway? Essentially, they’re little automatic scripts that allow you to alter and enhance individual layers in your Photoshop Elements layouts. They include things like shadows, glitter, metal, fabric, gel, wood, cork, texture… so many different Styles exist and more are being created all the time. Several GingerScraps designers create Styles that coordinate with their kits. In fact, many of the GingerBread Ladies‘ collabs have Styles files in them, so you’ve probably got a bunch you aren’t even aware of! Let’s get you up to speed!
There are two ways to access your Styles portfolio. One is to click the Window tab along the top of the workspace then choose Styles from the drop-down menu. The second way – the one I use because it’s right there – is to click on the Styles button at the bottom of the Layers Panel. Once you’ve accessed them, there’s a Style Picker bar at the top of the Layers Panel.
Here’s the Style Picker. It will let you see all the Styles that are already Loaded. Elements includes several default Styles embedded in the software (Bevels, Complex, Drop Shadows, Glass Buttons, Image Effects, Inner Glows, Inner Shadows, Outer Glows, Patterns and more) That little stack of lines to the right of it is where the actual Styles Menu hides.
Let’s click on the stack of lines. Now choose Load Styles.
Here’s where I can complexify things… I learned how to find where my computer puts things and have worked out my own workflow using that knowledge. With Styles (and Brushes, which are Loaded in exactly the same way), I rename the files then move them into the folder where Elements will look for them first. I’ve outlined the path here. The path is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements [Version #]\Presets\Styles. This makes it easier for me to find them later but it’s not the only way to manage them.
You can see that Styles files have the tag .ASL or .asl after the file name. Knowing that, you can let Windows search for your Styles. (Sorry Mac users, I know nothing about file searches in the Mac OS.)
Here you can see there’s at least one file I haven’t renamed. 😉 And it’s the file I’m going to use… To locate the folder it’s hiding in, I right-click on the file name and choose Open File Location from the drop-down.
Now I can go back to the Styles Menu, because I know where the file is, and retrieve it.
Click on the file and then Load. DONE!
The set is there, open and waiting for me to decide which one I want to use. Hovering the cursor over the thumbnail will tell you what the Style has been named by the designer.
I tried the two blues, but liked the black best. As I’ve shown in other tuts, the Style can then be adjusted by double-clicking on the fx icon on the layer and playing with the settings.
There are lots of sources of free Styles online. Some Photoshop Styles will work with Elements and some won’t. Brusheezy, which I’ve shared before, is pretty good at separating them out. I’ve linked you up if you’d like to explore.
See you in February!
Happy Friday! I hope you have all had a great week. Can you believe we are at the end of January already? Do you have any plans for the weekend? If so, I hope you are doing something fun.
Remember, if you spend $10 in the store, you’ll get this great kit for free!
Let’s take a look at some of the items the designers have for us this week.
Are you finishing up your challenges? Any 10 completed challenges (out of over 35) gets you this great reward!
Quick Trick: Controlling Camera Shake
PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3wUBHtr
If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a lot of “nice” photos that miss being GREAT photos because they’re a little blurry. Sometimes it’s a focus issue, sometimes it’s camera shake. Because there are times when you can’t just whip out a tripod and get those magic moments captured perfectly, you’re okay with compromising on clarity for the sake of the memory. Well, I think I’ve got something that might make those “nice” shots a lot less woozy! This automatic enhancement was introduced with Elements 14; if you’re working with an earlier version, sorry. 🙁
Let me introduce you to one of my new neighbours. She and her family were some distance away and it was super-cold outside so I didn’t want to go outside to take photos. I used the zoom lens – which destabilizes the camera a bit – on one of my point-and-shoot digital cameras and shot them through the living room window. I knew they’d be soft and a bit fuzzy, and I accepted that.
I didn’t know about this trick until last night. It’s going to be VERY useful! Click on the Enhance tab and scroll down to Shake Reduction…
Elements will automatically make an adjustment to your photo. You’ll get a little preview of what will happen, and you can fine-tune it later. See the slider labeled Sensitivity? You can tweak that too, but be careful. A little goes a long way! Make it too sensitive and you’ll see a white outline around your subject.
The important part of the photo is her face, so I’ve drawn a box around her head and chest, and Elements starts working on it. See that thing in the middle of the box? It’s a progress bar, showing you where in the process your photo is currently. When it’s finished the icon disappears. Then, if you’re happy, click OK.
Here’s the Before image up close.
And the After image up close.
And a side-by-side… The change is subtle, but visible. You can see it even in the foliage.
Not bad for a couple of clicks!
Happy Friday. Boy do we have a great newsletter for you today.
First up is the Retiring Products Sale. Select items are 65% off.
Remember, if you spend $10 in the store, you’ll get this great kit for free!
Let’s see what the designers have for us this week.
We are excited to announce that Adrienne Skelton Designs is permanently joining the GingerScraps family.
Remember, if you complete any 10 challenges, you’ll get this collab as a reward.
Challenge Spotlight: Real Moments
PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3DlA2Ay
Did you notice there are a couple of new Challenges for 2023? Today we’re going to check in on the Real Moments Challenge hosted by Cindy Ritter. This is how Cindy describes the Challenge: “There’s a quote that says “Life isn’t measured by time, it’s measured by moments.” and that’s what this new challenge is about, preserving those moments that stand out; the good, the bad and everything in between. Many of those moments in our lives are not accompanied by photos so feel free to experiment and think outside the box while making your layouts.
Each month I will give you a theme and prompt (it might be a quote, a song, a poem or something different) and you should create whatever you are moved to do.
This months theme is Change.
Please use the following quote to inspire your page.
“Sometimes change requires you to take a giant leap. But, you won’t be able to fly unless you are willing to transform.” ― Suzy Kassem”
I love the idea of scrapping REAL moments, even the ordinary ones. Each of us has our own idea of what that means, and our Individual Style will guide how we approach the Challenge. I think as memory-keepers we tend to scrap the happy stuff and pretend the no-so-happy stuff even happened. But we all have REAL moments, and we shouldn’t shy away from them. The layouts in the Challenge Gallery cover the gamut; there are a couple of them that might be too REAL for some of our readers; if that’s you, no one will know if you skip over those ones. The layouts will appear in the order they were uploaded to the Gallery. You may notice that a number of them have been created using Cindy’s Real Moments – Metamorphosis collection, and each participant will be gifted a matching mini-kit. As always, each layout is linked to its spot in the Gallery so you can drop by and leave some love; just click on the member’s name. Ready?
First up is a layout by lulutoo; her journaling, paired with that Pinterest-worthy photo would fit in well with our discussion on resolutions, wouldn’t it? I love her vertical cluster and how she’s combined all the papers she’s stacked behind it. Tucking elements between papers always adds interest.
As a former military spouse, I found 01lousmith‘s journaling to be very familiar. Change can be really hard, and not always good. She’s created a beautiful but haunting photoless artsy layout.
We’re all our own worst critic! AJsRandom proves it. The smiles in her photos and the cheery-ness of her clusters is a little at odds with her journaling. But I commend her for taking such a personal approach to the Challenge.
I really think I need to buy this collection! This beautiful, simple layout from dkane has me really convinced. There’s so much warmth and optimism here.
Talk about making lemonade outta lemons! Look at how mafrerichs has transformed that dorm room! The colour palette of the kit coordinates beautifully with the photos and those clusters… total thirst trap for me.
This simple but celebratory layout from twizzle made me smile. Congratulations! Feeling good about oneself is the key to happiness.
How gorgeous is this?? I love the way kabrak1207 has blended the gold border into the background paper and how that stitched heart is SO 3D. The quote from Wicked really captures the theme of the Challenge without needing a photo.
As dorannmwin says, change can be scary. Kudos to her for going back to school! She looks so confident in her photo, and the way she’s surrounded it with ephemera and clusters keeps the feel-good going.
NHSoxGirl has infused some humour into her layout. I knew instantly what she was going to focus on when I saw those photos. In keeping with the serious-but-still-funny-ish topic she kept her layout clean and linear.
Our own AimeeHarrison has chronicled a significant challenge that changed her whole life. Her layout reflects triumph and hope through the bouncy clustered swag and all the hearts. Strength is a good trait to have!
A-M kept her layout simple and clean. Downsizing is definitely a change! We UPsized… I can’t even imagine.
(Content-warning) Katherine Woodin has always been very open and comfortable with her journaling as she records daily life. She’s probably the most dedicated Project 365 scrapper I know. She doesn’t gloss over the tough stuff, and this layout is an example of that. Her beloved Fred passed on to his next life on Christmas Eve and she strips bare her feelings as she details the events of that day. My deepest condolences, Katherine.
I can’t even count all the ways basketladyaudrey has covered “change” in her layout. She chose the most perfect colour palette possible for her photos, which tell the story of becoming a grown-up. Love it!
Leaving home is one of the hardest changes we all go through. Blaise used a list as journaling, and her photo tells the rest of the story.
If you were to participate in this Challenge, what would be the change you feature? Seeing all these layouts has given me some ideas – on top of the absolute determination to acquire Cindy‘s kit. Off I go to sort through my photos…