Today we’re shining the spotlight on the Scraplift challenge hosted this month by LDrag Designs.
This beautiful layout by tiggernjen was chosen to be the focus of the scraplift:
Let’s see the different layouts submitted so far for this.
From breoni:
From snickels:
From wendeeds:
And from Windswept:
Aren’t these awesome? How would you scraplift this?
Remember, any 10 challenges will get you this awesome kit:
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The “official” date for the iNSD celebration might have been May 2, but the fun never stops at GingerScraps! We are still having a big party in the forums and HUGE sales in the shop! Come on over and enjoy this fabulous art we all share!
If you missed our MASSIVE iNSD Newsletter or just want to go view it again, it is posted up on our blog too! HERE IS A LINK
Don’t worry, just because it’s iNSD we are still having the weekly $2.00 Tuesday sale too! 
Stop by the shop TODAY (Tuesday, May 5, 2020) for the $2.00 Tuesday Sale. It is valid 12:01AM – 11:59PM Eastern Time
While you are in the shop be sure to check out all these deals too!
Hey there scrappers. How is your iNSD going? Are you enjoying all the fun and games?
Today I’m focusing on the Mini Kit Challenge hosted by Alexis Design Studio. She is providing this gorgeous mini kit to use:
These colors are amazing. Reminded me of spring flowers. Photo credit to my hubby on this one. He loves to take pictures for me to scrap.
And I found these beautiful layouts as well.
From moorefarmcrafts:
From pagefrocks:
And from poki04:
The colors in this kit are just gorgeous.
Remember when you complete 10 challenges, you get this amazing kit:
Happy Sunday everyone! Are you enjoying all that Ginger has put together for iNSD? So many amazing sales. Check out the store, the forum, and the FB page for updates on all the goodies.
Did you know about all the iNSD fun things going on in the forum? Check out this list.
How about the scavenger hunt? This is always fun and I always end up with a wish list full of new items from our designers.
And wow… this mega collab. Huge collection FREE with a purchase over $20. Believe me, it isn’t hard to make that happen. And these colors are perfect for the Color Challenge this month.
And now, a sneak at May’s Challenge Reward.
Teacher Appreciation: A collaboration from our GingerScraps designers
By Designers: Connie Prince, Down This Road, MagsGraphics, Tinci Designs, Wimpychompers
May 2020 – Challenge Reward Info
Monthly Challenge Rules –
What is your goal this month? Last month I set mine super high and crashed. So this month, I’m focused on doing 3 or 4 of my favorites and adding one that I don’t normally do.
Enjoy your iNSD!!
Oh my goodness. You are in for a treat today. It’s like a scrapbooking full moon. It’s the May Buffet, May 1 Fresh Baked, and International Scrapbooking Day. Needless to say, this newsletter is packed full of new kits and ads.
First up is all the fun going in the store and forum for iNSD.
Look at this awesome and fun Mega Collab. You get this entire collab for free when you spend $20 or more in the store.
If you spend more then $10, you get this bright kit to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
The new monthly mix is {out of this world}.
Finally, let’s see what is in the buffet.
And now, the Fresh Baked for May 1:
We have TWO awesome guest designers joining us for May.
Bio: “My real name is Dasha. I am 37, Russian girl, a mother of 3 boys ( 13, 7 and 2), a happy wife, a teacher of English but I am on my maternity leave now (yaaay! LOL), and a movie addict. I am not new to the digi world (I started scrapping in 2008 and in 2010 I opened my first shop). A couple of years ago real life and real work became too busy for me that’s why I haven’t been scrapping or designing for some time) But I missed it so much and last year I came back! Happy to be here.”
Here is a small sampling of her work.
Bio: “Hello! My name is Tammy and I live in KC, MO where I was born and raised. I have been married to my sweetie for 21 years now. I am the oldest of 3 (2 younger brothers). I have 3 grown kids – Andy is a music teacher (KC, MO) and married; Matt is a property manager for luxury apartments (in Chicago, IL) and married and Shelby is the baby and only girl, is a photographer and is now a fashion photographer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and married. I do have 3 nephews though! I have no grand babies yet but 8 grand-dogs! My kids and their dogs are usually the subject of my sample pages…
I have been designing since 2007 and started with my daughter, Shelby (the other ‘chick’) who was 13 at the time, now she is 25 and pursuing her dream in her dream job, fashion photographer. I hope you enjoy my designs…I tend to be a bit quirky sometimes and love to laugh…”
A new month means a new Daily Download. This month our Daily Download is hosted by Blue Heart Scraps. Check out this sneak peek.
Remember, the download is kept up for 5 days, and then it is taken down. If you miss pieces, the kit will be available for purchase on the first day of the following month.
And if all of the above wasn’t enough, you have the chance to earn this beauty when you complete 10 challenges during the month.
If you have made it this far, we have a surprise for you. Just for enjoying all the goodies we’ve shown in this monstrous newsletter, you can get this template set for free. Just click the picture to download.
Happy Scrapping!!
Happy Monday! Today is the last of my April spotlights. We’re focusing on the Desktop Challenge and the Inspiration Challenge.
April’s Desktop Challenge is hosted by The Cherry On Top. Each month we are provided with a template that can be used as a desktop background on your computer. I LOVE this template. It’s gorgeous.
Let’s see the beautiful layouts I picked from the forum.
From cutiejo1:
From MarilynZ:
From sltppr:
And from constablec:
So lovely.
And finally, the Inspiration Challenge hosted by Sweet Pea Designs. Each month, we are given something to use as an inspiration for our layout. This month, the following picture was the inspiration.
Let’s see what I found.
From 01lousmith:
From alexandergirl68:
From lilholmes6:
And from roxana:
I love all of these.
Remember, 10 completed challenges gives you this kit:
Check back on Wednesday for a wrap up. How have you done this week?
Hey y’all. Tonight we’re focusing on two of the favorite challenges in the forum, the second template challenge and the signature challenge.
The second template challenge is hosted by Miss Fish Templates. The following template is provided for you to download and use.
Now here are a few samples from the forum. These are all so lovely.
From digiscrapmomma:
From Jill:
From momto4:
And from Yvonne55:
I love this template.
Next up is the signature challenge hosted by Boomersgirl Designs. Each month the host designer gives us a topic to use. This month, it’s to use animals.
From greenfiend27:
From ktmoonblue:
From rosecca:
And from shawnarenee31:
Remember that when you complete 10 challenges, you get this awesome full kit as a reward:
Let’s {bloom & grow}!!
Welcome to Friday. Can you believe we are almost the end of April. 2020 is flying by. And maybe that’s a good thing.
Remember you get this beautiful kit when you spend at least $10 in the store.
Now for our new releases.
Remember, if you complete 10 challenges, you get this awesome kit.
It’s time to {bloom & grow}.
Keep your eye on the blog, forum, and store for next week. iNSD is coming. Are you ready?
Just wanted to pop in with an update. I was doing so well and then I crashed and burned this week. I tried to do to much at once and it caught up with me. So I have a new plan. I’ll have some more spotlights this weekend and then I have a new plan beginning in May.
I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy!
Be A-Frayed, Be Very A-Frayed!
When I asked the GingerScrappers on Facebook for tutorial topics, I got some great suggestions. This tutorial was inspired by Lisa, who asked me to figure out how to fray paper like fabric. I had a couple of ideas, but I wanted to be sure it would work, so I used a FABRIC object to test my theory. This is the outcome. I’m pretty sure I’ve also solved the paper-fraying goal as well. If, at the end of this tutorial you’d like me to do a follow-up with paper, leave me a note in the comments and I’ll do it. It’ll involve filters……
My fabric object is this sweet denim pocket from Laurie’s Scraps (one of our April Featured Designers!) Toy Chest kit. I plan to put a hole in it and then patch it. So let’s get after it! (Yes, I have Cuomo Prime Time on in the background.)
Something about the very narrow margins around this pocket bothered me. I like to have a bit more transparent workspace so I’m just going to enlarge the “canvas size”. CTRL/CMD>ALT>C for you keyboard shortcutters, or Image>Resize>Canvas Size for the ones who are new to Work Smart Not Hard.
The margins don’t have to be huge so I just pulled 6×6 out of the air and typed it into the boxes. Now, see that tic-tac-toe board near the bottom of the menu box? Well, it lets you decide where the extra canvas goes! You can add it to one side or the other, top or bottom, depending on why you’re adding workspace. If I was making a cluster, for example, I would have an idea of where things in the cluster would be added and put the extra space where it would do the most good simply by clicking one the associated square to set the new Anchor Point. (I was yesterday old when I noticed that…)
For the sake of clarity I chose to use just an elliptical shape with the Marquee tool to make my hole. But whatever your vision tells you is what you should do. I could have used a custom shape or polygon of any kind, and that might make a really interesting look on a layout. Once I had my ellipse pulled out, I Cut the area inside it out. Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X.
So now I have a hole in my pocket. How am I going to make it look like a REAL hole? With the Eraser tool to start with. I have the Brush selected as my Eraser type, and a very small size with 100% Opacity to completely erase my threads. Zoom is your friend for this technique.
Denim is a twill weave, with diagonal grain, so my “threads” are following that direction. I used the Eraser to remove bits of the fabric past the edge of the cutout. There’s no need for precision for this step – actually for any of it! – so I just randomly Erased sections of random lengths, and some of them are quite squiggly. That’s good! I worked my way around the hole; I went clockwise but it doesn’t matter how you do it.
So this is what I had once I’d created my threads. The bones are there, now to put the flesh on them!
Next I chose the Smudge tool (the one that looks like a finger) to soften and stretch the threads into the hole. Again, I used a small diameter brush, and not-quite-full Strength to make my threads threadier.
I put the Brush down on the denim then click-dragged the Smudger over the thread and out into the hole. To make a longer thread, start a little farther from the edge. Again, randomness and imperfection are the right things here, so make sure they’re not the same length or going in the same direction.
Everything about this technique is what you’re happy with, so don’t be too fussy about any of it. Just keep working it until you’ve got a good collection of stringy things in there.
Yep, you can criss-cross some of your threads! Those holes in your jeans will have some criss-crossed threads so why not?!
It’s starting to look more real by the minute, but there are still some things needed to get it right. The places where I Erased into the denim look too symmetrical and sharp so that has to be fixed. I’ll use the Smudge tool for that too.
But I’m skipping ahead here. Those threads are still too dark to look like a real hole, so I chose the Dodge tool to lighten them up. Remember Dodge lightens, Burn darkens? Well, just make sure you’ve got DODGE selected. Again a small diameter, 50% Exposure and Midtones will be the settings. Now I’m just going to brush that Dodge tool over the threads and into the denim around the hole a bit.
Better already! But not quite there. Close…
I moved back to the Smudge tool to soften up the edges. Same settings as before makes it simple to switch between tools.
I was most definitely NOT precise with the Smudge tool here, running it up into the denim to soften the areas where I’d already Dodged. Now it’s looking like a real hole in real denim!
I just switched back and forth between the Smudge and Dodge tools until I was happy with my holey jeans. It looks pretty good!
Then I put a piece if this pretty pink patterned paper from Connie Prince’s Denim and Pearls extra paper pack behind the hole like a patch. A drop shadow layer in between and I think it’s darned near perfect!
Please let me know in the comments if you’d like me to do this again with paper to show you the tricks for that. Kellie, I haven’t forgotten your scene cleaner request, but it’ll take quite a bit more time to put together than I have just now. I promise, it’s coming!
I’ll be taking a month off while we’re moving – the movers are here next Wednesday already! Look for a new tutorial – maybe the paper version of this one – around the end of May. Stay home, wear a mask, wash your hands!