Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Beginner Digi Week {day 5}

Well, it's been SO much fun spending the week with you all and I hope you've had just as much fun as I have. Enjoy creating with all your new found digi skills! If you think you might need it, you can download this handy cheat sheet to keep close to your computer that highlights the points that Crystal covered in her video tutorial:

Download Cheat Sheet for Digi Templates

I also wanted to give a HUGE thank you to Crystal WIlkerson for co-hosting with me this week. She shared so many valuable tricks & some really fun stuff with us! (You're amazing Crystal!) If you get a chance, be sure to leave a comment here or pop by Crystal's blog and let her know how much we appreciated all the help! :)

I loved all the cute pages you guys shared in the Flickr group this week! Take a peek at these pages created using Crystal's template!

This one from stamphappy2001

 
 
 
 
this one from Kristina Proffit (cutest baby boy in the world Kristina!!) :)

 

and this one shared by chrcsmrtnsn

Cute pages ladies & I love how even though they were all made using the same template, they each reflect your own individual styles so beautifully!

Feel free to stop by the flickr group if you have a minute to enjoy even more gorgeous pages & projects, digi or paper!

 

I'll say good-bye for now, but not without ending the week with a little bit more digi inspiration just for you!

Page created by Rebecca Cooper 
  

page created by Rebecca Cooper 
 
page created by Celeste Smith

page created by Celeste Smith

page created by Marnie Flores

 
Adorable valentine's tags created by Marnie Flores

Have a great weekend everyone and don't be a stranger, stop by my blog anytime and say hi!

Beginner Digi Week {printing}

I just wanted to pop on quickly tonight to share a few tips for printing your digital pages. Here are some photos from Crystal of the 8X8 pages that she prints at home.

 
 

 

In "real life" the colors are beautiful & print out exactly how Crystal wants them to appear.  Printing them this size is a great at home option.  When Crystal has completed a lot of layouts, then she sends them in to Persnickety Prints to be printed at a 12x12 size.  If she is creating a a theme album she usually opts to create a photo book.  The paper Crystal prints her 8x8 layouts on is Kodak's "Gloss Photo Paper" which you can get at WalMart & it costs apx. $13 for 100 sheets.  The gloss is very light & it prints colors out beautifully!  Read more about Crystal's at home printer & where she prints her 12X12 pages here.

Our own Autumn Baldwin has a few suggestions for printing your digital pages:

"I've printed digital pages at mypictales.com. Prices are extremely reasonable (.50 for 8.5x11 and $1 for 12x12) and I've been happy with the quality. You do have to pay shipping, but if you are doing quite a few pages at once it's much cheaper than printing at Costco or something like that.

When considering the fact that you have to print out your digital pages you should make sure to leave extra room around your page edges, called bleed. You usually have about 1/8 inch on each side that will get cut off during printing. So if you want a 12x12 page, you should upload a 12.25 x 12.25 file and be aware that the outer edges will get cut off. The easiest way I've found to deal with this is just to start with a larger canvas when you start creating your page (12.25 x 12.25 or 8.75 x 11.25) and not place anything important in the 1/8 inch closest to the edge all the way around. But this way you make sure your background papers go all the way to the edge because the cutting isn't always completely precise. If you didn't start your page with a larger canvas, mypictales does have an action to help you adjust for bleed."

Thanks so much for all your suggestions ladies! Hope this information helps those of you who've had questions about printing your digital projects.

:)

 

Beginner Digi Week {day 4}

Before making the move to digital, I found myself worrying a tiny bit that I might be limited in what kinds of things I could create using only my computer. Besides creating scrapbook pages, I really enjoyed making mini albums, cards & various other projects with my beloved paper. Well, silly me! Turns out there is no limit to the things you can create with a few cute digi products & a computer at your disposal. (A printer is always handy too. It can be one you have at home or even your favorite lab.)  

You can make scrapbook pages, of course.

 

all digital elements by Crystal Wilkerson | odestemplik font | scallop edge frame from cottagearts

 

You can make pretty photo cards. 

thank you cards with room for a personal note written on the front | all digital papers, staples & label by Crystal Wilkerson | scallop edge frame from cottagearts | beautiful ES font

 

You can do up all the fixings for a birthday party.

 
  
Elizabeth Dillow put together these 10th birthday party supplies using Crystal's Vintage Cupcake collection | card, frame (from the $1 bin at Michael's), handmade envelope (made by layering free envelope template found online and Crystal's digital paper, then cut/folded/glued by hand) top ten cards for a tenth birthday party (for guests to fill out at the birthday dinner)

 

or a set of simple cupcake toppers.

 
using Crystal's Me & My Brother collection I created these cupcake toppers for my sons 6th birthday | simply digitally create one then copy & paste to fill a whole sheet of paper.  cut them out, attach to wooden skewers & pop them in the cupcakes. so quick & easy

 

You can make personalized gifts or cards.

 

these adorable coupon books created by Monika Wright made the perfect Valentin's gifts | all created using Crystal's Vintage cupcake collection

   

I just love these personalized valentine's that Monika put together as well! You can find all the adorable details about these two projects on Monika's blog. 

 

You can even create your own photo backdrops.

 
Using some of Crystal's pretty paper I created this cute photo backdrop on the right. You can find the tutorial on how to do this in photoshop here on my blog.

 

Take a look at these custom planner pages that Crystal made using her digital skills (which are available to download for FREE btw!) So adorable!!

  

 
 
The amount of things you can do with a handful of digital supplies is limitless really! What kind of non-scrapbook items have you created with your digi stash?

We'd sure love to see what kind of digital projects you've been working on lately. Did you create a page using one of Crystal's templates? Click on over to the flikr gallery & upload a page or two. I'd love to feature a few of your submissions in my final post tomorow!

  

and the giveaway goes to . . .

So many lovers of Crystal. We love how tortured you were picking a favorite!! (One more thing we have in common!!) Thank you, Crystal, for your generosity in sponsoring our giveaway this week!

And thank you for stopping by each day. We really do appreciate you! Our lucky number this week is that last comment of the night. How fun is that? Congratulations to 

Minimimi, please email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com to claim your number!! 

Rebecca is back shortly with more digital loveliness. See you back in a minute!

give.away.day. featuring CREATIVITY BY CRYSTAL

This week, Rebecca is arming you with all the knowledge you will need to build your first digital page. But what fun would all that know-how be without some awesome digital product to get you started?? So for our

we are thrilled that one of you is going to receive a $50 gift certificate to go shopping down the virtual aisles of Creativity by Crystal. You could choose some of this:

or perhaps this is more your style:

The designer behind Echo Park's Sweet Summertime and Little Boy lines, Crystal Wilkerson is a favorite here at Write. Click. Scrapbook. Her lines have depth and consistency. Her color palates are spot on, whether she is capturing a vintage line, or a playful whimsical one. Her clean graphic style is easy to use and she has a knack for creating accompanying elements that really help your page to shine.

Creativity by Crystal is available through www.jessicasprague.com and now Crystal will be selling her new collections here in her own shop (available for purchase directly from her blog). If you sign up for her newsletter, she will keep you abreast of all her latest and greatest (and get you the skinny on her freebies!!). Be sure to click on the follower button on her blog as well--anything to help you know when her new products are coming.

If you would like to be considered for today's giveaway, please tell us which line of Crystal's sings to your soul. Are you Spooky? Fresh and Funky? Sweet? (Then, if you would like, we would also love to know why you love it. We love reading your responses each week, recognizing your names, and getting to know you more.) And from one girlfriend to another, we know it's hard to pick a favorite. They are all just that good. We understand!!

And Crystal didn't want any of you to feel left out, so she is offering all of you, our sweet readers, a 50% off coupon (coupon code: wcs50off) for the digital kits that are for sale on her blog (not those at Jessica Sprague) during the rest of the month of February. Yes, this means the Vintage Cupcake line, and before the month is over, there just might be a new "girl" kit & lots of new templates! Thank you, Crystal!!

Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. One lucky number will be drawn and posted at random tomorrow. Please remember it is your responsibility to check back and claim your lucky number before the clock strikes twelve on Saturday night!

Beginner Digi Week {day 3}

Today we're going to chat a little bit about assembling your basic digital tool kit. Those essential items that you're going to need when considering making the move to digital. I asked Crystal what sorts of things she considered to be her must-haves and these are the things that are on her list:

 

 Crystal's Digital Tool-kit:

 

1. A photo editing program - I recommend Photoshop Elements 7 or higher or Photoshop CS3 or higher  (upgrading from a really old version is a MUST if you want to be able to keep up with tutorials).  Photoshop Elements is so much more affordable now that I really don't recommend anything else.  You can use other programs with digi supplies, but you can't use digital templates with them which is HUGE in my mind.

 

 2. An up-to-date computer - I've used both a PC & a Mac.  I love my Mac!!  But PC's are great too as long as you have enough memory & speed. If you're looking to buy a new computer, make sure to let the salesman know you want a computer that works really well with Photoshop programs & TONS of pictures.  That will help a lot! (Rebecca here: I use a PC and while I certainly feel the pressure from my Mac loving friends to make the switcheroo I use a PC and like it fine. Someday I may make the switch but for now my PC does the job perfectly where my photo editing & digital scrapbooking go.)

 

3. A good quality printer (be it an at-home printer or online lab) - I love my Kodak ESP3250.  I saw it at WalMart this week for only $60 & it comes with the Color & B&W ink, which are $30, so it's like getting the printer for $30.  I use it to print 8x8 pages, which I LOVE.  The color looks great & the ink lasts a lot longer than other printers & is a lot cheaper!  Here's a really cool deal I found.  If you bring in your old printer to Best Buy to be recycled, you can save money on buying a Kodak printer: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Computers-Promotions/Kodak+Swap+for+Savings/pcmcat228100050019.c?id=pcmcat228100050019&DCMP=rdr3503

For 12x12 pages I highly recommend Persnickety Prints.  They cater to digital scrapbookers, have excellent service & products, & amazing prices!

You can also have your digital pages printed as photo books and for those, I recommend Shutterfly.  I've loved the books I've made through them & I think they're very affordable.  If people sign up for their emails, they'll often get amazing deals like 40-50% off their photobooks & sometimes they'll even give you a free 8x8 photobook.

 

4. Your favorite digital supplies - there are so many places on the internet to download digital papers & elements. You can find all of my kits at jessicasprague.com & you can purchase my most recent digital kits on my blog HERE. You can also find some fun freebies here, here, here and here.

- Crystal

 

Once you have your digital tool kit ready to go the next place to start when learning to create your first digital projects is with a template & lucky us, Crystal has put together an in-depth video tutorial on how to use her templates along with some other VERY helpful tips.

So, grab those free templates we told you about, click on over to Crystal's Blog to watch the tutorial, and have fun creating your page! If you have any questions, let us know. When you're done your page we'd sure love to see it. Upload it to the WCS flikr gallery HERE so we can all ooooh and ahhh over your new found digi skills!! :)

page by Marnie Flores | all digital elements & page template by Crystal Wilkerson

 

page by Rebecca Cooper | all digital elements & page template by Crystal Wilkerson
 

page by Celeste Smith | all digital elements & page template by Crystal Wilkerson

 
 

page by Marnie Flores | all digital elements & page template by Crystal Wilkerson

 
 
page by Cheryl Overton | all digital elements & page template by Crystal Wilkerson 

 

I can't wait to see what everyone creates with the templates! Have a great day everyone & we'll see you back here tommorow for give.away.day!!!

 

Beginner Digi Week {day 2}

As I've been learning more about digital scrapbooking, one thing that I've found really helpful is making sure to keep things relatively simple where the design process goes.  Scraplifting some of my old paper layouts has been the perfect way to help eliminate some of the design 'work' and given me more time to focus on learning my computer program & some of the techniques required to create digital pages.

I made this page several years ago for my book Real. Life. Scrapbooking.  

Being able to just copy this design with a different photo, quote and papers made this digital version come together quickly & allowed me time to play around with different colors as I customized that little scallop edge border for this new page.{see below}

 

QUICK TIP: there are many ways to customize colors of digital elements to suit your specific design but the way I changed the color of the scallop border below was by clicking on the border layer itself  -> going to SELECT -> LOAD SELECTION -> RIGHT CLICK on the highlighted selection -> FILL -> CHOSE MY COLOR with the eye dropper tool. I use Photoshop CS4 for all of my digital projects, anyone who uses photoshop elements, is this process similar?

 

*more info about LAYERS coming soon.

 
 supplies: garamond font | freehand521 BT font | Crystal's Hawaiian Luau papers | Crystal's bunch of borders

Here's another paper layout that I used as a basis for an all new digital version:

 

I love the versatility of this design as I was able to convert the 8.5X11 page to a 12X12, include a lot of different photos and this layout gave me a chance to play around with drop shadows...something I'm still trying to master. {more to come about drop shadows from Crystal tomorrow!}  
 
supplies: CK chemistry font | Crystal's neutral papers

 

I really liked how many photos I was able to include on this 2 page layout:

 
 
I took the above design & I created this 12X12 digital version which gave me a lot of much needed practice resizing my photos. 

 

QUICK TIP: When resizing my photos I always like to have my grid lines visible, this really helps with getting things lined up just so.  Go to VIEW -> SHOW -> GRID. In photoshop elements simply go to VIEW -> GRID. To resize click on the layer of the photo you'll be resizing, hit ctrl-T which will then select your photo. By holding down the SHIFT key while dragging the edges or corners of your photo you can adjust the size without distorting your photo. 
 
 
 supplies: gatling font | odestemplik font | Crystal's September 2009 papers | Crystal's bunches of borders

 

Using this beautiful page created by alexandra s.m. as inspiration...

 

Marnie Flores created this lovely page using some of Crystal's super cute papers. 

 
 
 So, is anyone feeling up for a challenge this week?

 

How about scraplifting a layout? Use an older paper layout or any other other page that inspires you and create a digital version. Maybe play around with a new digital technique while your at it and then upload your page to the Flickr gallery! I'd love to see what you create. :)

Don't forget to head over HERE to download Crystal's free templates. That way you can follow along as we explore all the possibilities available when creating with templates tomorrow & learn some fabulous new tricks in the process! 

We'll see you back here tomorrow!

 

Beginner Digi Week {day 1}

 
Hello everyone, Rebecca Cooper here! I am so excited that it's my turn to be hosting here at Write. Click. Scrapbook. & I can't wait to dive straight into what we'll be talking about all week long & that is...

 

Digital Scrapbooking.

Are you surprised!? Ya, I know. Me too! I've been a die hard paper scrapbooker since I first started in this hobby 9 years ago & while I dabbled in the digital stuff a bit here & there I found myself overwhelmed with all there was to know & frankly, a bit scared of it, so I steered clear.

It was our family's recent move to a tiny island in the Caribbean & the fact that there wasn't enough room in our suitcases to bring my little (okay, not little) collection of paper scrapbooking supplies that finally nudged me into the digital scrapbooking arena & I've been hooked ever since!

With still so much to learn about this new way of scrapbooking I thought it might be fun for those of you who've also toyed with the idea of trying it out, to join me this week as we take a beginner's eye view of digital scrapbooking & learn the ropes together!

I'm especially excited to welcome my co-host & one of my favorite digital designers, Crystal Wilkerson, who is going to be our guide throughout week. She'll be sharing a few tricks of the trade with us, along with some fabulous tips & free goodies so stay tuned! It's going to be a fun week! If you want to play along you can go HERE to download one of Crystal's awesome page templates to try out for FREE!

I just love using her templates! They're cute, fun to use & really help to simplify the digital designing process, especially if you're a beginner like me. I used this one to create the page below & I loved it! So simple to put together but oh so cute!

Here is some lovely digital inspiration from a few of the talented Write. Click. Scrapbook. ladies and be ready, cause by the end of this week you'll be well on your way to creating some of your own gorgeous digi pages too! If you're already a digital scrapbooker but are interested in adding to your bag of tricks then there'll be plenty of inspiration for you this week too!

page designed by Aly Dosdall | all paper & digital elements from Crystal Wilkerson

page designed by Celeste Smith | template by Crystal Wilkerson | supplies from Cosmo Cricket

 

page designed by Marnie Flores | all digital paper & elements by Crystal Wilkerson

page designed by Marnie Flores | all digital paper & elements by Crystal Wilkerson

We'll see you back here first thing tomorrow!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 
 

Valentine Week (Day Five)

Happy Saturday, everyone! The kids are home, it's freezing cold outside, and everyone is looking for something to do. Sounds like a good day to make some Valentine treats! 

1) Gather these simple ingredients: 

(Snyder's salted waffle-shaped pretzels, Hershey Kisses, Valentine sprinkles, Valentine M&Ms)

 2) Preheat oven to 170F. Lay 15 pretzels on ungreased cookie sheet in single layer and top each pretzel with one unwrapped Hershey Kiss. 

3) Bake for 5-6 minutes.

4) Remove from oven and quickly cover each Hershey Kiss with sprinkles. Then press one M&M into the center of each Hershey Kiss.

5) Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool. Repeat!

Here they are in all their sweet and salty glory:

(And here's the original recipe that I adapted.)

Want to package them up for someone special?

(I bought the tin at Michael's and used a 3.5" scallop punch to cut the tag, but any circle cutter will do!)

Here's the printable:

Download Sweet_treats

 

Yum, I dare you to eat just one! :)

Well, that's it for me! I've had so much fun hanging out with you this week. Thanks for visiting!

Happy Valentine's Day!