Write. Click. Scrapbook.

give.away.day. featuring SCRAPBOOK & CARDS TODAY

 

Our awesome giveaway for this week's

is a one year subscription to Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine!

Scrapbook and Cards Today is an inspiration filled  magazine, available quarterly in local scrapbook stores in the US and Canada, as well as for download in its entirety on their website--free! Here is a preview of their new fall...er...autumn issue, premiering tomorrow:

If you would like to be considered for this fantastic one year subscription to Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine, please leave us a comment tellig us one autumn memory/event you are determined to document this year! Comments will remain open through this evening. One lucky number will be chosen at random and posted Friday morning. Please remember it is your responsiblity to claim your lucky number via email by midnight Saturday!

Autumn is Awesome - Cards Day

Oh, Cards. I love them-- really, I do. However, it's not often that I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, "I have an amazing idea for a card! I must sketch it now!" (Yes, I do that with layout ideas all the time.) When it comes to cards I am inspired by those amazing card designers out there who just know how to put a clever and cute design on a tiny square (or rectangle) of cardstock.

One such designer happens to live a block away from me, and I dropped by her place yesterday where she shared with me a set of recently completly mini-cards. Sarah Pendergrast used QuickCutz shapes,  corrugated cardboard embellishments, and red and white baker's twine to unite the design of these 7 autumn mini-cards:

A closer look perhaps?  

 

Can't you imagine these in the lunch box of a little one staying all day at school for the first time?

 

and just to show you how teeny they are...

 

A certain three year old did her best hand modeling for you:

Yep, the bushel of apples is my favourite! Beautiful job, Sarah!

 

Get Your Grid On

I am a sucker for a grid on layouts, and after seeing these next two cards, I'm going to use it as my go-to design the next time I make a card!

Erica Hettwer's grid of autumn colours, with faux-stitching and a fabric flower is Autumn Country Chic:

 

I'm also loving this grid of apples Danni Reid used on her card, with a burlap background! Such texture!

 

Now for something completely different, Jessy Christopher bring us autumn whimsy:

 

And, finally, Erica created this simple card with an autumn pun that made me giggle:

Thank you for these gorgeous cards, girls! They would be a cozy, autumn treat for anybody! (Who needs a pumpkin spice latte when you have a beautiful autumn card?)

Don't forget tomorrow is give.away.day! We have something special! Have a lovely autumnal day!

Autumn is Awesome - Layout Day

 

 

I hope you all got out yesterday and took some Awesome Autumn photos! I know I did!

(I really did! See?)

Ah, those eclectic autumn ensembles!

 

So, I promised to show some of the layouts that came from yesterday's photos. You see, I really do scrap my favourite photos. I used to get intimidated-- wanting to "do them justice"-- but then I realized that I if I left the story in my head and the photo on my hard drive, then the girls would never know the words behind the photos!

 

Focus in on those autumn icons

Remember the close-up of the acorn? I did a selective b+w technique to really put the emphasis on that perfect acorn. Next to it I wrote out the story of acorns raining down from the sky and pelting everyone down below. It really was an Acorn Attack!

 

Print 'em out in 4X6

I often love to bring photos home from the developer and work with them as is. This was a simple layout that came from those photos from the farm:

 

and later this single page design from the Winter 2011 issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today:

 

Blow up a photo as the background for the story page

Remember my poor, sad, pumpkin from yesterday? A full page blow up became, "A Tale of Five Pumpkins and a Gourd" -- a good story for a cold, dark night:

I created a translucent text box over it in PSE for my text. I used white, then reduced the opacity)

 

Don't let your phone photography lay idle

I print almost as many phones from my iphone as I do from my camera-- and that photo from yesterday became part of "Autumn by iphone":

 

and finally, those cute photos of Lily went into a Donna Januzzi sketch over at Ella Publishing:

 

as well as the cover of the Fall 2010 issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today:

So you see, I really do scrap all those awesome autumn photos-- and so, apparently do you! I have some wonderful examples from other scrappers.

 

First off, one of my personal scrap idols, WCS member Celeste Smith.

 

  and fellow Canadian scrapper, Cassandra DaGrace:

 

 

Well, yesterday and today was a whole lotta me... but tomorrow and Friday will be a whole lotta other people because cards and altered items are a little further outside of my comfort zone. You won't believe some of the Awesome Autumn creations I have to share!

See you then!

Wait...I promised to share my layout about my preference for the word "autumn" over "fall". Here's the layout:

and here's the story:

I love autumn. The season of wool ponchos and suede boots. The season we were wed, and the season we had our first born. The word "autumn" is romantic and regal. The word "fall" is boring and depressing, so please...don't call it fall, call it autumn!

Autumn is Awesome - Photo Day

Welcome to my very first hostessing week on Write. Click. Scrapbook! I am thrilled (and rather nervous) to be with you all week! I chose "Awesome Autumn" as my theme, and I will be covering photos, layouts, cards, and altered projects throughout the week. So many dreamy autumn projects to share with you in the coming days, which leads me to...

A few things you should know about me:

1) Autumn is my favourite season.

2) My love of autumn inspiried me to choose the end of September for my wedding in 2006, and to engineer the conception of my first child to give birth at the beginning of October.

3) It's not "Fall", it's "Autumn". Got it? (Tomorrow you will see a whole layout dedicated to THAT topic!)

 

As I said, throughout the week I will be sharing Awesome Autumn ideas in a few scrapalicious categories. Note, though, that I'm choosing to focus on autumn as a season, rather than the holidays that fall within it. We've got lots of time in October and November for that!

 

Today we are looking at Autumn Photos

Autumn is my very favourite time of year to shoot. The light is amazing, the colours are vibrant, and the clothes are cozy and textured. I can't get enough of fall photography!

Now, I'm not necessarily the best one to explain the techniques of photography-- I'm learning every day! I did find a quick tutorial on autumn photography that you can read in two minutes flat right here, on the Digital Photography School website. Great tips there that I look forward to trying myself!

There are a few things that I like to try and photograph this time of year. Start by getting your kids (or friends) outside and into a park with lots of fall foliage. For the photoshoot below, I was at a local farm when I saw the most amazing light coming through the trees. I immediately promised my kids chocolate chips when they got home if they would pose for me. (Bribery works. Use it when needed.)

My very first click?

Come on! Okay, the kids are a little blurry, but boy that tree is just lit up with autumn sunshine!

 

Like any shoot, play with angles and perspective. For the one below, I placed Audrey with the sun behind her and focused on her face.

 

Next I took some from above, making the leaves the star of the show:

 

...and then some down on my knees at Lily's level to get the world from her perspective:

 

I love autumn detail shots! Our house gets pelted with acorns for weeks every autumn. There are times when people run down the street with newspapers over their heads to protect themselves.  Up close, though, they don't look quite so menacaing:

 

Oh, those autumn crafts. So beautiful, so plenteous-- in fact, way too plenteous to keep them all. So, photograph them instead! Audrey was very attached to her turkey in autumn 2008. In fact, he sat on the Thanksgiving dinner table that year:

 

Oh, and my poor pumpkin. I thought it was so romantic to have pumpkins sitting on the stoop. Apparently some little critter thought it would be a romantic home:

 

Don't forget autumn attire. Like I said, I love the autumn wardrobe-- Corduroy! Tweed! Suede!

The photo below was taken with my iphone-- I use my phone to capture the season all the time:

 

Or how about a favourite autumn outfit captured from the front:

AND the back?

These photos are some of my favourites, and you will see layouts to go with pretty much all of them tomorrow.

 

Before I go, I want to share some photos from collective member, Lisa Ottosson. She has a standing date each year with her daughter for an outdoor autumn photo shoot. I LOVE that! I am totally going to do that with my girls as they grow:

Aren't those lovely? See the rest of Lisa's photoshoot with her daughter here!

See you for some Autumn layout love tomorrow!

Sunday Photo + Words

click.

 

We hope that you enjoyed the journaling prompts last week. This week, we are focusing on photography. Once again, please know that we would love to have you play along and load your photos or layouts to the Flickr gallery! If you want to guide us to your layout, leave us a comment telling us where to find it! Thank you!!

This month we are excited to challenge you to have a little change in perspective. September is such a wonderful background for changes--seasons, schedules, activities--even if you are no longer in school or do not have school-aged children, somehow September remains a time of renewal.

For our perspective challenges this month, here are three things we hope you might try:

1. take a photograph from above looking down,
2. take a photograph from below looking up, and,
3. hand the camera to someone else and have them snap some photos from their perspective. (This is especially delightful if you are a bit of a camera hog!!)

I try to not issue a challenge that I am not willing to do myself, so here are my three layouts showcasing my three photograph challenges.

 

From Above Looking Down

I took hundreds of these sorts of photos when my babies were tiny, but I must admit it has been awhile. I was a caught off guard by the flood of emotion I felt looking down at my middle's no-longer-so-tiny face.

 

From Below Looking Up

I live in the land of grey. Day after day the skies are filled with grey skies. Dark grey, light grey, blue grey, grey grey. But so. much. grey. When the blue sky shone, finally, it took only a moment to grab my camera and hold it upwards to capture the magic of a late summer blue sky.

 

 

Someone Else's Perspective

Back in the film-age (oh, now I feel old!) it was so hard to hand over the camera knowing how expensive it would be for a toddler to burn through a roll of film. But nowadays, it is just a matter of hard drive space and now I love handing off my camera. (As long as it is not pointed toward me! teehee!!) I find it interesting to see what my kids see.

Thank you so very much for stopping! Here's hoping that you enjoy your change in perspective!! Can't wait to see your photos!

Digi Scrap 102 - Day Four - Random Tips

Last day and so much more that I'd love to cover! So I figure I'd share nine completely random tips and tricks for Photoshop. What a bargain!

 

1. Eyedropper Tool

 Both digital scrapbookers and paper scrappers can use this tip. Select the Eyedropper Tool from the Tools palette. Click on any color in a photo or a digital element or paper. Papr scrappers you can call up an image of a sheet of paper or an element - just use the picture from an online store! Now you have a perfect match. I find this a great way to color text for journaling or title work. See how nicely the title matches the papers!

2. Creating a Sticker-like Alphabet

On this page, you can see I used a font to create the title then added a white outline to it to make it look like a sticker.  It's a super easy process and combined with the eye dropper tool above, it can perfectly match your papers and elements! Here I used the eye dropper tool to get the perfect green and I stroked the title text twice.

 

3. Rounded Corners

Paper scrappers use a corner rounder to create rounded corners.  Digital scrapbookers have to use other tools. I use Jessica Sprague’s Rounded Corner Brush. I know other folks like to use the shape tool. Check out the Daily Digi for a few tutorials on how to create this look on your pages. Here’s a page that I did using Jessica’s corner rounder brush.

4. Brushes

Why reinvent the wheel? I wrote an article this summer for Ella Publishing all about brushes. Head on over and check it out. There are even some free brushes to download! Here's a hybrid page I did using a brush that looks like a paint splatter. Brushes also look awesome on photos.

 

5. Align Bottom Edges

This is really simple, but I'm always amazed that seasoned scrappers don't know about this. Select the Move tool from the Toolbar (or press v on your keyboard.) In the layers palette, select the layers you would like to line up.

In Photoshop Elements, on the top toolbar, you'll see a drop down called align. You can align the bottom or top edges of the elements easily!

In Photoshop, you'll see icons along the top tool bar.

Easy peasy - but really saves time!

 

6. Another Way to Align Elements

You can turn on the grid function by selecting View > Show > Grid in Photoshop CS and View > Grid in Elements. Your screen will look like this…

Now you can use your move tool to align the layers up against the grid lines. Very helpful when you are trying to find the center of the page too!

 

7. Copying Layer Styles

So we talked about Layer Styles and shadows the other day. You can easily copy a layer style to another layer. Simply right click on the Layer and select Copy Layer Style. Select another layer (you can even select multiple layers) and right click and select Paste Layer Style.

 

8. Another Title Trick

After you have your text title the size you want. You can easily clip paper to the title to give your title a more textured or even patterned look. Highlight the layer in the Layers palette, drag a piece of paper onto your page so it covers the alpha. Then select the paper layer and right click and select Create Clipping Mask. Highlight both layers and merge layers. I clipped an orange solid paper that had some texture to the title on this page.

 

9. Keyboard Shortcuts

Nothing saves more time than learning a few keyboard shortcuts. Visit Adobe’s site for Elements or CS to learn more. A couple of my favorite shortcuts…

• v – by typing this letter, you’ll select the move tool.
• Select a layer in the Layers palette. CTRL [ will move a layer down and CTRL ] will move a layer up. If you hit CTRL Shift [, you’ll move the layer to the bottom and CTRL Shift ] will move the layer to the very top.
• To zoom in press CTRL + (plus) or to zoom out press CTRL - (minus)
• CTRL D will deselect an item and get rid of the marching ants!

 

Now the drawing for Julie Billingsley's kit - the winner is number 10....

 
Jen email me at celestefsmith AT gmail DOT com and I'll send you a code to pick up Julie Billingsley's fabulous kit! Thanks again to sweet Julie for donating the kit.

I have had such a fun week with all of you! I hate to see it end. I hope that you picked up a new technique or tip to try. Until next time!

and the giveaways go to . . .

Thank you, Celeste, for an amazing week! Thank you, Gennifer, for a terrific giveaway. We hope that you have had a great week with us.

Our two lucky numbers are

Please email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com before Sunday to claim you lucky numbers!

Celeste will be up shortly with her last lesson in the Digi 102 week of learning. And tomorrow we are back with another new Saturday challenge post. Have a great weekend and thanks for being a part of Write. Click. Scrapbook.!

give.away.day featuring Gennifer Bursett

 
It's a digital scrapbooking week here at Write. Click. Scrapbook., of course we just have to feature a fabulous giveaway of digital goodies. Gennifer Bursett is new to digital designing, but she isn't new to the industry. She is the driving force behind a wonderful store/site called Design House Digital and she is a fabulous scrapbooker too!

Gennifer Bursett has always loved art, and began scrapbooking in high school. After doing traditional scrapbooking for over ten years, in 2009 she sat down with an old version of Photoshop Elements and started experimenting. She was hooked right away! A couple of upgrades and hundreds of layouts later, she decided to bring her talents to the designing table.

With no formal graphic design background, her unique style is based on the scrapper's perspective. Her tendencies toward bright color schemes and bold, graphic patterns provide for fun and funky kits.

You can see her bright, bold, graphic style in this recent birthday kit she designed. A fabulous palette of playful colors!

 

Recently, Design House Digital has been hosting a series on its blog called School of Design. Every single day in September, there will be new blog posts; informative, detailed, and FREE classes that will take your digital scrapbooking to the next level. Each subject will have a new post weekly, and at the end of the month you won’t believe how much you’ve learned!

 
Definitely stop by and check out all of the great tutorials on photography, digital design, shadows, journaling and so much more!

 

Now for a freebie! Gennifer has designed this amazing action for all of you to download. So timely since Celeste was talking about actions in yesterday's post. This photo action simulates an Instamatic feel and also includes four different frames to finish your photo perfectly! Act now this set will only be free through next Wednesday!

 

And now the giveaway! Gennifer is giving away a TWENTY FIVE DOLLAR gift certificate to her store for each of TWO lucky readers! If you would like to be considered for today's giveaway, please leave a comment below. Comments will remain open through Thursday evening. One lucky number will be drawn at random and posted on Friday. Please remember it is your responsibility to check back and to claim your lucky number by midnight on Saturday! Good luck everyone!

 

Digi Scrap 102: Day Three - Actions

Hey there! I'm back and today we are going to take action! Well, okay we are really only going to talk a bit about Photoshop Actions. Photoshop Actions are basically just a recorded set of steps that you can run when you want to perform a task. (Don't you wish there was a action that would do the laundry?) Most scrappers use Photoshop Actions on their photos to convert to black and white or add a cool effect. There are other actions as well though. For instance, there are actions that resize and sharpen pages to put on the web. Text actions can change text into cool looking epoxies or chipboard. There are even actions that will literally scrap a page for you step by step!

Do you have a task that you perform repetitively in Photoshop CS? You can record custom actions. For instance, I recorded an Unsharp Mask action that uses Scott Kelby's recommended settings (Amount: 85% Radius: 1 Threshold: 4) and I use it on almost every photo I edit, quite a time saver. Unfortunately, Photoshop Elements does not have the custom actions feature.

However, you can run actions in either Photoshop CS or Elements. You just have to be sure that the action you are downloading is compatible with the program you have. I'm going to share a few of my favorite free actions here with you. Give them a whirl!

 

Actions for Photography

Pioneer Woman Actions (PS & PSE) - we've mentioned these actions time and time again here because they are truly amazing!

TIP: When the action is finished running, you can select the layer the action is on and use the drop down next to the word Opacity to lessen the effect. I find I run the Pioneer Woman's Boost at about 60% when I use it. The same with Seventies - one of my favorite actions in her sets!

 

Coffee Shop (PS & PSE) - Rita at the Coffee Shop offers a wide array of actions in both PSE and PS formats. I simply adore her Butterscotch Vintage action. It's just stunning! Be sure to check out her black and whites too!

Texas Chicks (PSE) - this site offers a few great Photoshop tools in action form. I use the Defog action and the Noise Reduced all the time. Worth signing up for the newsletter to get access!

Instagram (PS) -  I live in the dark ages and don't have an iPhone or even a smart phone. I have this really old flip phone with no keyboard or anything. So I can't take photos with my phone and use the app Instagram. Well now I can simulate that! This set of actions will take your photo and create similar effects to Instagram! Fun!

Rob Carr's Black & White Action (PS) - This was hard to find. I downloaded this action years ago and it is my favorite black and white conversion method. It really creates crisp, stunning black and white conversions. The action stops you in places and let's you tweak the conversion. Really cool!


Digital Scrapbooking Tools

Resize & Sharpen for Web - when posting layouts or photographs online it's important to sharpen them correctly. As well, using this action will easily resize your image to the size you wish.

Polaroid Frames - Polaroid frames are so retro and add interest too. This action set easily converts your image to have a Polaroid frame!

Installing Actions

Now you are probably wondering, I've downloaded all these actions now what do I do? You'll need to install them. I could go on and on for pages and pages here, but it's probably better to send you over to Wendy Zines' tutorial to get you started! Once you have the action loaded. You can open the Actions palette and click on it to run it.

I'll be back on Friday with some random tips and tricks. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for an awesome giveaway!