Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Hipstamatic Photos - lay-outs

Hello Dear Friends! This is alexandra again and today we're going to take a look at the Hipstamatic pictures on lay-outs.

These pictures are a lot easier to use than one might think. Depending on the effect chosen, they can convey a dream-like state, a sense of innocence or create a bold contrast and really catching the attention...

 

 

This page is about the joy of winter. The saturated blues accentuate the idea of cold weather and make a nice contrast with the whimsical banner.

On this page, what would have been common pictures had they been taken with a regular camera actually appear to be magical with that white glare in the middle.

I often feel that Hipstamatic shots are a truer translation of how we remember a moment. For instance, that moment in Paris when we sat at the Jardin du Palais Royal to enjoy an esquisite pastry from Ladurée actually looks like that in my memory!

For the project "2011 in 52 pages" that my co-host Pascale and Virginie are helping me conduct at Scrap Rendez-Vous, I have often mixed Hipstamatic photos with regular pictures...

or even used a photo collage of Hipstamatic shots as the base for my page...

here is another page with a majority of hipstamatic shots...

On this page, I layered several shots on top of each other and attached them with a brad...

I hope this has given you some ideas on how to mix and match hipstamatic shots on your pages. In my next post, we'll see how one can make fun cards using Hipstamatic pictures and I'll also have a very fun new mini to share.

scrapbook.

Scrapbook! Saturdays are going to be so much fun. Sketches, and palettes, and printables, oh my!

 

SKETCH

First, we are thrilled to welcome the talents of Donna Jannuzzi as our sketch designer. You are probably very familiar with her book from Ella Publishing and we couldn't be more excited to have her inspiring us each month with a new sketch. Thank you Donna!

Our first sketch encourages 4x6 photos for ease of use, and has lots of white space for you to leave or fill, depending on yout preference.

You may download our first Saturday Sketch here.

Beginning with Donna's sketch, I created this layout.

I found this sketch very helpful to getting more than one photo on the page--something that is often hard for me.

 

COLOR

This month our second challenge is a color challenge. Seeing this beautiful autumnal photo, we were drawn to its soothing color palette.

::source::

If you study the photo, you will notice that the colors appear in their pint (grey/blue & brown), quart (dark forest green & chartreuse), and gallon (golden yellow) measures. Not only does this add to the harmony and balance of the photo, but also lends itself to a perfectly presented color scheme. I was also excited to see the colors separate from the photo to realize that the combination is as helpful for autumn photos as it is for non-seasonal layouts.

Here is the layout I put together with the colors.

Not a fall photo in sight!! But check out that beard. My sweet husband. Or shall I say, sweet mountain man?

 

PRINTABLE

Our final Scrapbook! Saturday feature is a little freebie for you, to say thanks! Beth Proudfoot, download designer extraordinaire, will create something for us each month. This month, she designed a subway art that also has some fun other uses. It prints out in 8x10 to easily fit in a frame as art.

 

But wait! Look at all the other things you can do with it as well. Treat toppers or wrappers ...

 

... cards or treat bags ...

 

... and even scrapbook layouts!

Here is the link to download.

And while it is very fun to use this as art, please consider using it to capture some favorite autumnal photos or memories!

 

Thank you for stopping by! We hope you accept the challenge to use the sketch, the colors, and the word art to help make your scrapbooking a little more fun this week. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

hint hint ... post to Flickr, post to Flickr ...

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!

I {heart} Punches

In the series of posts I've written so far this summer I've shared with you my love for two of my favorite products.  First, my favorite basic supply, patterned paper, and then my favorite embellishment, buttons.  This month I'm back to share with you my love for my favorite scrapbooking tool, the punch.  I am slightly partial to border punches (I confess to having a rather large collection), but I love regular punches too and today I thought I'd share my favorite ways to use punches.

 

Use punches to add a decorative touch to your projects

This is the most obvious example, simply use the tool as it was intended.  On this simple layout about my favorite summer love, iced coffee, I used a border punch to add detail to my layout and to add a little more color too:

On this card I did the same thing using one of my favorite butterfly punches:

I tend to keep my cards very simple.  I find that punches are an easy way to add an embellishment or pop of color to a card.  And when it comes to me and cards, easy is best.

 

Use punches to create custom embellishments

There are countless ways that you can use your punches to create custom embellishments.  These are just a small sampling of my favorites. 

The first example comes from our own Monika Wright:

On her blog she shares a tutorial on how to make these layered paper flowers.  She made hers from old book pages, but of course you could make them from any paper of your choosing.

Next is an example that has been shared here at WCS before, but I think it is so adorable and creative that it deserves a second look.  Brenda Johnston used a combination of punches to paper piece together this cute little owl:

Here are the punches she used:

In another example from Monika, she used punches to create a custom embellished tag for this layout:

 

Use punches to embellish gifts

You can use your punches for more than just scrapbooking.  I used a border punch, patterned paper and some thick twine to wrap this small gift box:

In the following examples, Monika used punches to embellish a variety of packages and envelopes:

So many great ideas - thank you for sharing them, Monika!

 

Use punches to create a custom background

On this following example, Karen Grunberg used the Heart Confetti Punch from Martha Stewart Crafts to make this amazing sun shape for a layout's background:

Isn't it incredible?  I love the colors in this layout too, this is certainly a very happy page.

One of my favorite scrapbookers, Davinie Fiero, made a custom background by punching out various shapes in the same color as her background cardstock in this layout to create a tone-on-tone effect:

I love how the punched shapes mimic the look of the macaroni necklace.  Such a sweet layout!

Finally, an example using a Punch All Over the Page.  These punches let you punch anywhere on your page.  They are great for both punching into paper to create a negative space, and because they come in a great variety of shapes you can use them as you would use a traditional punch too.  I used a combination of a punch and a stamp to create a custom background for this layout:

    

 

Use punches with reckless abandon because you love punches

Does that sound familiar?  When you really love something you don't need a specific reason to use it.  I didn't realize how many I had used on this layout: 

I just kept pulling out punch after punch and before I knew it I had used several, 8 in total.  Notice all the patterned paper and buttons too?  This layout basically covers all of my favorites in one example!

Here is another beautiful layout from Karen:

She used a variety of border punches in different patterns and colors to create this layout (I think I counted 11 punches in total).  I love how it looks simple and then you look a little closer and notice all the details.  This is definitely an idea I plan on using in the future.

The projects and layouts I shared today cover just a few the ways that you can use both traditional and border punches.  How about you, do you love punches too?  Share your creative ideas, and link to any visuals, in the comments.  I'd love to hear your ideas and see what you've created!

Since this is my last post for the summer I'll say goodbye, for now.  Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for give.away.day!

I {heart} Buttons

Last month I shared with you my love of patterned paper.  It is without a doubt my favorite scrapbooking supply.  Now, if you asked me what my favorite embellishment was I would immediately, with no hesitation, tell you that it is buttons.  I love buttons.  Buttons are for the mommy of boys what flowers are to the mommy of girls.  Okay, actually that designation belongs to stars.  But buttons are an amazingly versatile embellishment and they are another item that I use on almost every layout.  For today's post I thought it would be fun to share some layouts, cards and crafts that use my all-time favorite embellishment.

Alright, so this post is not about patterned paper, but I will say just one more thing about it and that is, because I use so much of it I I tend to keep the embellishments on my layouts to a minimum.  For me, buttons are the perfect way to add an embellishment without going overboard:

On the occasions when I do happen to use flowers I always put a button in the center:

You can use buttons as the main feature of your page, like Emily Pitts did on this layout:

Isn't this layout amazing? I think it just screams fun (but screaming in a happy way!) Such a great way to make use of that button stash!

Lisa Kisch used buttons to create a border on this sweet layout:

 

You can use buttons to create a subtle border too, like on this layout by Cheryl Overton:

Or use them for a more substantial one, here is another example from Emily:

Notice how she mixed some brads in there too.  Buttons and brads are pretty much interchangeable and using a mix of both can be fun.

Of course, I love using buttons on cards too.  You can download this free pdf from How About Orange and make this simple but adorable button flower card:

Again, using a button as the center of flower I made this thank you card:

Looking ahead to the holidays, you can make this cute and easy tag using white buttons, ribbon and some twine:

I never seem to use my white buttons.  I think I've found a way to finally put them to use and I see myself making a lot of these this Christmas!

Thanks to the custom button tool from Epiphany Crafts you can even make your own buttons:

Aly Dosdall did just that and created this beautiful Mother's Day bouquet:

See her post at the blog of Scrapbooks & Cards Today for complete instructions.

If you have little girls in your household they might enjoy making this project from Monika Wright:

Another great way to use those buttons in your stash and make something cute and crafty in the process. 

 

So how about you, do you love buttons too?  Do you have any creative crafts to share using buttons?  Link to them in the comments, I'd love to see what you've created!

I’ll be back next month to share with you another product I love and the various ways it can be used. Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for give.away.day!

give.away.day. featuring MEGHAN MULLENS/WILD DANDELION DESIGNS

 

Do you love bright colors and fun florals? How about some amazing stripes and plaids? Yes? Then you are in for a real treat this week. For our we are so lucky to have a give away from Meghan Mullens of Wild Dandelion Designs. Meghan is one of the fabulous digital designers over at Sweet Shoppe Designs. Meghan's kits are jam-packed with fun and color. Just like this one:

Not only perfect for digital scrapbooking, these kits include numerous printable elements and word art that could add just the right touch to your cards and hybrid projects, too.

 

One of Meghan's most popular kits is "A Mom's Heart."

With a color palette that is feminine and yet perfectly matched to a mother/son page, Meghan has also included word art that will help spark your imagination and act as journaling prompts for your pages about motherhood.

 

Sweet Meghan is also unbelievably generous! Today she is giving away a treat for every single one of you! She put together a lovely add-on kit free for you!!! Just double click the image to begin the download.

This sweet mini-kit is just perfect for card making. Monika Wright made this sweet card using the word art in the kit. The multi-colored twine really packs a punch here!

And layouts. Like this lovely clean page also by our amazing Monika:

(Monika cleverly reduced the opacity on the background paper to lighten it up, and her use of the cloud as a place to put her date is brilliant!)

And Marnie used the kit to create two pages:

And now for the giveaway...   drumroll please...   this from Meghan...

Meghan is giving TWO, yes TWO, lucky readers a ten dollar gift card to her store! So head on over to her store and take a peek around, come back here and tell us what you want to buy.

Thank you for visiting today! Our comments will remain open until Friday morning and then two lucky numbers will be chosen at random and posted on Saturday morning. Please remember it is your responsibility to check back and to claim your lucky number before midnight Monday!

birthday cards and stuff.

Hi everyone. Moon here. Hope you're having a great Saturday. I am scrambling like a mad person to get some last minute birthday things together for my soon to be eight year old. Summer seems to be the time of year when babies like to be born in my family.

I wanted to share some quick cards I've made and maybe I can save you a trip to the drug store and the $4.00 you'll save from having to buy a card. :)

Babelfish card:

I love babelfish but FYI, the translation from Korean to English doesn't work so well.

:)

 

Candle(s) card:

I used one stamp and embossing powder to create this layout.

 

Indecent Proposal card:

I used die cuts and and punches to create this one...

 

Little Birdie card:

I used stamps and embossing powder to create this card. Pretty simple and so easy to do.

 

Let's Party invitations, bags and place cards:

 

And before I show you the last one, let me preface it with this video from one of my favorite shows, Modern Family:

 

I got the inspiration from this clip. Here's the front of the card which was printed directly on the white card.

and inside:

 

I get a lot of inspiration from TV and movies. Let's face it, the writers are funnier than I am in real life (and my imaginary one). Since we're talking about cards and we just celebrated Father's Day last weekend, let me end my post with this card I made for my husband last year:

Can anyone tell me which movie I got my inspiration from for this card?

Happy Saturday everyone!

Making a Long Title Short

Hey people!  I hope everyone is enjoying the summer format of our blog. 

I sure am. 

Partially because I only have one night of sweaty nightmares leading up to my turn, rather than a full week of them (sweaty nightmares are not my favourite) and partially because of all the diverse talent here that we've been enjoying (diverse talent is my favourite).

So here's my offering of the day. 

Something I'm going to call:  ONE KIT: Three Ways.

My initial title was (said with feeling):  OMG. Libby Pritchett you do the cutest stuff and you say you WILL make a mini kit for me to give away on my WCS blog host day?! You're the best. I'd like to be like you one day with all the digitizing and making stuff.

Sigh. 

But I thought maybe it wasn't to the point enough. 

And as I'm confused enough for the all of us, I thought I would simplify it. 

I put together a little tutorial for one of the projects including an image to download if you are so moved to do so. 

Oh right, first, here is:

PROJECT ONE: Not Your Nana's Decorative Plate

 

And here is where I tell you, I had planned to take photos of this project from start to finish to share with you.

And then I didn't.

So, please, close your eyes and imagine, if you will, a place that looks suspiciously like my garage complete with basketballs and razor scooters strewn about willy nilly and a large flattened cardboard box in the middle of the space that is covered with the spray paint remnants of days gone by.

Nestled in a box nearby, lives a family of well loved spray paint cans. 

Let us remove the can of Kilz (which sounds much more awful and violent than it is in reality - this is our primer) and a can of Rustoleum Ultra cover gloss white (normally, I'm opposed to shiny, among other things, but I find a gloss works better for painting plates).

Spray the plates that you've lovingly chosen from the thrift store, Aunt Olga's wedding china, or wherever you have found them. 

Spray them lightly and from a distance to avoid puddling and drippings (more things I am opposed to). You might need two coats of this to cover the ducks/roses/insert ugly decorative pattern here on your plates.

When that business is dry, give it a coat of the gloss paint.

And when that business is dry, bring them in and we'll get to the photo portion of our project.

As you can see, I'm not always silly, sometimes I am VERY businesslike.

The first thing I did was use this lovely little kit (download available at the end of this post, monsters however are not).

To create this:

Downlaod May Love Always Follow You

The download should print as approximately 7.5x7.5. I don't think there will be too many dinner plates with a diameter larger than this. Mine was about 7 inches across. I left a little extra room around the edge of the patterned paper to account for this.

Then I used my cricut to cut mine.

You don't need a cricut, but I figured I may as well use it as I am not too handy at following the lines (or colouring inside them for that matter).

So...

Measure across plate and make sure you give yourself about 1/4 inch inside of the rim of the plate (if you cut it too large the circle won't lay flat on what I'll call the "meat'n'potatoes" part of the plate, ie. not the edge).

This is part of the reason my next photo shows not a little birdie circle being cut out but a lime green practice piece.

Take the practice circle, we'll call her Bob, and make sure it fits flatly (is that a word? Or only when referring to the Lord of the Dance? WCS readers are pretty clever chickens, so you get the gist) against the meat'n'potatoes of the plate.

Next I went on to cutting the actual digital print. 

To make sure I had the circle cutting exactly where I wanted it (step one was developed after the circle cutting exactly where I didn't want it too many times to count).

What I did here was keep the sheet on the cutting mat and peel up the edge where the circle had been cut from and slide in the digital print, using the negative circle as a guide to where the machine would be cutting and stick down the photo paper and only then did I remove the green sheet.

And proceed with cutting.

Now a word from our sponsor.

Not really. 

Just an aside.

I just wanted to show you what I did with one of the matching plates (I ended up making 4 more for my niece's bedroom) which I kind of wish I had of done with the larger plate that I'm sharing the instructions for. 

But I didn't. 

And sometimes you just have to forge ahead.

One thing I really dig about digital is that you can add dimension by printing and cutting out elements. 

So, see the banner and heart that I printed? I thought it would be nice to have a bit of dimension on some of the plates, so I printed them apart from the main circle and handcut them. (And hated every minute of it. I swear!)

Here I used some of my baker's twine and my trusty Zig glue pen to attach to the top of the banner.

And here is the heart, upside down, slathered with pop dots (pssst...it's the pop dots that give it the dimension).

I glued the tiny buttons on to "hang" the banner from and secured the banner with a couple more pop dots.

If I were going to redo it, I probably would have used this technique to make the bird pop on the larger plate.

But I'm not.

So that's that.

What I did do to add dimension to the larger plate was use the Zig glue pen to adhere more of the baker's twine around the perimeter of the circle. I tied a bit through a red button and added that to the centre of the circle as well (you can see this in the first photo I shared.)

Now, on to:

PROJECT TWO: Layout

(I use capital letters and italics to both catch your attention and wow you. Maybe I should have tried a different font?)

As I mentioned, I am making these plates for my niece, as I have been both blessed and cursed with stinky little pink hating boys.

Well, not so little anymore, but plenty stinky still.

So I thought I would whip up a layout that I could frame to go with the plates.

I made the layout in 8.5x11 format, but the white frame I had was a weird shape (the photo opening was 6.75x8.5) so after I saved the layout in normal size, I cropped it to the weird size.

I do this often for framing layouts - usually before cropping I group all the elements together (everything but the background paper) and using the corner dragging option I resize everything a bit smaller.

PROJECT THREE: For You

Finally, I made a digital card.

I do this almost exclusively now.

It's so fast and simple it's almost silly. (And I know silly.)

Here it is with the layout I framed:

and here it is as a download if you like:

Download For You card

And here is a final shot of everything together:

Still with me?

Thanks for sticking around, I know I get so wordy on these blog posts.

I feel like I'm all - "and this, and this and this...did I mention this?"

They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step, no?

This is the mini kit, Libby so kindly designed for us!

Supercute Free Download from Libby

The rest of the projects I made using the original kit that she made, you can find it here:

And Your Bird Can Sing

(take a look at Libby's other kits - they are awesome. And while you're browsing, don't forget to check out her titles - they are always make me laugh!)

With that, I am out of here!

I think I'll go catch some sun on the deck and clean up my mess later!

Hope you all have a most excellent summer!

Cheryl O. (I'm supposed to have a cool uploaded signature here, but I haven't done it yet. Sorry Marnie! Have I told you how beautiful you are lately?) [Dearest Cheryl, No, actually, you haven't. I haven't slept in weeks worrying that perhaps my new bio picture with my gorgeous new grey roots and awesome new wrinkles had either scared or scarred you. So tonight, finally, I can sleep knowing that you still think me foxy after all these years... xxMarnie]

Wait a minute, was that just a means of distracting me away from that missing siggy???

give.away.day. featuring ALY DOSDALL

Too busy for summer card making?  No problem.  We here at Write. Click. Scrapbook. understand how that goes.  So for today's giveaway we're offering a lovely summer kraft card set featuring 5 multi-occasion cards created by our own Aly Dosdall using some of the most recent Jillibean Soup lines.  The set comes packaged in a gift box, so you can keep the cards for yourself, or give them away as a gift.  Here's a look at the set:

If you'd like to be entered into this card set giveaway just leave a comment on this post telling us what cards you'd like to make (or give away) this summer. Comments will remain open until Friday morning. One lucky number will be drawn at random and posted Saturday morning. Please remember that it is your responsibility to claim your lucky number before midnight on Monday. **These times have been changed from our usuals. Please be sure to note the new times! Thank you!

Summer Cards

Hey there WCS friends!  Aly Dosdall here to share with you some ideas and tips for summer-themed cards.  If you're anything like me your summer is filled with travel, keeping kids entertained, and summer projects.  Making cards over the summer is probably the last thing on your mind.  Here's a little tip:  if you plan ahead, you can create all of your cards at the start of the summer before life gets too busy. That way Father's Day, summer birthdays, and BBQ invites won't cause added stress. =)  Sound good?  Awesome!

Some of the cards I'm sharing with you today have a specific theme (ie Father's Day, or Independence day), and others have a general summer theme that can be adapted to any occasion--birthday, thank you, friendship, invites, etc.  My hope is that you will find some inspiration to help save you time so you can get those summer cards completed and have a fun and stress-free summer!  Okay, entirely stress-free may not be possible, so we'll go for less stressful.

We'll start with some of the summer holidays:

 

Father's Day

Try using blues, greens, browns, and blacks for masculine cards.  Bold and graphic patterns work well, and keep things simple and to the point.

I made this for my husband a few years ago.  If you'd like to make a similar card, you can Download Father's day card template for the tie and pocket.  Just fold back the top corners of your flap card (make sure and use double-sided patterned paper), and secure them with brads or eyelets.

 

Independence day

You can tell Independence Day cards from a mile away with their trademark red, white, and blue.  Why not throw a little black in the mix to anchor your design?

 

The next set of cards features fun summer themed papers and accents which can be used to create a card for any summer occasion.

 

Fruits and Veggies

Fresh, garden-grown fruits and veggies always make me think of summer.  You can use fruit or veggie papers or accents on any summer card.

Create a card like this one if you plan on delivering some fresh summer garden-picked (or farmer's market-bought) goodies to your friends or neighbors.

 

I've Got Sunshine

 

Celebrate the warmer weather and everything great about summer by adding a sun accent to your card.

Create a mini outdoor summer scene with a sun, the sky, some clouds, a tree, grass, and a sweet little outdoor critter.  Tip:  I used a scalloped oval punch for the tree.

Create your own sun accent using white or light colored paper and a yellow ink mister.  You can achieve the same effect using a yellow ink pad and an ink dauber or make-up sponge.

 

H2O

Nothing says summer to me like good old H2O!  Create a card for any summer occasion using wave paper, accents, stickers, or rub-ons.  Or you can create your own waves with a border punch, or just a pair of scissors and your imagination.

 

Well, I hope these cards have given you some inspiration for your summer card making.  If you use one of these cards as inspiration for your own project, be sure to add it to our Flickr gallery so we can all enjoy your lovely creations.  Happy card making, and I'll see you next month!