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"Eternal Ties" by Joann Brown
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
I wanted three distinct sections of photographs in my layout, but when I placed my photographs on the layout, I didn't like the feeling of the photos being disjointed. The solution? I added a painted circle from Lori Cook's Brush Set: Grunged Circles. I love the subtle simplicity, as well as the symbolism of eternity that the circle suggests.
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS4
Name of challenge: Create a layout about something you are thankful for.
Other Ingredients:
"Pumpkin Spice Latte" by Becca Hauck
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
I used Marnie Adam's Brush Set: Gather 1 to add a pattern to the green paper from Angela Blanchard's Naturalist's Journal Collection Biggie. This gave my recipe card layout more of a seasonal look.
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Name of challenge: Thanksgiving
"Thankful" by Shari Payne
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
Clustering elements hasn't been one of my strongest skills, but it's one that I'm always working on. I had an especially difficult time with this particular layout. I didn't know what elements to use or how many or where to put them. To help me with this, I opened up a huge number of embellishments from different collections and templates, placed them on my canvas, and then simply played - and played - and played some more. Moving, resizing, turning the visibility on and off, changing the Blending Modes, everything I could think of. This wasn't one of my quicker layouts to put together, but I'm pretty happy with the end result.
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Name of challenge: Create a layout about something you are thankful for.
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"Thankful for Our History" by Cheri Thieleke
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
I wanted to use the ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Fancy Folds 5 for this layout, but it was fashioned as a 12x12-inch layout. To make it work as a two-pager, I used the Lasso Tool on each layer to select the tear piece that should stay on the left and pressed Ctrl+J each time to copy and paste that selection onto its own layer. I deleted the left tear areas from the original layers. (Don't forget to "Save As" and rename the file so you don't save over the original.) Don't worry about how much or how little extra space around the tear item you have selected. I named each layer appropriately, "L tear." Then I went to Image> Canvas Size and changed the width to 24 inches. I slid all the original layers to the right, and then I slid the new layers to the left. I used the Lasso Tool and Paint Bucket Tool to fill in the background paper and base layers in the new space in the center.
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3
Name of challenge: Create a layout about something you are thankful for.
Journaling: I grew up reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books over and over. Scrapbooking has fueled the fire of my interest in days gone by. I myself have pioneer ancestors and farming in my background on both sides of the family. I love that both you boys showed so much interest and had so much fun visiting Laura's old farmstead in DeSmet, South Dakota, in 2009. I hope we visit her other homes, too.
"Baby's First Halloween" Onesie by Kelly Favor-Chronister
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
The versatility of the products here at Scrap Girls never ceases to amaze me, but sometimes the item I want is more specific and wouldn't necessarily appeal to a wide market. For example, only once in a child's life will they have a first Halloween. I wanted an embellishment that was more infantile than childlike, so I took parts of two different embellishments and combined them for a custom embellishment. I liked the look of the pumpkin costume in Marnie Adams' Digital Stickers: Happy Haunting Costume Kids, but I wanted a more baby-like figure. I used the Magnetic Lasso Tool and extracted the hat from the figure and placed it on its own layer. Then I added a white stroke to the outside of the hat. This made it more cohesive with the other digital stickers I had already placed on my layout. By placing the hat onto the "first smile" sticker, I achieved my goal of the "cute baby look."
Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0
Name of challenge: Halloween
Other Ingredients:
"Thank You" by Gisele Queiroz
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
In this layout I chose to work with the Brandy Hackman's ScrapSimple Transparency Overlays: Street Grunge - Scratches. Transparency Overlays are very fun to work with. You can place the overlay on top of the chosen layer and paint with the color you want. This time I wanted to do it a little differently, so I put the layer of the overlay on top of my cardboard paper and hit Ctrl+Click on the overlay's layer to make a selection in the overlay. With my overlay selected, next I selected the layer of my cardboard paper and hit Delete to delete my cardboard paper in the format of the overlay. After that, I deleted the layer of my overlay, making visible the colors behind the cardboard paper.
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Name of challenge: Create a layout about something you are thankful for.
"Happiness" by Amy Flanagan
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
For this layout, I had the idea to make a creative swirl emulating bubbles being blown and floating through the air. First, I placed the swirl from Marnie Adams' Hugs & Kisses Collection onto my layout. Then with the swirl layer highlighted, I went to Image> Adjustments> Black and White to remove all the color from the embellishment. Then I played with the Blending Modes to achieve the look that I had in my mind's eye and decided to use "Overlay." The swirl was then still just a bit too soft on my layout, so I duplicated the layer and set the Blending Mode on the new layer to "Soft Light." The swirl was just the right color and intensity. Then with a Hard Round Brush, I made circles, each on their own layer, directly over each of the various parts of the swirl, big dots over the big flowers of the swirl, smaller dots over the medium flowers, and the smallest dots over the tiny circles off the swirl. Then I went back to the swirl layer and erased away the parts of the swirl that I had just covered up with the brush. What I had really done was to use those portions of the swirl as a template for placing where my bubbles would go. Finally, I added Styles and embellishments to my brush layers to make them highly stylized and creative bubbles.
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS4
Name of challenge: Free Scrap
"Batboy" by Armi Custodio
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
I wanted the candy embellishments from the Happy Haunting Collection Mini to be just a bit brighter in hue. I did this by duplicating the embellishment and setting the duplicate layer's Blending Mode to "Linear Burn."
Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3
Name of challenge: Halloween
Other Ingredients:
Journaling: Little Ali, taking his action hero role seriously by doing poses for the camera. Holy utility belt! This Batboy is a cutie!
"Evan's First Halloween" by Janine Buckles
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:
Marnie Adams' sketch books (like her Scrapbooking 911 - 20 Sketches to Revitalize Your Digital Scrapbooking - Book 4 from which I selected a sketch for this layout) provide great inspiration for digital scrapbooking layouts. It's good to keep in mind that they are designed to help you, to "jump start" your creativity. For this layout, I used the sketch as a starting point but didn't follow its design completely. What I mean is that I used the basic outline - the placement of the photo, the photo-mat, and the placement of the top-right and bottom-left embellishments. The original sketch had space for two smaller photos in the space where I put one large image. It also had a space for a title and suggested placement of small embellishments. I know if I followed the sketch, my layout would have been great, but sometimes I like to break the rules! Isn't it great that there are really no rules in digital scrapbooking? Try taking a sketch and using it as the "bones" for your layout and see where it takes you!
Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0
Name of challenge: Halloween
Other Ingredients:
Journaling: For your first Hallowe'en I sewed a simple costume that would fit over your clothes. I bought two for you to pick from and you chose the "scare-co" over the "frank-tien". I still have both of them! Your favourite part of the costume was the little mouse. My favourite part was how easy it was to make!
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