Getting More
for Less
Monday, October 3, 2011

IN TODAY'S ISSUE:

• Cute Stuff
• A Designer's Life: Paula Wright - Getting More for Less: Give This a Try!
• Scrap Girls Club
• Tips from the Pros: Using ScrapSimple Paper Templates to Create Texture on Photos
• Designer Freebie
• What's Happening at Scrap Girls?
• Ongoing Opportunities for YOU

Paula Wright

Getting More for Less: Give This a Try!

Lately, I have been trying to make everything stretch further, including my time. I was thinking about all the digital scrapbooking layouts that I would like to do (but don't seem to get finished) when I had an idea.

What if I give myself a challenge and decide before starting that on some layouts, I will use only four, yes, four elements, plus a photo.

I have nice pictures of friends, neighbors, and relatives, but I haven't used them in layouts because it seems to take too long to get finished. I spend way too much time fiddling over the details on a page, fussing and moving things around, back and forth.

Here are my guidelines:

• Make the photo the hero (everyone secretly likes to see themselves)
• Select a paper that compliments the photo
• Choose a frame for the photo
• Add a piece of word art
• Lastly, add one more element of my choosing

Below, you'll see three layouts that I finished in mere minutes with this formula! In two of the pages, I used only one digital scrapbooking collection. How easy is that?! I know these layouts don't contain loads of fancy brush work or complex techniques, but they're finished. Instead of thinking I'll wait until I print out the layout and send it to the person, I plan to save each layout as a JPG file and email them this afternoon to the featured people.

Think how much fun it will be for my niece, my neighbor, and my husband when these layouts arrive in their inbox! Wouldn't it make your day if you received an unexpected surprise? It would show you that someone was thinking about you and cared enough to send you a nice photo. They will never know that the layout took only a few minutes, and they definitely won't think, "Now why didn't she add more embellishments?" They'll just be thrilled to receive the gift.

Layout by Paula Wright
larger view

Layout by Paula Wright
larger view

Commercial license versions of Keys to Happiness Collection Biggie and ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: 1898 Lace Frames are also available.

Layout by Paula Wright
larger view

- Paula Wright

Favorite Product I've designed:
Trick or Treat Sweets Collection Mini

With Halloween quickly approaching, I love to think of all the neighbor children dressed in costumes,
Halloween costume parades at the elementary school, and Halloween parties. This little collection is
great for catching those memorable moments.

		Join the Scrap Girls Monthly Club and you can have fun with the newest traditional digital and printable scrapbooking looks while saving! (A $40.87 value for $9.99 or less!) The Scrap Girls Club contents are released on the 1st day of the month (or the closest business day to the 1st). With the Scrap Girls Club, you will receive: 1 Collection Biggie 1 Paper Super Mini 1 Word Art Mini 1 Embellishment Mini 1 Assemble Your Own Zoom Page Set 1 Designer's Choice Item 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Jiffy Easy Page Album 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Designer's Choice Item 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Color Palette October's Scrap Girls Club designed for you by Cherise Oleson Club Exclusive! JIFFY Easy Page Album Club Exclusive! Designer's Gift
Layout by Becca Hauck using October's Scrap Girls Club larger view	Layout by Rozanne Paxman using October's Scrap Girls Club larger view	Layout by Charlene Crowder using October's Scrap Girls Club larger view

Using ScrapSimple Paper Templates to Create Texture on Photos

Note: Tutorial created using Photoshop Elements 7.0 with Windows Vista

Recently, I've become fascinated with photography. Now that I have successfully gotten my camera out of "automatic" mode, I've also been playing around with different ways to process my photos to get that final outcome that really makes everyone say, "How did she do that?"

If you're on the same journey as I am, you'll find we already have many items in the Scrap Girls Boutique to help you. From our Digital Photography Simplified eBook to our many Lightroom presets and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles and Actions, we have all kinds of products that are meant specifically for photo editing. The one thing you may not be aware of that can help you get that "aww" factor is our ScrapSimple Paper Templates.

The steps I'm going to show you today will all be done in Photoshop Elements. If you have Photoshop, you can do all the steps I'll be listing below and then some, taking it to the next level. But I want to show you if you don't have Photoshop, you can achieve these same looks with Photoshop Elements.

First, find the photo you want to use. Here, I've chosen a photo I'm already happy with, and I just want to add that extra “pop” to it. Open up your photo and make it the active item on your desktop.

Next, open your ScrapSimple Paper Template. Play around with different templates. Both texture templates and pattern templates will work for this, and it just depends on your photo and the look you want to achieve.

Once you have opened your template and added it to the layer above your photo, adjust the Layer Mode for the template layer. Try playing around with the different settings, such as Overlay, Screen, Color Burn. Try adjusting the Opacity for the layer and resizing the template. Of course, if you're using Photoshop, you can also adjust the Fill for the layer.

Below is an example of the same photo using a paper template from the ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Textures 10406.

However, don’t stop at trying ScrapSimple Paper Templates, because this technique also works well with regular digital scrapbooking papers. Below, I've used a paper from the Jardin De Fleur Paper Super Mini.

If you're like me, once you've added your papers or ScrapSimple Paper Template, you'll find there are areas of your photo that you do not want texture on or you want to blend it in with the photo a little bit more. These types of areas might be people, animals, or the main subject or focus.

To fix these areas, erase the part of the texture that's over this area of your photo. If you are using Photoshop, add a layer mask to the template layer. That allows you to easily go back and make any changes to that layer. If you are using Photoshop Elements, you don’t have the Layers Mask option, but you can achieve the same look following the steps below.

In the example below, I selected the Rough Round Bristle Brush from the Wet Media Brushes. Lower the Opacity to a very low setting, perhaps 15% or a little lower, and start erasing the portion of the template layer you want to lighten up or erase completely. You do not want the Opacity of this eraser brush to be set too high, or you will see the harsh contrast between what you have erased and what you left intact.

Below, I erased 100% the texture on the butterfly in the photo. I left a light texture on the flower petals and left the texture as applied on the background.

I hope this gives you a few more ideas on how to make your photos “pop!”

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Layout by Angie Briggs
larger view

Article written by Angie Briggs

Learn to make digital scrapbooking layouts and more! – Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed Find out how easy it can be to learn how to create digital scrapbook layouts, edit photos, use and make brushes, recolor papers and embellishments, make your own simple backgrounds and embellishments, save and share your layouts and much more! Ready to learn advanced techniques? – MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed Learn to use paper templates, embellishment templates, custom shapes, styles, and brushes to make your own supplies. Learn advanced clipping mask and lighting blend techniques. Learn to make and use patterns. Learn to make brushes from your own doodles. Learn to extract images from photos. Learn work flow techniques that will speed up the layout creation process and advanced photo editing skills and much, much more!

Layout by Melissa Renfro
larger view

Designer Freebie by Melissa Renfro coordinates with her Laughter and Sunshine Collection Biggie

A commercial license version of Laughter and Sunshine Collection Biggie is also available.

Today's freebie designed by Melissa Renfro

* There is a "free download" button on the details page for each gift. You don't need to put them in your shopping cart unless you are shopping for other items. Also note that if you are slow reading your newsletter, you may find this freebie has already been retired, as the freebies are only available as gifts for about two newsletter cycles.

Journaling Chat
Monday, October 3rd - 6:00PM MDT

Join Carla (CRS) and Lei (Bride) for a Journaling Chat at 6pm MT this Monday night. Struggle to find the right words for your layouts? Are your layouts more decorative than descriptive of the moments you're trying to capture? Then you won't want to miss this chat - we'll have a special challenge to encourage you to journal on your pages more! See you there!

NSBR Chat
Monday, October 3rd - 7:00PM MDT

What is NSBR? It's a non-scrapbooking related chat! We talk about everything, including some scrapbooking and usually chocolate. It's a great chance to meet new friends, catch up on what everyone is up to, and just relax. If you have a problem, we'll lend an ear or a shoulder to cry on. Have some great news to share? We'd love to celebrate with you. So join us, Carla (CRS) and Lei (Bride) at 7pm MT!

Creative Cards Chat
Tuesday, October 4th - 6:00PM MDT

Do you use your digital supplies to make cards? Do you want to? Instead of going to the store every time you need a card, you can save money and have fun making cards with your digi-stash! Make a note of any cards you might need for the upcoming month and join April (April Showers) and Theresa (tiza126) for the once-a-month Card Chat on the first Tuesday of each month at 6pm MT. Can't wait to see you there!

ATC Hybrid Chat
Tuesday, October 4th - 7:00PM MDT

Please join Shannon (tinkerbell11) and Lei (Bride) as we host the chat for another round of our Hybrid ATC Swap at 7pm MT. Didn't participate this round? Not sure what it is? Come join us to find out all of the particulars!

East Coast High Noon Crop
Wednesday, October 5th - 10:00AM MDT

Join April (April Showers) each Wednesday at 10am MT for the East Coast High Noon Crop. All coasts and time zones are welcome! These crops are designed to allow you to work on your own photos and themes simply giving participants a one hour goal and a fun, new challenge each week. On October 5th, we'll do a geometric challenge! Create a layout using at least one triangle somewhere on your page! Create your layout and upload it to the special High Noon Crop Gallery. You'll be amazed what you can get done in just one hour, but there is no High Noon Sheriff timing you! Hope to see you in the chat room!

ATC Swap Crop
Wednesday, October 5th - 6:00PM MDT

Please join Lei (Bride) and Elisha (elibar) in the chatroom for our ATC (Artist Trading Card) Swap Crop/Chat on the first Wednesday of each month at 6pm MT. Come see what everyone has created and we'll talk about next month's topic. We're looking forward to seeing you there.

October Message Board Game: Product Picks

Join us for a new game in October, where we encourage you to stroll through the aisles of the boutique and do a little window shopping!

Each Monday through Saturday in October, a member of the Welcoming Committee will post the name of one or two product designers in the Product Picks game thread. You will then head to the Scrap Girls Boutique and navigate to that particular designer's product pages. Choose any of their products (your favorite product, one you like, or one you wish you owned), then head over to the Product Picks game thread and share the product name, Boutique link, and a brief explanation of why you chose that product.

At the end of the month, members who haves posted links to 42 products (one for each designer) will be entered in a drawing for one of three $10 Gift Certificates. Members who have posted links to 16-41 products will be entered in a drawing for one of two $5 Gift Certificates. And members who have posted links to 10-15 products will be entered in a drawing for one of two $3 Gift Certificates.

For complete details, visit the Monthly Message Board Games folder on the Scrap Girls Forum.

October Monthly Layout Contest: October is all about color! Show us those fabulous fall colors or spring colors for our Southern Hemisphere members! Maybe you have a favorite color you'd like to showcase or a very colorful photo to scrap. Remember, it's all about colors! Share those layouts in the October Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight MT on October 31st. Be sure to list your credits in the description or under the EXIF Properties. Two layouts will be selected to win a $10 Gift Card to the Scrap Girls Boutique!

Club Concepts Layout Contest: Post your new layout using the current club selection (either the Scrap Girls Club or the ScrapSimple Club) in our Scrap Girls Club Members Gallery or the ScrapSimple Club Members' Gallery. Be sure to list all of the Scrap Girls products you used. If your layout is chosen, it will be showcased as a Club Concepts layout winner, and you will win a $5 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique!

Check our message board calendar if you have any questions about what is happening at Scrap Girls. All event times are given in Mountain Time Zone unless otherwise noted. Need help converting time zones? Check out the World Clock - Time Zone Converter. (Use 'USA-Utah-Salt Lake City' as the location for the Mountain time zone.)

Haven't received your prize as a contest winner? Please send an email to [email protected] and we'll get it out to you right away!

Copyright Scrap Girls, LLC 2004-2011

This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with others.

Customers or advertisers, you may contact us at:
Scrap Girls
10817 Highland Circle
Highland, Utah 84003
www.scrapgirls.com

Toll-free: (866) 598-3444

P.S. If you ever need any assistance, please email [email protected] or call 866-598-3444 and we'll help you as quickly as possible!