Hello everyone!  I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  It’s been a while since I did a blog post but I’m glad to be back today and I have a VERY important topic.  Unfortunately most of us finally realize backing up matters the HARD way – after we’ve lost it all!  I hope this post will help you figure out the best way to back up your files and get you started today.  Believe me – you don’t want to learn about this the HARD way!

The first option is backing up your files to CDs and/or DVDs.  I think this is probably the most common and the most accessible to pretty much everyone.   DVDs will store a lot more than CDs but they’re also more expensive.  The drawback to these is that no one is positive about how long these will last.  They haven’t been around long enough to find out!  There’s also the storage issue with these.  If you have a pretty big stash (who doesn’t?!) that can take a whole bunch of CDs or DVDs and those take up space.  I personally back up all my pictures, scrapping supplies, designing supplies, and layouts onto DVDs, and I have a firesafe to store them in.  You have to remember to keep your backups safe!

Another option is an external hard drive.  A lot of us have them as our only source for storing our digi stash but I have heard of some people having two – one as the primary source and the other as the backup.  This sounds like a good option to me although it might be a little pricey.

Another alternative is backing up online.  Our very own Happy Scrap Girl turned me onto to a site called Carbonite last year.  I think it is fabulous, very easy to use and there is not limit on the size of backup.  There’s also a free trial.  I’m so glad I had my PC backed up with this a couple of months ago when it crashed.  Everything on my EHD was fine but everything stored on my laptop was gone and I was able to restore it all at the click of a button.  Such relief!!!!  The only drawback to it is that you can’t back up directly from your external hard drive.  It will only back up the files that are on your PC.  If you’re looking for an online backup site that will allow backing up your external hard drive then I’ve heard good things about Mozy.  This is definitely on my to do list since all of my stash is on my EHD and my firesafe is almost overflowing!

Whatever method you choose just make sure that you choose something and back up!  Feel free to leave any more tips you have for backing up.  We’d love to hear them.  Hope you have a great one! – Jeni

Hi, this is Monique (a.k.a. monsu) with today’s Saturday Special Challenge!

I love playing around with photos! I’ll try different blending modes and opacities in order  to make colours deeper or instead get a nice faded effect, as if the photos were taken in the Seventies! I find new possibilities every time. Photoshop Elements also has some ready made effects for you to try in the Effects Palette. It took me a while to try anything but drop shadows, but no harm in trying, as long as you play with a copy of your original photo! (And there is always Ctrl z to undo, right?)

Today I’ll show you a few simple steps to create a subtle sketch art effect on your photo!
The screen shots are made in PSE 6.

1.    First open a photo.
2.    Duplicate this layer (Ctrl J on PC, Cmd J on Mac)
3.    Change the blending mode in this copy to overlay
4.    Reduce the opacity in this copy to 60%

5.    Rename this layer Overlay 1
6.    Duplicate Overlay 1 and rename it Overlay 2
7.    With this layer selected, choose Filter from the top tool bar on your screen
8.    From the drop down menu, choose Stylize, then Find Edges

9.     Duplicate Overlay 2, rename it Overlay 3
10    Repeat steps 7 and 8 for this layer.

If you like the subtle edges you have now, go ahead and make your page with the picture you have created! If not, you can go on repeating the steps to make it look more and more like a sketch. Here are two photos I used the technique on:

5 layers

3 layers

Your challenge today is to create a layout using this technique in one or more photos. The rest is all up to you!

Remember that you will have until the end of the month to complete this challenge. When you complete the challenge you will earn 1 point! If you use a newly released product (within the past 7 days) from the Scrap Matters store on your challenge layout, you earn an additional point!! How good is that – 2 points!
And my favourite layout at the end of the month will earn another point!

You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products (but we sure love it when you do) and once you post in the Saturday Specials Gallery, don’t forget to post the link to your layout in the appropriate thread in the forum so we can leave you some love and get you your points! If you want extra credit for using a new product, please mention that in the thread and your credits too! No double dipping! Look in the forum for more details on our challenge system.

Here’s my layout, using Kelly’s Apple Farm by Happy Scrap Girl Designs, The chosen One set 2 templates by Sya’s Blueprints, Floral Grunge Border from Frentree Fairies by Scrap’it Designs

Here are some examples from our CT members:

By Cyndi, using Pretties by Jeni Hopewell, Friday Flea Market Collab kit, Worn Out Overlays by Happy Scrap Girl, Stitches by Britt-ish Designs, frame by GG Digital Designs

By Mary (littlehiccup), using Fall Splendor by HayNay Designs and a template from the November Grab Bag by Sya’s Blueprints

By Christine (alamama) using Falling Dusk Kit by Erica Zane

By Kim (kimbytx), using Reach for the Stars by Simply Sweet Designs, The Big Picture templates by Sya’s Blueprints

By Krista (sahlink), using Paint Strokes by GG Digiatls Designs, Strawberry Days (paper) by Simply Sweet Designs, Benjamin (lines) by Jeni Hopewell

I can’t wait to see your layouts in the Gallery!

Good luck and have fun!

Hello to you all, Henriëtte here with the November photo challenge.

This month the subject is: Low Light Photography Without Using A Flash

Digital photography is easy- when you have plenty of light and the conditions are ideal. But, as you may know, lighting conditions in digital photography aren’t always as we would like them.
How to get better digital photos in low light conditions without the necessity of using a flash. Good news it can be done. But like everything in photography there are advantages and disadvantages.

The flash is the biggest solution to low light digital photography. However the problem with this is that not all situations can benefit from using the flash. Not only does it interfere with your “moment” socially and artistically, but the flash can flatten out your digital images. This is especially true for a flash that is built-in on digital cameras. The built in flash (and a flash in general) has the effect of lighting your subject on the front only which compresses the depth in your digital photos. Compressed depth can really decrease the beauty of your subject in your digital photography; see photo A.

This can be avoided to a certain degree, depending on your subject and by watching how your light falls. Learn how to see how the light falls on your surroundings and your mind will become adept at knowing what works and what doesn’t with the flash

Really, a good way to combat the problem in low light you can try using a higher ISO if your camera has a manual ISO setting. Your ISO simply means the amount of sensitivity of light falling on your sensor. For example take traditional photography as a comparison to digital photography. Traditional photography ISO will be film sensitivity. (ISO in traditional terms works with film speed as well.)
The only set back in digital photography ISO is noise. If your ISO is perfect for the photo yet there is a significant increase in noise you can use software to sharpen up your digital photo. There are two good noise reduction software programs called “Noise Ninja” or “Neat Image”. If you don’t push the ISO higher you may find the problem with camera shake if a tripod is not in hand. By adjusting the ISO you probably will find that noise is better than camera shake. In digital photography noise will always be something to consider.

In digital photography, a higher ISO allows you to take photos in low light situations.
In traditional photography you’d have to change your roll of film from. In digital photography ISO give you the opportunity to adjust a setting, rather than fiddle with changing film. This is advantageous if the subject is not going to stay around or you yourself are unable to stay for an extended length of time.

Let’s take for example you are taking some digital shots indoors, like someone speaking, or playing an instrument. Perhaps the flash is not appropriate in this situation. In this case (which happens a lot in digital photography) you would simply adjust the ISO to a higher setting. If you set the camera on “ISO Auto” your digital camera will then detect that a higher ISO is necessary. Alternatively you can set the ISO yourself. This higher sensitivity can give you the opportunity of gaining the right exposure for the shot. If you find that’s still not right, because your digital photo now has camera shake and you don’t have a tripod, you can in fact decide on the next top ISO which will then enable you to select a faster shutter speed.
(from an article by Amy Renfrey)

Photo B is taken with the highest ISO (1600) setting my camera (Canon 400D) has and though it is a bit to orange/yellow to my liking, I think it is far better and pleasing to the eyes as photo A.

And here is my layout:

I used the Grid Locked Paperpack and The Boys Of Summer kit both by Britt-ish Designs and Template no 03 by Scrapmuss Designs.

 How to play:
- Make a photo that has something to do with the subject, you can be as creative as you want. But the photo has to be a NEW photo taken specifically for this challenge. Don’t just find a photo that will work – actually go out and TAKE a new photo for this challenge and put those tips to use !
- There are three (!) points possible in the photo challenge:
1point for taking and posting the photo
1point if you scrap your photo and post your layout in the gallery
at the end of the month I will choose the winner; my personal favorite; out of all the entries and that winner gets an exta point
- You can submit as many pictures as you like, but there is still just one point to earn (so multiple photo’s don’t give multiple points)! This also count for LO’s.
- Be sure to post your photos and LO’s in the appropiate A Matter of Snap gallery as well as make a post linking the photo to the forumpost. 

Two weeks, two blog posts, two math references- are you frightened yet?

Happy Thursday! Tgmousechick Kim here with today’s Hybrid feature! Hybrid scrappers belong to that odd overlap in the Venn Diagram in the scrapbooking world. The overlap of the two circles, digital and paper, is met with myths on both sides. Therefore, for today’s Hybridology 101 post, I’m going to don my beret and do some mythbusting!

Myth #1: I need lots of tools to do hybrid

Sure there are lots of tools that are fun to have, but the list of must-have tools is fairly short.

-Paper trimmer- to make long straight cuts through paper or photos

-Scissors- to trim printed embellishments

-Adhesive- to stick it all down

-Printer- to put all of your digital images on paper

Don’t tell my husband, but that’s really all you need to get started. If you decide you like hybrid and plan to do more with it, you can always add more fun tools gradually as your budget permits.

Myth #2a: I need a wide format printer to do hybrid

There’s selling you the rosy side of hybrid, and then there’s lying, and I’m not going to do the latter. Does a wide format printer make hybrid more fun and flexible? Oh, yes it does! However, $500USD is not a small investment, particularly if you’re not sure you’re going to take to something new. A wide format printer is a luxury item for hybrid scrapping. It’s really more important that you have a good printer that prints sharp, vivid images, and there are plenty of those on the market these days in a much more affordable price range. Truth be told, even though I have wide format printer (and I will sing the praises of my Epson R1800), I still print about 85% of my projects on standard letter-sized paper (close to A4 size). I save my wide format paper for printing 12×12 layouts to add to my albums and my altered lunchbox projects, where the longer paper helps to wrap the box with fewer noticeable seams. Cards, tags, smaller digital printables, most of my photos- mostly printed on various types of letter sized paper.

Myth #2b: Printing for hybrid guzzles ink

If you take a little bit of time to get to know your printer settings, it’s likely you can get a lot more economy out of your ink cartridges. A couple of months ago, I was printing some large format microscopy pictures for my lab, using my ink jet paper and the highest quality (Best Photo) setting, and yes, it was going through a fair amount of ink. I was getting 10-12 13″x19″ prints from a $15 ink cartridge- great quality images, but that was a lot of ink to be reimbursed for. On a whim, I ran a test print using the medium quality (Text and Images) setting. Guess what? Still great quality images (I don’t know if you could tell them apart side by side), and I could get more than 20 printouts from a new cartridge. This held true for the digital pages I printed out.

It’s also worth paying attention to your paper settings when you print. Many printers default to “Plain Paper,” which is fine for printing text documents, but can lead to disappointing results. I discovered this one afternoon when I was working on a card project. I printed out a copy of my layout, but forgot to change the paper type from Plain to Heavyweight Matte Presentation Paper (which was what I was printing on). The result was a little muddy, but it was still presentable, so I continued and assembled my card. I showed it to my husband, who asked me if I was going to “ruin it” by adding a flower embellishment? To satisfy my art critic, I went back and printed a second card layout, this time taking the extra second or two to select the right paper. The marked improvement in print quality was staggering, enough to forever convert me to paying better attention to my paper settings. Seeing is believing!

The card on the left was printed with paper settings to match the paper, the right is using the “Plain Paper” setting- can you tell the difference?

The other solution to cover both myths #2a and #2b is to only print select pieces of your hybrid projects. Consider this hybrid layout I made, using a sketch from Sya’s Blueprint (from her November grab bag), and combining kits from 2 SM designers: Sya’s Blueprints (It’s a Girl’s World) and Scrap It by Briana Cox (Flutter by Me):

(Click to the gallery for credits)

All of the digital pieces were printed using the letter-sized paper format: the photos, the paper strips of the template, and the accompanying tag. I bypassed the need for my wide format paper by using my cardstock stash as the main background paper. Here’s my my print layouts look like:

Myth #3: I need lots of specialized traditional supplies for hybrid

Because scrapbooking has become a mainstream hobby, supplies are available in a number of unexpected places- all-purpose stores like Target and Walmart, the office supply store, and the craft store. Products that were once exclusive to the local scrapbook store are now available to a wider audience. I have a number of fun embellishments, but time and again, I most commonly use the same small cluster of crafting staples: ribbon, brads, and glitter. These can be found almost universally. Acrylic paint and buttons can also be found almost anywhere.

Also take into account that scrappers are a creative bunch, and almost anything these days can become an embellishment to add real-life dimension. Silk flowers, paper clips, and bottle caps have all be incorporated into pages and projects. If you truly are rural enough to not have easy access to a craft aisle or store, digital embellishments can always be printed out and trimmed to add to a project. My page includes basic embellishments- ribbon, brads, a button, and glitter. The rub-ons are a little more exotic, but can still be found in many mainstream craft stores.

Myth #4: I need a die cut machine, but I just can’t afford one

Die cut machines, whether they are the traditional press or rolling variety like the Ellison or Accucut, or an electronic version like a Cricut or a Wishblade/Silhouette/RoboCraft, are a great resource for hybrid scrappers. Shapes and alphabets can be cut out of printed digital paper, as well as a wide assortment of envelopes, cards, and boxes. While it’s certainly most convenient to have one at home, you may have access to resources you didn’t know you had. Many of the local scrapbook stores in Columbus have die cut machines. However, did you know that your local library or school district may have one as well? The main branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library has an expansive die cut collection in the Children’s section. Many school districts also have them as a teacher resource for displays and bulletin boards.

I also know of several electronic die cutters that are part of “shared custody” agreements within the scrapping sisterhood/brotherhood. Some companies may also have crafting clubs that may have die cutter access. Sometimes it pays to call around.

Hopefully, I’ve managed to bust some of the lingering myths about hybrid scrapping. There’s no rule that says you need to start with a large project. Definitely start small- a set of cards, a mini album of a recent trip or event, a couple of gift bags for the holidays. Playing with paper can be fun! Just ignore the inky fingers and small paper cuts!

Happy Scrapping!

Alamama, here to bring you today’s Word Up! challenge.  You’ll have to excuse the teacher in me on this one!!  I want to focus on parts of speech for these LO’s.  Don’t worry I picked an easy one for you…NOUNS, person, place or things.  Easy?  Pick a word to describe your photos and give us the definition. You can use the dictionary definition or your own.  That’s up to you.  Can’t wait to see what you come up with.  Make sure to post your LO’s in the Gallery and in the forum, here.
Here’s mine:

From winkasheart

From Cyndi146

and From chia

Can’t wait to see wht you come up with!

<Author’s note: we had some technical issues with the blog last Wednesday, so while I got things posted in the forum, it never made it here to the blog. So, here’s your Roadmap, just a week late, but still tons of time to play through November!>

Happy Wednesday, Everyone! Tgmousechick Kim here with this Wednesday’s Roadmap to Scrap. I’ll give you 8 instructions to get from Point A to B. You need to follow all 8 in one form or another to earn the challenge point, but where you end up is all up to you!

Without any further ado, here is your map, and we’ll get to the fine print in a bit:

1- You must use more than one photo
2- At least one photo needs to be framed or matted
3- Build a cluster around your focal point photo (can include elements listed below)
4- Use a 1:1 ratio of patterned paper to solid paper (for every pattern, you need to use a solid)
5- Include one fall/Halloween element, even if it’s not fall-colored- a leaf, a pumpkin, a ghost, etc
6- Include at least 1 ribbon
7- Use an alpha in your title
8- Journaling is a must!

Here is my layout to inspire you, using “Boo” by Ellie Lash (clip from “Mermaid Lagoon” from Britt-ish Designs)

My fellow Creative Team members have some layouts to share as well

From Littlehiccup

And SHutch

Ok, here’s the fine print, aka the rules:

In order to reach your destination, you must do all 8. You can of course do more than these 8 things…and the rules are open to interpretation. Be creative, for example, if you use something that meeting more than one requirement, lucky you!

You will have ALL month to scrap your layout, and when you complete it, you MUST post it to the RoadMap to Scrap Challenge Gallery AND back to the forum to get credit.

Your completed layout will earn you one point in the new Matter of Scrap Challenge System…which you can find out more about here. And you can earn another point by using a newly released product (you must scrap and upload your layout within the first 7 days of the products release – and remember, you MUST tell me you used a new release). You have until the end of November to post your layout.

Remember, no double dipping…your layout must be unique to this challenge, and it can only count for one month’s point tally.

One last treat- at the end of the month, I will choose my favorite layout and that scrapper will get one extra point!

Happy Scrapping!

Hi, everyone! Stephanie here to bring you this week’s Tuesday Template Challenge.  A big thank you to Maria of Scrapmuss Designs for this fabulous template for today’s challenge!

As the month of thanksgiving, November always causes me to think more often of what it is that I am grateful for.  So, to start off this month of gratitude and thanksgiving, your challenge is to use this template and share a few of the things you are most grateful for.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Here is my LO:

Here are some examples from the SM Creative team:

By monsu-

By sahlink-

By fliffy-

I’m excited to see what you come up with! You have all month to complete this challenge and once you post your LO in the gallery and this thread in the forum, you will receive one point. If you use a newly released product from the Scrap Matters store on your challenge layout, you earn an additional point!!  But make sure you indicate in your credits that the item you used was a new release.  Your LO must be posted before the end of the month to be counted toward that month’s point total. 

You don’t have to use SM products to participate in this challenge, but we love it when you do! Remember, no double dipping. Each LO must be created for 1 challenge only.

Hi everyone, it’s Sharon (aka skyezak) here with another What Matters Monday.

Did you all survive the weekend Digital Scrapbooking Day sales and activities – have they ended yet?  My gosh, my Inbox was just bombarded with emails for sales, cybercrops, promotions, freebies, sales and more sales!  I know 4 Shared was down for maintenance or did the mad world of digi scrappers overload it!  It was certainly a huge day all over the internet and our store was on sale too, so hope you got some serious scrapping in and picked up a bargain or two (or ten in my case)!  LOL

So, today I’m going to give you some tips on blogging.  For those of you who are new to the digital world or have been contemplating whether you need a blog or not, it might be well worth you setting one up just so you can share your projects and thoughts with the rest of the digital community and document your life for scrapbooking purposes.  There are loads of sites that offer free blogs so you don’t need to outlay lots of money and most of them have sufficient help forums to guide you on your way.  I had no idea about running a website, so blogging seemed to be the cheapest and easiest way to go for me.

I initially started my digital scrapbooking blog up as I taught paper scrapping classes out of home and my friends were always asking me snippets about what seemed like a foreign world to them!  I also wanted to let them know things as I came across them and initially started communicating that by email to them but it soon became too hard that way.  I also wanted to show them my layouts and point them to sales I’d found, or freebies people were giving away or anything that I found inspiring in the digital world.  So off I went to Blogger and set my first blog up.  I’m now using Typepad and have done so for well over a year now.  I have become so obsessed with maintaining my blog but it’s a bit of a hobby for me and a great way to meet people from all over the world.  I have a stat counter and have recently gone past 10,000 hits, so somebody is stopping by to look at something I’m doing!

To find out about what companies offer blogs, just go to Google and type in ‘setting up a blog’ or something to that effect and I’m sure you’ll find quite a few – I mainly know of Blogger, Typepad and WordPress.  Firstly you’ll usually choose a template and the set up of your blog then you can start posting, adding photo Galleries which can include links, layouts, polls, etc.  It’s really a big old world that I’m still exploring.  You can jazz things up, you can add slide shows, music, video clips, fancy backgrounds and loads of other goodies called widgets that give you and your reader an eyeful of things to see when they stop by.  My parents are travelling at the moment, so they can just stop by my blog to find out what we’ve been up to and see my layouts of their grandchildren who I seem to scrap about the most.  So it’s also in lieu of keeping a written journal which is why they are also referred to as weblogs.  I have never been a big journaller (prior to scrapbooking) and really only kept a handwritten diary through my school years, so as scrapbookers, keeping a blog is a wonderful way to document the daily happenings and special moments in your life that you can refer back to when you want to scrap about them.  If you’re anything like me, having children has sort of eaten away most of my memory cells so if I don’t document it somewhere, I’ll totally forget about it!

I can sit at my computer and just blog-hop for hours on end as there are so many blogs out there in the digital world.  Most designers, stores and CT members have their own blogs and it’s a fabulous source of inspiration, an opportunity to download and sample many designers kits and a way you can leave feedback/comments to the blog owner.  It does become a little addictive after a while, so watch out!  Just check out the Scrap Matters designers and store CT members blog links to the top right hand side of this blog and tell me I didn’t warn you if you haven’t checked them out already!

If you have any questions or feedback, just stop by the Scrap Matters forum where I’m sure there’ll be plenty  of people willing to share their experiences with you or give you some advice.

With that, I’m off to bed (it’s just gone 2.00am on Monday morning here in Australia)!  Hope you all have a fabulous Monday.

Hi all! Lisa here from the Scraps Matter Gang. Did you have a Happy Halloween? I did! We took the kids to a haunted forest walk and a hayride. They loved the hayride, the walk, not so much!! Anyway! I had the pleasure of interviewing one of our newest members of the SMG, Christy! So grab your coffee and read all about her!!

1. Your screen name? Your real name?
“Peffly”, Christy Peffly

2. What is your main job/career?
Stay at home mom, and lovin’ it!

3. Are you married/children/pets?
Married, one son, no pets

4. Where is home for you?
Zebulon, North Carolina

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?
Steak, Tacos, Baked Potatos

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Chocolate, no toppings!

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet?
Salty!

8. Beverage of choice?
Sweet Tea

9. What’s your least favorite food?
Spinach, yek!

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use?
PC and I use Paint Shop Pro x2!

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started?
Since March 2008, so 7 months. I got started when a friend was teaching me how to make siggies.

12. What was your 1st LO about?
My son going to the park for the very first time

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)?
Photography, I have a camera-loving little boy who loves his pictures taken!

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you?
Trying to do something unique…but that’s what I love too! I get inspiration from galleries, but I also try to come up with a new technique with each lo.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?
Photography, for sure!

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?
I never miss an episode of Grey’s Anatomy or Private Practice.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?
My room, no background music and only when Tyler is busy playing by himself or napping. I can’t scrap if there are any distractions, lol.

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be?
frame and ribbon

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?
I married my childhood neighbor/lil brother’s best friend!

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style?
I love BOLD colors and photos that really pop! I also like to leave a lot of space blank and off-center the focal point!

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?

1. Monkey

Credits

2. Park with Cousins -

Credits

3. Sweetheart Dreaming -

Credits

Monkey is my all time fav though!

22. How long have you been a member at ScrapMatters?
About two months

23. Do you have any suggestions for kits you’d like to see in the SM store?
MORE BRIGHT BOLD COLORS, no matter what the season is!

24. What is your favorite part of being a member of the Scraps Matter Gang?
all the wonderful friendly people! i love it!

Thanks so much, Christy! It was great learning more about you. Hop over to Christy’s blog
Our Froggy Bloggy

Or check out her Scrapmatters Gallery!

See you next week!

Stacy here for your Super Saturday Challenge.  This week I would like to focus on white space, or negative space as it is also often called. 

First lets talk a bit about elements.  One of the most basic aspects of scrapbooking is the arrangement of elements on your LO.  I look back at some of my first paper LOs and realize that I had no idea how to do this correctly.  They are terrible!  In creating a LO your eye has to have somewhere to rest and a path to follow.  Some of my LO have too much stuff on them and look too busy while others do not have a clear focal point.  So to help with this aspect of scrapbooking we are going to focus on white space.   White space is an element of your LO that is often overlooked.  If white space is done correctly it can have a dramatic impact on your focal point – usually your photo.

To use white space directly there are a few tips you can follow:
1.  White space doesn’t have to be white – colored papers are also fine.
2.  Never trap your white space.  Don’t leave a block of white space between elements or photos.  Move things closer together so that the white space moves to the outside of the elements, photos, or the entire LO.
3.  You can also cluster everything in the center of your LO so that the white space becomes a frame.
4.  Get yourself out of the mentality that every single space on your LO has to be filled with something.  White space will actually give the eye a place to rest and therefore giving the more important parts of your LO the emphasis that you would like.
5.  Remember that you do not need to use every element found in a kit that you have bought.  Less is usually more.
6.  White space should not be considered blank space – done correctly it can give your LO a classic, rich, or elegant apperance. 

So for this challenge you need to focus on white space.  Although white space doesn’t techincally need to be a huge space, I want you to make it big for this challenge.  Leave most of your LO opened with nothing in it.   Remember, white space doesn’t need to be white, colored backgrounds are perfectly fine.  Here are some examples for you:

Here is one from me using Erica Zane’s “Where the heart blooms”:

Andrea (Chia) using Britt-ish Designs The bright side kit and paper shapers:

Alamama:

TheWerners:

Sahlink using mostly Britt-ish Designs Fairchild kit:

bcnatty using Happy Scrap Girl Designs Flirt and Britt’s Bunches of Flowers:

monsu:

So many great examples of white/negative space.  I can’t wait to see what you all come up with. 

REMEMBER:

1. This is part of the Matter of Scraps challenges for the month of November.  You can earn one point for completing the challenge.  Another point is possible if you use a new product within it’s first week of release.  Plus, at the end of the month I will pick one winner of the challenge and that person will also receive an additional point. 

2.  No double dipping – you need to do a new LO for each challenge.  

3.  Also, in order to get your point you need to post your LO in the gallery and then link it to the forum.  Don’t forget that if you use a new product state that in the forum in order to get your additional point.