Good Morning! Mary (littlehiccup) here to motivate you on this fine Monday morning. I know we have had posts on this topic before, but it is always good to have a reminder: SAVE, SAVE, SAVE. l am sure we have all been there where we are working on a painstaking extraction or a very detailed and labor intensive LO, and all of the sudden our program freezes. I know I have. Well, think if something like that were to happen to all of your digital LOs and supplies. Think of the hours and cost of your precious gigabytes. So today (or when you have a few spare hours)…I want you to back up your scrapbooking files and folders. There are many ways of course that you can do this, and we’ve heard a few here on this site. Jeni wrote a great entry on this topic last November.

Read Jeni’s Blog Post.

And for the record, I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I haven’t done already myself. I spent quite a few hours (in between chores and things) this weekend backing up all of my supplies and LOs. And it feels so good!

CT Member Kim here with the new Saturday Special Challenge!

Erica Zane’s Woodland Fantasy and Sya’s Blueprints Dynamic Duo Set 3.

By Stefanie using MickeyB Designs Winter Birthday and Sya’s Blueprints Kristin-spiration

Hey everyone, Leslie (goldengirls2) here with your Photography Phriday post! I’ve got a simple little trick for you today to help add pop and contrast to all of you photos! I love playing with the different effects Photoshop has to offer to get fun new looks for my photos. One of the “go-to” techniques I use all the time is called “levels”. The best way I’ve found to describe it, is it makes you “darks darker” and you “lights lighter”. You’ve got a lot of room to play with this to get some really fun effects from drastic to just a slight color pop! Here’s how you do it…it’s super easy!!!

In Adobe Photoshop Elements, simply go to >Enhance  >Adjust Lighting  >Adjust Levels. You’ll get a screen that looks something like this…

Take the “lights” slider and slide it toward the middle…this makes your “lights lighter”. Now take the “darks” slider and slider it toward the middle…this makes your “darks darker”. Pretty cinchy huh? Here’s a little sample of a picture I took that was WAY too dark but after I did levels, it looks pretty good huh?

So, go play with YOUR levels….and HAVE FUN!!!! Have a great weekend!

Happy Thursday, dear SM friends! I have been wondering if I am the only person that cannot keep New Year’s resolutions. It’s a sad story, really – my Project 365? Now my Project 52. And it’s not looking good, folks… it might turn into Project 12.

Well, I want to show you one commitment we can easily keep. Take your nearly empty cereal boxes lurking in the deep recesses of your pantry – I have a gazillion of these leave my house. Now imagine them converted into a work of art! I cut some boxes up and came up with this:

I created this freestyle album to remind myself of what I would like to cultivate in myself: growth in faith, in gratitude, and in joy. And since I have a hard time with the pressure of New Year’s resolutions, I will keep this album on my work desk as a gentle, visual reminder of these aspirations.

Credits:
Mickey B Designs’ Winter Birthday kit
Alpha from Britt-ish Designs’ Enchantment kit
Frames from Dirty Feet Designs’ Distressed Frames Volume 2
Fonts: 1942 report, Jane Austen

Our friend, fellow scrapper and resident recycling expert, reCREATE director Donna Sangwin, shares this interesting information on cardboard:

Hi All …Donna from reCREATE here. Did you know that when the economy goes down, so do the prices for recyclables, like paper and cardboard? Depending on where you live it is likely that perfectly recyclable cardboard is going into the landfill, instead of getting recycled. Tons and tons and tons of it. China used to be a major purchaser of cardboard for recycling, but as the economy softened, our demand for the products coming overseas in those recycled boxes dropped, thus the drop in demand for recycling.

Here in California where I live, they are diverting enough to fulfill the 50% diversion law (½ of our garbage by weight must be diverted for recycling), but the rest is going into the landfill. So if ever there was a time to let the kids use the boxes to play in, and for you to make them into cute albums, now is the time!

Want a guilt free trip to the grocery store? Buy in bulk…reuse your bags or use fabric bags. Look for more produce and whole foods so you won’t have to think about the cardboard!
…..

Wow, all the more reason to reuse those cereal boxes!

If you would like to make a similar album, I am providing you the template:

(Click image to download) ETA: no longer available – be on the look out for this template in the ScrapMatters store soon!

Have a wonderful time creating your beautiful freestyle album -

Hi everyone!!  Christy here with January’s first Word Up! Challenge!

For this challenge we are going to be focusing on repetition in our titles, using the same “root word”.  A root refers to the essential part of the word and is where the word derives its meaning. Your challenge is to create a layout which has a three word title (yep! ONLY three words)… and the title must have the same root word repeated three times.   You can repeat the exact same word three times, or you can change up the root word by adding prefixes, suffixes, etc.

And here are some LOs from our awesome CT:

By Alamama

credits: Sya’s template & Muss’s new Mr. & Mrs. Brown Kit

Create a LO, upload it to the Word Up Challenge Gallery, and link it back here in this forum and get a point.

Use a new product from the ScrapMatter’s store, get another point.

The challenge will run until the end of January…and then I will pick my favorite to get one additional point.

To get your points, you MUST post your layout in the gallery, and put BOTH your link and your image here.

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!  Happy Scrapping!!!

Hi there, Mary (littlehiccup) here to bring you today’s Tuesday Template challenge. For those of you who don’t know me, our family is a little obsessed with superheroes. So much that we named our son Clark after Superman. So our inspiration today is a little pic I took of my little Superman.

Ok, here’s your challenge: Take the template and scrap about a hero or shero in your life.

Download Here

I also made some word art just as a thank you for downloading. You do NOT have to use the word art in your LO. It’s just a free gift to you!

Hi everyone, Happy Monday!

What matters most to me are my memories.  It is so important to me to have a record of what is going on in my life now because I don’t have a great long term memory.  I am so afraid that I won’t remember what the kids looked like and sounded like and what funny things they said and when they learned things.  So, this led me to two things, being an avid picture taker!  Not a professional one, I just take A LOT of pictures!  And getting into scrapbooking to preserve all those pictures and the memories and stories that go with them.  We all scrap these gorgeous pages with our most treasured memories and photos.  I usually journal on them, more often than not, I do recount the story or situation that was happening at the time I snapped the picture.  But I read a lot in forums about journaling and how hard it is for some people to write down the story.  It can get difficult to be creative or find new ideas and inspiration to keep it fresh and fun.  I do have some favorite pages that don’t have journaling on them because it seems to me now that the photo speaks for itself!  But it really is so important to document the details that we won’t remember years down the road.  My kids are only 6 and 4 and already there are moments about which I struggle to remember the details.  So, that’s what I am writing about today, ways to keep us journaling those memories on our pages!

Here are some journaling ideas that might spark some new inspiration for your pages:

1.  I know this sounds simple but, just start with a recount of what’s happening “behind the scenes” in the photo, sometimes it’s funny or interesting just to know what you were thinking when you took that picture and why it inspired you to save it as a memory.

2.  If you just don’t know where to start, think of the 5 W’s…Who, What, Where, When and Why.  Start there and add to it as you go!  At least it’s a place to begin when you have writer’s block.

3.  Use song lyrics, quotes, idioms, sayings, poems, etc. to help you summarize your thought for a page and then go from there.  Use that idea to draw attention to what you want those photos to be remembered for.  Is it the smile, where you were when you took it, what the person said right before you took the picture, an event to remember?  A quote or other saying can help focus the page on the memory to be preserved.

4.  Write a letter as the form for your journaling.  A letter to a child in a photo telling him/her how you were feeling at that moment, what was happening will be treasured later in their life.

5.  Make a list…if the photo(s) lend themselves well to a list, consider journaling a list!  List each item and its importance, that might say enough.  (example:  picture of you at your scrapbook desk and list the top ten things you can’t live without to digi-scrap)

6.  Shape of the journaling…using textpaths, bordering a page with your words, tagging each photo with a caption, etc. all add interest to the page while logging the memory not to be forgotten.

7.  Use a question as your title and then answer the question with your journaling.

8.  Consider your children reading your journaling in twenty or thirty years…what would you want them to know about the photo(s)?

9.  Don’t forget to talk about what doesn’t show in the photo(s) if it is relevant.  Sometimes we miss a shot but another photo can be representative of that day or event and you can fill in the gaps with your journaling.

10.  Ask someone who was in the photos or was there with you when the photo was taken to recount their take on the memory.  You can either journal their words, or it can get you going.

If all else fails, there are websites that just list writing prompts, (click here for example) maybe scanning them will help you think of a way to say what you are trying to say!

I hope these few ideas give you a little inspiration to get those memories out of your head and onto your pages.  And don’t forget to include your journaling in the photo description area when you upload so we can see what you wrote.  Thanks for reading and keep on writing!

Jen

Happy Sunday to you all! Today we spotlighting one of our wonderful members Jude (judet).

1. Your screen name? Your real name?

judet. Real name is Jude.

2. What is your main job/career?

I’m on a career break at the moment, but normally I attempt to teach physics to teenagers.

3. Are you married/children/pets?

I’m married and I have 3 year old and nearly 2 year old girls – they appear in my layouts quite a lot!

4. Where is home for you?

I live in Essex which is in the east of England.

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?

Really difficult to decide! My husband’s homemade curry, my pizza and my signature cheesecake (only dessert I can make well!)

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Either homemade pistachio and cardamom (don’t knock it til you’ve tried it, or Ben & Jerry’s Fossil Fuel

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet?

Sweet. No contest!

8. Beverage of choice?

Going to have to be really English and say a nice cup of tea…

9. What’s your least favorite food?

Anything deep-fried. Yuck.

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use?

I’ve got a laptop running Vista and, as everyone probably knows, I scrap using GIMP (it’s free!)

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started?

I was looking for pretty backgrounds to print for my elder daughter to stick things on as a kind of holiday journal. Found a few things then clicked on Shabby Princess… That was early last year, but I didn’t really do much with it til November. I know it was November cos I missed all the National Scrapbooking Day giveaways!

12. What was your 1st LO about?

A day out in the country with my family. It was basically a paper, a few photos and a flower stuck randomly on…

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)?

I run, not as much as I should; I used to do a lot of big walks, but we just do the 3 miles my daughter can manage now and I love taking photos – trying to learn how to do it properly now.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you?

Stopping!! Um, probably having to figure out how to do everything from scratch as all the tutorials don’t apply! That’s getting easier though as I learn more.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?

I want to improve my running, my aim is to build myself up to a 10k. Of course, that means getting off the sofa. And I want to learn to take photos in manual.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?

Not too bothered about TV, but I do watch Doctor Who (it’s a revamped cult British family sci-fi type thing).

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?

On the sofa with my laptop, TV or whatever game my husband is playing on in the background.

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

Flowers and something sparkly.

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?

I’m doing ADSR with Judy (jupiter394) and apparently I send too many emails …

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style?

Ever changing! I’m inspired and influenced by other layouts. Depends on the kit and the pictures. I’d say I mainly try to mimic paper layouts, I love it to look like its sticking up off the page.

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?

Resolution – One of my better pieces of journaling – there is some!

I do – I love the way the pics came out on this one and it’s a really precious memory

Dedham and Flatford – I just really like the way this one came out.

Aren’t those pages beautiful! Thanks Jude for letting us get to know you. We sure love having you at ScrapMatters and we love seeing your work. Make sure you check out her gallery and leave her some love!

Stroking. Have you ever used this fun little technique? Stroking a photo gives it the look of a mat. Stroking an element or word art gives it the look of a sticker. I’ve stroked plenty of photos, but when I saw this layout, I wanted to try out stroking a title like Krista did (and she used GG Digital Designs adorable kit, “Ain’t She Sweet)!

Using PSE, this technique is super easy! If you use a different program and are able to do this technique, please share with us how to do it in your program!!

First, select an element. I used the cute little deer from Erica Zane’s kit, Woodland Fantasy.

Now, with the deer layer selected in your layers palette, go to <edit> and select <stroke (outline) selection>.

Here is where you can play around a bit with the stroke. Change its width (I like 20-25 px) and color (I made mine white). I kept the stroke in the center position, but try the other settings to find your preference. You can also play around with the blending modes to add your own flare!

Click <okay> and see what you came up with. If you don’t like it, then <undo> and play around with it some more.

Try it with some text. After you type out the text, simplify your text layer and then follow the above steps.

Now all you have to do is include some stroking in your layout. Can’t wait to see what you’ve done.

Here’s what some of the Scrap Matters CT came up with…

I used Erica Zane’s Woodland Fantasy

Monique used Flirt Mini Kit, Stitches from Kelly’s Apple Farm, WaterColour Doodles and Paint strokes (all by Happy Scrap Girl)

Melanie used Jeepers Creepers by Jeni Hopewell

And for a recap…You have until the end of the month to complete the challenge. You receive one point for participating in the challenge (don’t forget to link up your layout in this forum here). If you use a newly released Scrap Matters product in you layout and mention that in the forum, you will receive another point. And because you all make it so hard for me with your awesome layouts, I’ll chose one random winner at the end of the month to receive an additional point. All of the nitty-gritty, fine details on the Matter of Scrap challenges can be found here.

Have fun with this one!! Can’t wait to see your layouts!

Andrea (a.k.a chia)

Hi, Kate (kateypie) here.  I thought I would talk about black and white photos today.  I’m quite a big fan of black and white photos!  Sometimes you can have a great photo, or a photo you just love, and turning it black and white just adds something extra to the photo.  It’s fun to scrap with black and white because you can match the photos to more kits and pages.  I’ll show you what I mean.

This photo I love:

But in black and white, I think it’s really gorgeous!

Same with these ones – the background is pretty ugly in colour:

But in black and white, it’s much more useable:

And these two layouts are a couple of my favourites.  Both use black and white photos, purely because I like the photos but the colours in them were nearly impossible to use on a scrapping page.  On the first layout, they are black and white photos with a little adjusting so they match the tone of the page more.

I use iPhoto to store my photos and scrapping supplies and there is a REALLY simple option for turning your photos black and white, or sepia, or whatever you like really, but it’s also really simple to do in photoshop.

Here is a great tutorial by Leslie that she posted back in September. Check it out! Changing your photos to black and white can sometimes save a page!