Hi everyone, Andrea here again with an update on the server move. It is taking a lot longer than expected to get our files moved. Our old host is having server issues and so things are taking about 10x longer than normal. Sorry we have to keep shutting the site down–the files just move a lot faster then. We are working on the problem and doing as much as we can to lighten the server load so we can complete the move. Thanks so much for your patience. Also a big thank you to our IT guy, Travis. He’s handling this set back admirably.

Hi all! Christy here with this week’s Grand Theft Layout Challenge.  For the GTL 4/22, we are going to be lifting Linz!!! YAY!!! I totally LOVE her style and can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with. Check out her fabulous gallery  HERE!!! 

I lifted:

Growing Up

Here’s mine:

{I used Totally Buggin’ by Britt and Mira and All Things New by Tracie Stroud}

And here’s some inspiration from our fabulous CT!!

Cyndi lifted:

And here’s hers:

{Using Anna’s Good Night Moon and Britt’s Edge to Edge WA}

Kim lifted:

CREDITS

And here’s hers:

{Using Imperial Girl by Britt-ish Designs}

Melanie lifted:

And here’s hers:

Alamama lifted:

CREDITS

And here’s hers:

{Using Night Music by Andilynn and frame from Imperial Girl by Britt}

So off you go to look through Linz’s gallery and see what wonderful creations there are for you to scraplift and make your own. Remember to give us the link in your credits to the LO that you lifted and also to post it with your LO here in the forum.

Remember you get one point for participating in this challenge, plus an extra one for using a new product released this week – I will also pick a winner at the end and that person will get an additional point. No double dipping – this needs to be an original LO and not used for another challenge. You have the rest of the month to complete this challenge! Happy Scrapping!!

Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Happy Tuesday! Ready for another template? Here’s one made from a speed scrap I did last fall. I took the simpler-is-better approach to the SS and I love the clean look of the finished LO. And now I’ve turned it into my very first template! I hope you enjoy playing with it and making it your own.   In fact, I can’t wait to see how you change it and flip it to fit your pics. So here it is (image is linked to 4shared):

I’m so impressed with what our amazing CT/DT  has already come up with using the template.

From Jeni Hopewell, using GG Digital Design’s School Days:

From Emilee, using Dirty Feet Designs’ Justin:

From Monique, using Imperial Girl by Britt-ish Designs:

And from Kim, using Tracie Stroud’s Love Blooms:

And remember the Matter of Scrap rules:

You have all month to complete this layout. Please upload your LO to the Tuesday Template Challenge gallery and link it the forum in this thread to get your point. You can also earn an additional point if you use a ScrapMatters product released in the past 7 days. Just make sure you mention that when you post your page.  One lucky winner will receive one more point at the end of the month for creating my favorite layout

You don’t have to use ScrapMatters products to participate in this challenge, but we love it when you do! Remember, no double dipping. Each LO must be created for one challenge only. So get scrapping! I’ll see you in the gallery.

Hi Andrea here, just to remind you that our site will be down at times late tonight and through out the day tomorrow while we move to our new big server!!! The move will probably happen a lot quicker than I anticipate, but I am still a little bit scared that something will go horribly wrong and the site will be down for days and we’ll all suffer from SM withdrawal! ;D In the rush to get all of the stuff ready for the move I totally forgot about selecting the winners in the comment contest last night. I am sooooo sorry. But here are the winning numbers–I counted the oldest comment as number one.

Here are your random numbers:

8 12 5 9 18

Timestamp: 2009-04-20 22:52:41 UTC

#8 winner of the $5 gift code is Daniela Leme
#12 winner of my latest kit “Night Music” is sunnysavannah
#5 winner of my latest kit “Night Music” is jmutchler

Please send me your emails so I can get your goodies out to you. Thanks so much for sharing what you love about SM.

Hi Everyone.

Denise here…with what matters monday.

This post was actually written on Friday (April 17) and you will be reading it on Monday (April 20).

I am returning  home (to California) for a family emergency…and so what’s on my mind is family.

Whether you have a big family or a small one…if you are married or single…if you have children or not, everyone has a family. Maybe your family is the circle of friends you have cultivated, or the friends at work that you count on to see you through hard times, or your beloved pets that you could not imagine your life without.

Whatever your family looks like, it matters.

And one of the ways that I let my family know they matter is though my scrapbooking.

So just hold your family close, and let them know you care.

And maybe, today, scrap about your family — whatever and whoever it is.

Today’s challenge is using the burn tool to create more depth on your paper edges.  Here is one of my papers from my {WonderFall} kit.  See how the edges have a darker edge giving the paper a little more depth and interest? 

But what happens when I don’t want to use the whole entire paper and only want to use a little strip?  I lose that cool edge. 

We can fix this. There are many ways to get this effect, but here’s one of the quickest and easiest. (All these screenshots were taken in PSCS3 but you should be able to adapt them to PSE very easily and probably any other program too.)

First, choose your burn tool (the one that looks like a hand holding a pencil without the pencil – lol!)  Then choose your brush size.  You’ll want something fairly large – anything from 100-500 should work.  It just depends on how big of an edge you want.  I chose a soft, round brush at 100.  Then choose your range.  If your paper is a light color choose highlights.  If it is a dark paper choose shadows.  If it’s anything in between choose midtones.  I chose midtones for my purple paper and set the exposure to 10%.  Remember that you can always add more if you need to so just start out with a little. 

Now you’re ready to get to work.  Make sure the paper piece you want to burn the edges on is selected in your layers palette and then just start dragging the brush all along the edges.  I like to concentrate it a little more in the corners and just freehand it all over.  There aren’t any rules so just play with it until you get the look you like!

And that’s it!  It doesn’t look exactly like my original paper’s edge but I get the depth and definition I was looking for.  You can really see the difference when we compare the before and after pieces:

***So your challenge for today is to use this technique on TWO or more paper strips on a layout. On my example below I used it on all three of my paper strips.***

Here are some more great examples from the SM Creative Team:
By Monique

By Mary

Now for the rules!  You have until April 30 to complete this challenge.  You must scrap your own page and post it in the Saturday Special Gallery here. Then link your page to this thread in the forum. Your page must be unique to this challenge – no double dipping!  : )  You’ll receive one point for your completed page, and you can earn an extra point by using a newly released design from the shop but you MUST mention this with your post in the forum.  You don’t have to use ScrapMatters products, but of course we love it if you do!
Happy Saturday and happy scrapping!  -Jeni

Hi all, Andrea here. Thanks to our fabulous tech team at webSeitler our blog now looks like the rest of the site and is so much easier to navigate. So tell us what you think about our blogs new look. Do you like it? Did you even notice? I will draw one lucky winner from all of the comments on this post on Sunday night, April 19th and award one lucky winner a $5.00 gift code to the shop and two winner will each receive my latest kit for free. So three chances to win just for leaving a comment!

Also a heads up that we will be moving to a bigger, faster server starting around April 21st. We hope we won’t be down for long, but it could take a few days until we are all the way up and running. We will post the exact date and time on the blog as it gets closer. I am so stoked about getting a server that will speed things up during high volume times. This should also make downloads of products and freebies from the site less prone to errors.

Mark your calendars for our [inter]National Scrapbook Day extravaganza. We are starting our celebration on Friday, May 1st and the party will continue for a week. We’re having a free with purchase kit, a sale (gotta have a sale), a blog train, speed scraps, grab bags, challenges, games and more fun. Stayed tuned for more information.

The Queen of Scrap competition is coming soon too! We had a blast last year and are planning even more fun this year.

The SM newsletter was delivered yesterday to all of our subscribers. A special thanks to Jeni Hopewell and the newsletter team for working hard to get you another fabulous issue. If you didn’t receive yours in your email (check your spam) please sign up again here on this blog, your subscription will start with the next issue. You can also hop over to my blog and get links for the current issue.

The Design Star contest is coming to a close shortly, make sure that you go check out the freebies while they are still available. If you haven’t registered for the forum/gallery yet, now would be a fantastic time to do so, because that’s the only way you can see the freebies. Remember you have to be logged into the forum first, then click on the gallery tab. And once they’re gone you might not see them again! The 10 Design Star finalists have come up with some fabulous challenges with terrific participation prizes too.

Hopefully by now I’ve written enough for you to have something to comment on. I love hearing how you are inspired by each other and by our CT and DT. You are what makes the SM community so special! Thanks so much for being our inspiration.

Keep reading for Photography Phriday and What’s New at ScrapMatters!

Good morning everyone, here’s Monique (monsu) with today’s photography tip!

When photographing people, I’ve noticed they always tend to look better with catchlights in their eyes!

Without these lights, eyes can appear lifeless and dull. Catchlights are the sparkles in peoples eyes.

This sparkle is produced by a reflection of any form of natural or artificial light.

If you want to catch the light in your subject’s eyes, please check for the source of the light being behind or above you when you are indoors. When photographing outside, there’s usually plenty of light to create this wonderful spark.

It can be helpful for the photographer to wear a white T-shirt to have the light bounce from!

So my tip for today is, check for catchlights, next time you take photos of your kids and loved ones! If you can’t see them, you might want to change position, or use a flash light.

Here are some of my examples, one taken inside with a overhead light creating the sparkle, the second one is the result of using a fill flash!

(Background paper is from Jeni Hopewell’s Family Ties)

If you didn’t manage to get a catchlight in your photo, here’s a link to a video tutorial on how to create them in PSE.

I hope this post has inspired you to take out the camera this weekend, and catch some light!

Hello! Dawn here with this months Pencil Me In Challenge. Last month we all decided how and what type of calendar we were going to make and some idea of photos and how we were going to print them. So, lets get right to creating! I had decided I was going with the regular 11×8.5 hanging calendar, printed on both sides of the paper and spiral bound when I am all done. I also decided I wanted to make a cover for it. And because we are a couple months behind, I thought I would start making 2 calendar months each month until I am caught up so I have my calendar done the month before Christmas. I also decided I am going to print the pages out each month so I am not doing it all at once in November. Since I don’t have the paper I am going to use yet, I don’t have a printed copy to show you yet, but next month I will for sure have that.
Now, having said that, I am away from home and not as prepared as I thought I was when I left the house, lol. I have been having issues with my Mom’s computer and missing things, so right now today all I have to show you is my March bottom. You will see that I like to change things up, so when I used the template for the grid, I erased the month and then created my own and plopped it on there. I also like decorating the grid part and I did a little of that too.

For this month, the "I’ll Pencil You In" challenge is simply posting at least one month of your calendar in the gallery under Hybrid Challenges and in this challenge thread. I can’t wait to see your pages! You can start with any month you want.

Starting in this month, your completed calendar pages will count for challenge points. If you are using photographs, you will have a certain measure of flexibility- you can use this year’s photos for next – ie. January 2009 photos for the January 2010 calendar page – or random photos. The plan is to have as many of the photos chosen now as much as possible. Obviously, everyone’s photo stash will be limited to April 2009 at this point. Choose them at each month’s end! Plus, you can make notes for the pictures you would like to take!

As always, here are the guidelines for the challenges at Scrap Matters:
- entries must be posted in the appropriate challenge gallery, and in the corresponding thread in the forum
- entries must be posted before the end of the month (April 3oth) to be counted toward that month’s point total
- you’ll get 1 point for completing a month of your calendar and posting it. Plus, I’ll select one entry at random for a bonus challenge point.
Have great weekend and let’s see those calendars!!

Hello everyone!! Natasha (bcnatty) here bringing  you this week’s Grand Theft Layout!! I have been patiently waiting for my chance to host this challenge, it’s one of my favorites! And I was so happy that when my chance came around that one of my favorite artists was not chosen yet. So without further ado…this week we are going to lift Chia. Check out her gallery and come play along!!

I lifted her Lollipop LO:

And here is my version:

 And here is some more inspiration from our amazing CT to get you started!!

Here is one from Alamama:

She lifted “O Holy Night”

Here is one from Monsu:

She lifted “Treasure You”:

And lastly, here is one from Stefanie:

She lifted “Sunshine”:

Well, I am SO excited to see your beautiful LOs that you create from Chia’s amazing gallery!! Please post your LOs in this forum and don’t forget to link it so we can leave you some love. Also, don’t forget to post a link to the original LO in your credits so we can leave Chia some love. Please let us know if you use a new product within a week of it’s release to get an extra point!