Good morning, all! Linz here with a quick photography tip today. Sometimes changing the perspective of your photo makes all the difference in the world! This is something I do to change things up a bit or make my photos a little more dramatic. For example, I wanted to snap a photo of my son’s train set (for a page I’m planning in my head but have yet to actually scrap!). These are SOOC, so please excuse the not so great lighting. Notice the difference between the first and second photo. Which one do you find more interesting?

So don’t be afraid to do something different! Try standing above your subject or lying on the ground next to them. Experiment until you find something you like. These are often some of my favorite photos.

We’d love to see what you come up with using this technique. Just point us to it in the comments so we can leave you some love.

Happy Monday Everyone! Christmastime is here, happiness and cheer..Can you believe we have only 11 days until Christmas!! Think of all the pictures you will be taking!?  Wouldn’t you love to get them all scraped before 2011?  Well, I have the perfect solution!  Participate in the quickpage exchange!  Create one 12×12 quickpage and get all the others that are created back for free to scrap all those holiday memories!!  Our featured kit this month will be Yuletide by Trixie Scraps.  Yuletide is full of shimmery goodness that is perfect for scrapping all your holiday celebrations! This kit will be on sale for 30% off from today until the end of the month.  Full details are available in the forum.

Here is the preview of the kit:

So what are you waiting for? Get over to the shop..pick up Yuletide for 30% off and get scrapping! See you in the forum! I can’t wait to see what you create!
-Amanda (panders77)

Happy Saturday everyone! Sarah here with another Saturday Special. This week I want to focus on embossing text. With the holidays coming up, I thought this would be a great tip for those holiday pages and projects. I’m sure there are many ways to do this and today I’m going to show you the way I do it in CS4.

You can emboss just about anything and today I’m going to emboss some text on my one of my paper blocks. I’ve opened the paper I want and in a separate layer, I’m going to type the text I want raised in black. After you type, rasterize the layer. Because I am going for a subtle look, I’m going to change the blending mode of the text to soft light. If I didn’t do this the type would be gray against the paper. After you’ve rasterized and changed the blending mode, go to FILTER –> STYLIZE –> EMBOSS.

You can play around with the angle, height and amount until you get it looking just right. On my example, I’ve used the settings: angle 135, height 20, amount 344%

The possibilities are endless here, not only can you do text, but you can do elements and textures as well. On my page I’ve embossed “December 2007″ and the snowflakes on the background paper. For those, I just changed the threshold of the flake so that it was pure black and played around with the settings until I thought it looked right.

Here is my page using Erica Zane’s A Touch of Winter and EZ templates 10

Here are some more pages showing this technique:

In this page by Jenn (jennamy82) she embossed the names along the picture using the Brightside and Jellies: Blooms both by Britt-ish Designs & Love Me Some White Space Template Vol 2 by Trixie Scraps

Li (Li14) embossed the snowflake and used Happiest Season of All, Pocket full of Templates 4, and Candy Stripped Alpha…. all by Britt-ish Designs.

Your challenge is to create a layout with some embossing. Once you’ve completed your LO, upload it to the Saturday Special Gallery, and be sure to link to the challenge post in the forum.

A few reminders:

* You will receive one point for your entry
* You will receive one extra point for using a NEW product within the first week of its release
* You have until the end of October to complete your layout
* No double dipping – please keep your layouts unique to each challenge
* HAVE FUN!

Hi everyone,

Sylvia here to show you some hybrid treasures I found recently in the gallery

Our hybrid gallery is growing fast and you can find tons of gorgeous cards and other projects in it. I highly recommend to take the time and take a look at all the gorgeousness you can find there.

Here are only a few of many wonderful goodies…

Look at this stunning explosion box neenee created… absolutely FANTASTIC work, isn’t it?!

And here’s another fantastic project I found in our hybrid gallery. A wrapped candle, created by bellbird

One more to let your mouths waters – a super cute and fabulous christmas take-out box made by profiler_mar:

Ok.. I’m sure you want to see more gorgeousness… so here’s one more from dbrprc:

And *wow* look what ‘notes4theheart‘ created – a ‘wooden house’ -isn’t this an amazing project?

There are many more fantastic projects in our hybrid gallery, so be sure to check it out and don’t forget to leave some love. *smile*

And now I hope you are enthusiastic about the hybrid projects and you will try do do some yourself?!
It’s not that difficult as it sometimes looks like! We have some GREAT hybrid goodies and templates in our shop to get you easily startet. I will list a few of them here.. but there are loooots more, just check out the hybrid section of our shop

I hope you have had the very same fun to gaze at all the hybrid goodies as I had and always have and hope to see some hybrid work from YOU, soon HAVE FUN!

Sylvia

Hey all – this is Amber {aka Stolen Moments} and holy moly -  I am SO excited to be hosting this challenge!  I have oodles and oodles of pages from all you talented scrappers stored up in my favorites just waiting to be lifted, so now is the perfect opportunity to clear away the dust and see what pretties I can play with..   This time around, I chose a gal whose pages have been taking the gallery by storm!  Enter Melody.  Her gallery is just FULL of wonderful pages to be inspired by – if you don’t believe me, check out these pages from me and the CT..

Her’s…

Mine…

Jamie aka alansrock lifted this page…

…and ended up with this…

Courtney aka cnscrap lifted this one…

…and turned it into this…

Christine aka alamama lifted this beauty…

…to create this showstopper…

And Lori aka loribear chose this stunner…

for her inspiration on this layout…

You’ll notice Melody has quite a lot of HYBRID pieces in her gallery as well.. Feel free to lift those, if you like, as well!  You can lift a hybrid item and make it digital and visa versa, or lift a hybrid and do a hybrid.  Just use her great inspiration to design something spectacular!

Once you’ve completed your LO, upload it to the Grand Theft Layout Gallery, and be sure to link us up in the forum so we can leave you LOTS of love..

A few reminders:

* You will receive one point for your entry
* You will receive one extra point for using a NEW product within the first week of its release – PLEASE MAKE A NOTE OF THIS IN YOUR POST
* You have until the end of December to complete your layout
* No double dipping – please keep your layouts unique to each challenge
* HAVE FUN!

And don’t forget to leave Melody some love as you’re browsing – I’m sure she’ll really appreciate it!

Hi everyone! I’m here to bring you a new template for the Hybrid Tuesday Template. I love making cards – they make the receiver feel so much more special! And it was for this very challenge, last year, that I made my first attempts at hybrid creations. So, if you’ve never done hybrid before, don’t be scared! You can make your project as simple (just print out the digitally designed card) or as “complicated” (cut out things, add ribbon, buttons, etc.!) as you wish, and there’s no right or wrong in hybrid! Just give it a try: you might find out you love it!

OK.. enough rambling!  Here’s your template:

And here’s my example, using the new Everyday kit by Sahlin Studio:

Here are some more cards from our hybrid CT ladies! Sylvia created this gorgeous card also using the new Everyday by Sahlin Studio:

LuAnn (wildblueeyez) was inspired by the shape I used to create the elements in the template and came up with this amazingly creative card, using Let’s Polka and Word-a-licious by Andilynn Designs:

Let me remind you the rules of this challenge. You have until the end of the month to partecipate. In order to earn one point for the Matter of Scrap challenges, you need to create a card using the template provided and post a photograph of the card in the hybrid challenges gallery; then go to this post in the forum and add your image and the link to the gallery. You can earn a second point if you use a product that was released in the 7 days prior to your posting (remember to mention you used a new product when you post in the thread in the forum). Finally, at the end of the month I will choose my favorite entry, that will earn a bonus point.

I hope you enjoy the template, and can’t wait to see the cards you create!

Hi everyone! I’m here with another Tuesday Template challenge for you! I hope you enjoy this template as much as I enjoyed creating it for you. There are no rules for this one – just pick some photos you love and have fun with the template. I set it up for four photos, but feel free to combine the photo spots and make it a three-photo, 2-photo, or even a one-photo layout! And have fun decorating that big ‘ole bracket on there! Clip a paper to it, stroke it, use a fun style on it – go nuts!

And here’s what the wonderful CT ladies have done with it:

Liz (mommy22girls) made this bright and fun layout using Tater’s Happy Go Lucky and Juno’s Dessert

Natasha (bcnatty) made the template her own and whipped up this great layout using designs from Sahlin Studios

Jenn (jennamy82) also tweaked the template a bit and came up with this stunner! She used Enchantment and Black Bead Alpha by Britt-ish Designs

And one of my own Scrap Star CT members, Erica (stanworth) did this adorable layout using Stolen Moments ‘Helping Hands’

A quick reminder of the rules:
- You will receive one point for completing this challenge and posting your layout in both the gallery AND the forum thread. You will receive 1 extra point if you use a new release product within the week it was released. You must make note of this in your post in the forum to get the point.
- You have until the end of DECEMBER to complete the challenge.
- No double-dipping, your layout must be unique to this challenge only.
- FYI: you don’t have to use ScrapMatters products to complete this challenge- we just like it when you do!

And that’s it – go download the template and have some fun with it!! I can’t wait to see the layouts you all create!

Hello, Henriëtte here for this months challenge.

Because we all are so busy the last month of 2009 and Christmas & the end of the year are coming closer every day, it will be an easy challenge this month:  what gives you that special December feeling?
Is it the Christmas tree, the family dinner, the presents or just the fact it is cold outside and it is so nice to sit by the warm fire?
Take a picture of your December feeling, and if is the heart of summer in your region of the world, or you don’t celebrate Christmas at all, that doesn’t matter, just take a picture that resembles December for you and share it with us!

Here is my go on the challenge.
This wooden Christmas group with shed is made by my Mom and Dad, Dad did the sawing and Mom painted them all. This makes it extra special every time I get it out of the box when we trim the tree.
The kids love it and they played with it a lot.
When Joris was younger he would let Mary, Josef and baby Jesus ride around in his toy cars and they would go to the shoppingmall to buy presents and food . Gemmy liked to play with them like the were her barbie dolls and she would inmagine complete stories, Meike just loves the sheep to play with and nothing else.
For me they represent the love of my parents and their ability to create beautiful things out of nothing.

Have a great month filled with love and blessings  !

Oh and don’t worry, next month we will talk about techniques again

Here is my pick for this week- Way Up High by Cursivesmile!  I had a great time looking through the gallery at all the wonderful pages. I chose this page because of the unique way she used the template here and how the overall page was so amazing.

Congrats Cursivesmile! Be sure to stop by the gallery or the forum to leave her some love!

-Julie (scrapmommaof3)

Hello! Melissa (Yzebear19) here with another great Saturday Special challenge! I absolutely love black and white photos. I know there are many who fear using them. This week I’m going to show you another method for changing your photos black and white. The instructions used are based on Photoshop 7.0. So they may vary depending on your program.

Here is my original color photo

The most common method for turning color photos black and white is using the desaturation method.

Select IMAGE from the toolbar at the top
Then ADJUSTMENTS
Then DESATURATE

Here is the result:

Another method is using an adjustment level

Create a new ADJUSTMENT OR FILL LEVEL by clicking on the icon that looks like a half black and white circle

Select CHANNEL MIXER

Make sure that you have MONOCHROME marked. Then adjust each of the sliders one at a time to 100. Put the other colors to 0. Try each color at 100 to see which looks best. You can even try layering more than one adjustment layer. Here is what mine looks like with each of the adjustment layers.

Red 100

Green 100

Blue 100

Here is my layout with my edited photo:

[Click for Credits]

Here are some fantastic layouts from the Creative Team:

By Stefanie:

Credits: Krisi’s Kreations Block it V1 – Card Templates and Happiest Season of All by Britt-ish Designs

By Kathleena:

Credits: “So grateful” by Sahlin Studio and Superplum Paperie

By Jendavey:

Credits: Carly by Trixie Scraps, Fill in the blank by Erica Zane, and My Personal Favorites Templates by Denise Beatty

By Jennamy:

Credits: Violette by Juno Designs and Wire Rimmed Alpha by Sahlin Studio

By Panders77:

Credits: “So grateful” by Sahlin Studio and Superplum Paperie

Your task is to create a layout using black and white photos, using whichever method you like. Have fun! Can’t wait to see all your layouts with those gorgeous black and white photos!