This week I went with beckag99′s Sweet Spontaneity..

Look at her beautiful extraction of the child playing amongst the photos, the beautiful blending into the layout. I love how she used every ounce of this page, without overdoing it! I love the coloring, love the placement. Her clustering is amazing as is her shadowing! Look at how she weaved the ribbon in and around the fence element. Everything is perfectly placed, which is why this layout is this week’s layout of the week!!

Now head on over to the gallery or the forum to leave her some love!

-Wendy (Neverland Scraps)

I had the chance to interview Jenn of Jenn Barrette Designs. I’ve been a fan of hers far before she was designing for SM and I was excited to learn more a little more about her!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? Jenn Barrette

2. What is your main job/career? I was a retail manager until after my second daughter was born, and now design full-time.

3. Are you married/children/pets? I have been with my DH for 6 years, we have 2 girls, a cat, and a new puppy.

4. Where is home for you? I live in Kenora, Ontario Canada. It is gorgeous (lakes and trees) but since I am so not an outdoorsy girl, I wish I lived in a bigger city!

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? Unfortunately I have a major sweet tooth, my fav food is probably homemade chocolate chip cookies…not sure it that even counts as a food. Other than that, I would be happy eating like teenager, and love tacos, pizza, and nachos!

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? There is a Sara Lee Cheesecake ice cream that I could eat by the carton!

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? Sweet all the way.

8. Beverage of choice? I really only drink water, and skim milk…but I do really love sweet iced tea.

9. What’s your least favorite food? Ummm….anything cooked my my MIL….

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC, I primarily use my laptop. I use CS3.

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? I started digital scrapbooking after my first daughter was born in 2006. I was going to try paper scrapbooking, and bought a bunch of scrap magazines. One of them had a free digital scrapbooking program, and I was hooked!

12. What was your 1st LO about? My first layout is long gone (gallery is gone, and I don’t have it anymore) I think it was my daughter having “tummy time” and it was really horrible!

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? I love movies, day tripping, and cooking.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? I have trouble with journaling. I am trying to concur it this year, and trying to include more story telling in my layouts.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? Balance my life as a mom, wife, CT member, designers…and find more time for me.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? My favorite tv shows right now are GLEE, The Biggest Loser, and Survivor.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I have a laptop, but mostly stay at my desk. I love to have my iPod on and a big bottle of water beside me.

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be? I am fairly traditional in my element usage, so I would probably say ribbon and flowers.

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? I hate talking on the phone, and will avoid it all costs. E-mail is my friend.

20. When did you start designing? What is your favorite product that you’ve designed? I started designing in November 2006. Usually my fav product is my most recent (I have a super fun kit coming out next Friday that I LOVE!) but my favorite right now is Technotronic (which is funny because I don’t do boy kits often) -

21. How would you describe your design style? Everywhere…I jump from shabby to funky and everything in between! But, I do always create realistic, and fairly traditional kits.

22. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation? I love the fun colors and patterns of children’s clothing, but also love to browse a lot of different design mediums (fashion, home decor, art, jewelery)

23. Which of your kits showcases you style the most? I currently think of  Love Blooms as being very “me”.

24. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? I love to work with a variety of color schemes, but find myself afraid of yellow and purple LOL

25. Favorite kit you’ve designed? That is like choosing my favorite child…LOL. My current favs are

Technotronic

Dandelion Wishes

and an oldie but goodie Teen Angst

Aren’t her kits just fantastic? I love the shabby feel and the color pallettes she always chooses! Thanks for letting us read some of your scrapping secrets Jenn!  Check out her full store here!

-Whitney (WhitneyT)

Let me start off by saying, I am no photographer by any means. I did have to take a photography course in college though, and I do remember my professor saying some useful stuff. Some of it still sits in the back of my head and occasionally I think to myself: “You know your picture would be better if you would just do this… or that…” but then reality jumps in, and I am hurrying trying to capture a moment in my crazy 3 year olds life and all I can do is just try and push the shutter button, hoping that he will stay still long enough to get a shot that is in focus. (And that’s just with a point and shoot camera- I can’t imagine trying to use an SLR!!)
Fortunately, unlike my college days where we were shooting with slide film- we have a huge advantage with our digital cameras. I may not be able to take an amazing shot straight out of my camera- but with the help of some post editing, I can turn my photo into one.
One of the greatest “tricks” of digital editing is how easy it is to crop your picture. Some of you might have heard of the rule of thirds- today I am going to show you how to use it to help your pictures pop.
The basic idea behind the rule of thirds is if you were take your picture and divide it into thirds both horizontally and vertically, then place points of interest where those lines intersect, your photo becomes more balanced and pleasing to the eye.

Ideally it would be great if you could have this rule in mind when actually shooting your photographs, but as I illustrated above, that is not always possible. Enter your cropping tool.

Here I have a picture of my son – it’s not a bad picture, but his head is just almost in the exact center of the photo, which doesn’t make it very interesting. To help you with your rule of third cropping I am including a grid (.png) that you can download to help play around with on your photos.
Click HERE to download.
To start I open the grid and drag it into my photo.

Now I think this picture would work better horizontally so I am going to rotate my grid 90 degrees. Then I am going to play with moving it around- and resizing it until I can get my point of interest in the photo (my son’s face) to be in one of those intersecting points (or near as I can get it). Don’t worry about keeping the proportions of the grid the same as you re-size it, even if you widen it, it will still keep those lines dividing it in thirds. Finally this is what I come up with.

Now all I have to do is select my crop tool and crop along the outside box of my grid. Once I have cropped my picture I can delete the grid layer. And here I have a picture that is much more interesting.

And here is the layout I did for the Tuesday Template challenge using Storytime by Designs by Sarah Bennett, Lil’ Digi Bits by Jude, and Stacey’s Backdoor Designs.

Here’s what QuiltyMom created using Dandelion Wishes, Mask-querade, My Heart Soars & Newspaper Clippings alpha by Jennifer Barrette

And this last one is by Julie Momof4- she used : Dood by- Simply.Scraps, Fill in the Blank by- Erika Zane, Simply Dated by- WM [Squared] Designs, Cool Kid Alpha by- Jennifer Barrette, Just a Little Punchy Template by- Sya’s Blueprints.

Your challenge is to create a page where you crop your picture(s) using the rule of thirds.
Remember:
*You will receive one point for completing this challenge and posting your finished layout in both the challenge gallery AND in the challenge thread.
*You will receive one EXTRA point if you use a new release product within the week of its release. (Be sure to note that you used a new release when you post your layout in the forum and in the gallery.)
*Because this challenge is during the last week of the month you have until the end of March to complete your page. (If you complete it in Feb. you will receive your point in Feb.)

I can’t wait to see your awesome cropped pictures!

Hi everyone! I’m here with another Tuesday Template challenge for you! There is just one rule for this one – pick two photos you love and turn them black and white. Otherwise, have fun with the template!!

So here’s the template:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Here is my layout that I made with the template. I used my new collab kit with {simply.scraps} Designs called “Gotta Hug” for this layout!

And here’s what the wonderful CT ladies have done with it – there’s a WHOLE buncha them!! FUN!

First up is this cute and fun layout by Courtney (cnscrap) using Incredi-boy by Britt-ish Designs and The Golden Girls; Innovations by Sahlin Studios; Today’s a Snow Day by Designs by Tater; Funky Stripes Collection by Britt-ish Designs; and
It’s Christmas Time in the City by Britt-ish Designs

Next up, this fab layout by Cyndi (Cyndi146) which uses Storytime by Sarah Bennett, Lil Digibits by Jude & Stacy’s Backdoor Designs, Stitch Me Up & Stitch Me Up Grids by Chelle’s Creations and Dating Around by Plum Dumpling Designs. I love the stitching in place of the paper block on this one!

Here’s a great page from Jill (Jillyfish). She used “Happy Go Lucky” and “Curvy Chrome Alpha” by Happy Scrap Girl.

Connie Prince (conniep) played along, too! Here is her great layout using D00d by simply.scraps (February guest designer) & Angie Kovacs

My blue-haired sassy gal pal played along, too!! Here is Wendy’s (wm[squared]) super cute page using “Animal Kingdom” by Brittish Designs and “Date Stamped – V.3″ by Brittish Designs. Love the flip on this one!

Love this bright and fun layout by Jan (QuiltyMom). She used Play by Sahlin Studios and DeCrow Designs

And last, but certainly not least, comes our very own “Age before beauty” gal, Shari! For once, you get to be last, not first, Shari! (sorry just had to go for it!! lol) Here’s Shari’s super cute layout – love the quote on it! She used Britt-ish Designs Happiest Season of All

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.
- Since this challenge starts during the last week of February, you will have until the end of March 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!

Hey everyone! LuAnn here with our next It’s in the Cards challenge!

Before we get to the template – have you checked out the Hybrid Bootcamp put together by the ScrapMatters’ Hybrid Team?  It’s never too late to stop by and pick up some tips and techniques to take your hybrid projects to the next level!!!

Remember: the rules of the challenge are:
*To earn your Matter of Scrap point for the month you need to photograph and upload your card to the Hybrid Challenge gallery by the end of March – yepp, you get more time since it’s just about the end of February.   Then come back here and post it in this thread as well. Make sure to let your hostess know if you use a new product within a week of it’s release – if you do, you get an extra point!  One random winner will be chosen to receive an extra point!*

Here’s our template:

Download HERE

Here’s my card using Man in the Moon Designs’ Carousel Ride kit

And check out this wickedly cool card by Julie:

I can’t wait to see what you come up with using my template!

ScrapMatters is happy to announce our  Spring 2010  Creative Team! We would like to welcome all of our new and returning members! Thanks to all of the talented ladies who took the time to apply. We had over 130 applications and it was a very hard to choose.

This week we are getting our lifting inspiration from Jolene (aka mighttyjomomma)!  You can find her gallery here !  You will find lots of inspiration from Jolene’s gallery, I have a few of her pages in my favorites and she is a twin mommy like me so it seemed like a perfect fit!!!

I lifted this page:

And came up with this (using “Jungle Josh” kit by GG Digital Designs):

More inspiration from the rest of the team….

Wendy lifted this page:

And came up with this energetic boy page (using “d00d” (some items recolored) by Simply Scraps & Angie Kovacs & “stitch me up” by Chelles Creations):

Amber lifted this page:

And came up with this wonderful installment for her son’s baby book (using “He’s My Valentine & “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” by Plum Dumpling Designs, “JH_Amy” by Jeni Hopewell, “Foam Stamp Alpha” by Sahlin Studio & “Play” by Sahlin Studio & DeCrow Designs):

Challenge reminders:
-You will receive one point for posting your layout in the GTL: 24 Feb thread in the forum & in the Grand Theft Layout gallery, you need to post in both places! You can receive an additional point for using new Scrap Matters products; please make a note of new products in your post. And at the end of March I will choose my favorite layout for a bonus point!

-You have until the end of February to complete your layout for your points to be counted towards February points. Otherwise post your layout after the first of the month to be counted towards March points.

-Remember no double dipping…your layout must be unique to this challenge.

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but we love it when you do!

-Have fun!

I look forward to seeing your pages, so get to scrappin’!
–Jami

Hey everyone! Li here with another Word Up Challenge! I’ve been wanting to try cutting my title out of a piece of paper or even my picture, and I thought the Word Up challenge would be the perfect opportunity! Want to try it with me?

Here’s how I did it in Photoshop Elements (It’s pretty simple, so I’m sure it will work in other programs, too.):

1. Type out your title and position it where you want it to be on your layout (on top of the paper or picture you want to cut it from). I am going to cut the word “wish” out of the blue paper.

2. Simplify the layer by right-clicking on it in the layers pallet and then clicking on “Simplify Layer” (in your version of photoshop, it might be Layer>Rasterize>Type). You won’t be able to change the font after this step, so make sure it’s the way you want it!

3. Select the letters of your title. I used the magic wand and held down shift as I clicked on each letter.

4. Select the layer that you are cutting your title from (the paper or picture). Then, press delete. Make sure you have the correct layer selected or it won’t work right! You can now delete the text layer or make it invisible.

And that’s it! Be sure to add a drop shadow to make it really stand out.

Here’s my completed page using Jennifer Barrette’s Dandelion Wishes:

And here is some inspiration from our fabulous CT:

From Cyndi using Enjoy Kit, Dates & Solids by GG Digital Designs and Framed by GG Digital Designs:

Layout by Meghann using “Celebrate Love” by Pri Rocha and “Get Real: Realistic Drop Shadows” by Jenn Barrette:

From Liz using Trixie Scraps and Simply Scraps’ Gotta Hug and Chelle’s Stitch Me Up Grids:

Layout by Wendy using “Template Pack 2″ (modified) by Kay Winiecki, “Cute Lil Kaylee” by Erica Zane and “Metal Outline Alpha” by GG Designs:

Just a little reminder of the rules:

-You will receive one point for posting your layout in the Word Up! challenge thread, as well as in the Word Up! gallery. You can receive an additional point for using new Scrap Matters products! Please make a note of new products in your post.

-You have until the end of March to complete your layout.

-No double dipping! Your layout must be unique to this challenge.

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but we love it when you do!

Good Monday to everyone!  It’s LoriBear here today to bring you the What Matters post this week.  I was trying to think of something really great for today and think I have done that.  Most times we are often focusing on ourselves and what matters most to us, this week however I am adding others to this equation because the payoff is great for both parties!

We have all heard the saying “It’s the little things that matter most” and this past weekend I was totally reminded of that.  I have been having a hard time personally for the last few weeks and am stating to feel the sun shine again and was much happier this weekend than I have been in awhile so I wanted to spread a little bit of that around!

We were at a fast food restaurant grabbing some grub.  The lady who was serving at the counter was being just berated by someone who had absolutely no manners what so ever and to be honest I felt really bad for her as she was pleasant and nice and actually kind of funny as she tried to use humor in a great way to break the tension with the ruse customer.  It unfortunately didn’t work and the man left very unhappy. By the time it was our turn I had watched this lady serve others with a smile and a really great attitude.  I thought in my opinion she needed a smile in return!  I told her I thought she was doing a really great job and was one of the most pleasant people I had seen in a fast food place in quite some time.  I was totally not prepared for reaction to this.  She actually teared up and told me that it was the nicest thing for me to say so because at the moment she was really not feeling so happy or appreciated.  I made her whole entire night just by saying thank you and praising her for a job that I myself would never want to do!  I felt elated inside to know that I had made such a good effect on this person.  After that I tried to make sure that I spread a smile and some thanks all weekend where ever I was and let the people who serve me everyday that I appreciate the work they did and that I was very thankful!  I felt like a million bucks and was elated that I was making others feel just as happy!  I remember working in the service field and how wonderful that feeling is…

So yes, The little things do MATTER most, not only just to us but to everyone around us as well!  Try it today, thank your neighborhood crossing guard for always watching out for the safety of your children, your store clerk for always serving you with kindness and a smile, there are many people in my life who I plan to thank a little more often.

Before we begin our post today… I am here to remind you that the second installment of the SMG Your Scraps Matter Scavenger hunt starts today!!! Melanie (scrappymelly) has some really creative clues for you.  Be sure to head over to the forum and check it out!! 

-Amanda (panders77)

This was a difficult decision because there were so many great layouts in the gallery, but I picked this layout, Disneyland Memories by corsicar:

I love all the paper blocks, the stacked photos and all the different frames she used to make a fantastic Disney layout!  Be sure to head over to the forum or gallery and leave her some love!!

-Amanda (Apatchetear)

This week I had to honor of interviewing Melissa (Yzebear19).  I always admire her awesome journaling  so I was excited to hear about the woman behind these all those fabulous words!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? Yzebear19 / Melissa

2. What is your main job/career?   I work full time.

3. Are you married/children/pets?  I’m not married and the only children I have are of the furry four-legged persuasion. My sister and I are sort of crazy cat ladies. We have 12 cats: Draco and Isis (8 years old), Morgana (7.5 years old), Cassie (3.5 years old), Addie, Chunky Monkey, Sadie, and Wednesday (almost a year old), and Andromeda, Butterscotch, Loki, and Hades (6 months old). We also take care of my oldest brother’s two cats Sam and Syd (3 years old). All but the three oldest cats we rescued or found. Each one has a unique personality. It is fun to see that personality develop and to watch them all interact. For the most part they all get along, though every so often they will disagree about something. They are all fairly well behaved cats, which is good.

4. Where is home for you?   I live in the beautiful state of Michigan.

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?  There are lots of different foods I like, but I think my favorites would be lasagna with lots of cheese, but no meat, a cheesy Chicago deep dish pizza, and turkey.

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  I really don’t eat a lot of ice cream anymore, but one of my favorites has always been Pistachio. I also really like cookies and cream.

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet?  I like both, but if I had to pick I would pick sweet. I love milk chocolate.

8. Beverage of choice?  I drink mostly water. Though my favorite beverage would be St. Julian’s sparkling white grape juice. It’s made in Michigan and so good. I also really like Sparkling Punch from Kroger’s. It’s a carbonated punch that is really good. The best part is that it still tastes good if it goes flat.

9. What’s your least favorite food?  I’m a very picky eater and there are a lot of foods I really don’t like. Some of the foods I strongly dislike are mushrooms, coconut, candy conversation hearts, circus peanuts, and beans. I remember growing up my Grandpa feeding us circus peanuts because he really liked them, but I couldn‘t stand them. Recently when we went to put the holiday wreath on his grave we took him a bag of circus peanuts.

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use?  I use a PC, a pretty red Dell laptop which I love. I use Photoshop 7 and Photoshop Elements 8 to scrap.

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started?  I started digi-scrapping in March 2007 because I was frustrated by the lack of paper and elements for Civil War related topics. I had all these beautiful photos from the battlefields and paper scrapping wasn’t really doing them justice. I saw a bunch of beautiful layouts on another message board and decided it would be perfect for my Civil War battlefield layouts. Once I started I was hooked.

12. What was your 1st LO about?  My first layout was of Antietam National Cemetery using one of my favorite photos of “Old Simon” who stands at the center of the cemetery. The words on it are from the poem “Bivouac of the Dead” that is displayed around the cemetery on plaques. I didn’t really use a whole of scrapbook elements on the layout.

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)?  I have a lot of other hobbies! I love to read and write, though finding time to do either is often a challenge. I have probably close to 1,000 books and keep adding more. I also love to travel. I love to go to museums and places of historical interest, especially Civil War battlefields. My favorite battlefields are Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, PA and Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD. I also love to go to Disney. My sister and I have been lucky enough to visit both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. I love listening to music and going to concert. My favorite band is the Counting Crows and I’ve seen them 8 or 9 times. I’ve sort of lost count!

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you?  I think for me layering is the hardest. I will try adding a lot of elements and then not like the way it looks so I usually take most of the off. The other aspect I struggle with are titles. I usually struggle to think of an interesting title.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?  I would like to learn to take better photos. My camera has a lot of manual features, but I have no clue how to use them. I tend to stick to the preset or auto modes. I have always thought it would be lots of fun to be a Civil War reenactor, but I haven’t been able to convince Melinda that it would be fun. Maybe someday.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?  I love movies! My sister is a huge movie buff so we have tons of DVDs! My favorite movies in alphabetical order are Gone with the Wind, Legends of the Fall, Mulan, and Titanic. I love historical dramas. I really don’t watch all that much TV anymore. I’ve been watching a lot of older shows on DVD lately like Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Enterprise, and My Name is Earl. The shows I do watch though are Pysch, Cold Case, The Tudors, and the Amazing Race.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  I pretty much scrap wherever my laptop is. Sometimes its in the living room, sometimes in the computer room and sometimes in my bedroom. Though usually wherever I am at home there is at least one cat watching as I scrap. I like to listen to music while I scrap, though often the TV is on.

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be?  This is an easy question! Definitely flowers and leaves. I love flowers. I’m sort of addicted to them!

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  Most people know I like history, but I actually have a bachelor’s degree in history. My focus was mostly American history. My favorite part of American history would be the Civil War. My dad was a history buff so I was exposed to history at an early age. I used to love talking to him about history. We often would watch the same programs on the history channel. That is one thing I really miss.

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style?  Not sure really how to describe my style, but I think my style is pretty simple.

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?  My favorite layouts:

-The Sunken Road (2009) - This is my favorite part of the battlefield. When we were there on the anniversary of the battle we were the only people at this part and it was so quiet and serene. A far contrast to what it was like the day of the battle.

Full layout:

Page 1:

Page 2:

-It’s magic – I love this photo of Melinda in front of the castle. I love how perfectly the paper matched the photo.

- This feels like home – I love the journaling on this one. I tried to channel all of the feelings I had when we crossed back into Michigan on the way from Pennsylvania. It had been a LONG drive and it just felt sooo good to be back in Michigan where things were familiar.

22. What is one thing you tend not to use on layouts?  I try to use a little bit of everything, but if there were one thing I use less than others I think it would be buttons. I tend to not use a lot of buttons and I’m not sure why.

23. How long have you lived in your city?  I have lived in the city where I live my entire life.

24. What is your favorite childhood memory and have you scrapped it?  That is a difficult question. I think my favorite memory would be when my family went down to Florida for spring break in 1987. We drove from Michigan to Florida with a pop-up camper and six of us crammed into one station wagon. On the way down we stopped in Panama City Beach, FL to see my Great-Grandma and maternal grandparents. After that we headed to Orlando to go to Walt Disney World. I had been to Walt Disney World when I was two years old, but this was the first trip that I remember. We camped at the campground at Disney, which was fun. I remember one night the laser show from EPCOT knocked out all of the power. I remember being scared of Dumbo at first and wouldn’t let my brother go high, but once the ride started I loved it. I loved the tea cups. I remember spinning so fast. We met a bunch of characters. My mom likes to remind me that I was terrified riding Spaceship Earth. On the way back home we stopped in Chattanooga, TN and went to Lookout Mountain. It was beautiful! It was such a fun trip. I scrapped it as part of the “My Story Matters” challenge

Full layout:

Page 1:

Page 2:

Another really happy memory I have from being a child was going to Florida in October 1990 for my Great-Grandma’s 100th birthday. There were so many people at her birthday party. There were family members I had never met. It was awesome. The hotel we stayed at was right on the beach and in the morning you could see the dolphins! I remember the day of my Grandma’s birthday the cable wasn’t working at the hotel so everyone went to a local restaurant to watch the Today show to see if she was shown during Willard Scott’s segment, but she wasn’t. I was so glad that we were able to be there for such an awesome event and that I got the chance to meet my Great-Grandma who was an amazing woman.

WOW!! Aren’t you inspired to go and really record your memories??!  That is what looking at Melissa’s LOs always does for me!  Thanks so much for letting us get to know you better, Melissa!  Head on over to her gallery and leave her some love! 

-Melanie (Scrappymelly)

Hi everyone!! Fiona here for this weeks Saturday Special. This week I’m going to show you how to do something that I just learned how to do myself. We are going to journal around a picture using vector shapes and text on a path! Sound complicated? It’s really not!
Maybe you already knew how to do this but I have always tried to use the pen tool to text on a path. Using vector shapes is so much less time consuming!
*Note* This tutorial should work in PS CS – CS4.

First open up your canvas, mine is 12×12 but any size is fine of course. Next, from your tools palette, select your Custom Shapes Tool, it might be hidden under the Elipse Tool or another shape tool, you can find it in the flyout menu.

Next, at the top of your screen, you will find a shapes palette. You can select any shape you would like, you will eventually be clipping your photo to this shape. For my page I am going to choose the eliptical shape.

Now, move down to your canvas. Click and drag to create your shape. Holding the shift key at the same time will give you a perfect circle if you have chosen to use the eliptical shape as I did. You should now have a shape on your canvas that is filled with a colour like this:

Don’t worry if your shape is not exactly where you like it. Just choose your move tool from your tool palette and move your shape to where you want it.
Next, from your tool palette, choose the Horizontal Type Tool:

Next, move your cursor over the edge of your shape at the point you want your text to begin.
As you move your cursor over the edge of your shape, you’ll see it change to show that your text will follow the path if you begin typing at that spot. Simply click on the spot where you want to begin typing. You can now choose your font, size, colour, etc. at the top of your screen.

Once you have these selected, just begin typing. Your text should follow the path around your shape.

Now that your journaling is added, it’s time to get your picture! Over in the layers palette, select the layer with your shape on it. Now left click and select "Rasterize Layer". The layer should now have just the shape you made on it.

Now drag you picture onto your canvas. Your picture layer should be directly above your shape layer in the layers palette.

Now clip you picture to your shape. You do this by hovering over the line between the two layers in your layers palette while holding down your "Alt" key. When you see your cursor change shape, simply click to clip your picture!

You should now have your picture in the the shape you chose with your journaling around it!
Your challenge this week is to journal around a picture, a paper or some other element. You can use this tutorial or, if you don’t use Photoshop CS, you can check out some of the great "Text On A Path" packs in the ScrapMatters shop! (Check to make sure they work for your program first!)

There is a even a freebie one from Happy Scrap Girl!

Here is my completed page:

using Winter Crush by Erica Zane and The Cutting Edge by Chelle’s Creations.
Now for some awesome inspiration from the CT:

by Emilee (emileem)

by Liz (mommy22girls)

by Amanda (panders77)

by Cyndi (Cyndi146)

You have until Feb 28th to complete your layout, upload it to the Saturday Special Gallery and link it back to the Saturday Special thread. You’ll receive an extra point for using a new release (remember to tell me you used a new release in your post.) At the end of the month I’ll choose one layout to get an extra point as well!
I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!

Fiona (aka canadianmommy)