(Sorry this is a day late… I put it all together and was sure I published it!! Enjoy!)

My pick for LOTW is Explore your World by iJenny.  I love the blocking, the different alphas in the title and how she has everything in the pocket! It is seriously adorable and so creative!  Check it out!

The image is linked so head on over to the gallery or the forum to leave her some love!  Congrats iJenny!!

-Tanya (TanyaH666)

This week I was able to interview Chelle of Chelle’s Creations!  It was so fun to learn more about her!

1. Your screen name? Your real name?  Chelle’s Creations aka Markyzmom  — I was markyzmom before I started designing so I use both names now.  Real name:  Rachelle

2. What is your main job/career? My main job is definitely Mom.  But I help my husband with a financial services small business that we own.

3. Are you married/children/pets?  Married 17 years.  7 kids:  DstepS 23, DstepS21, deceased dd@3.5, dd15, dd13, ds9, and ds6months  No pets…aren’t I busy enough without pets?

4. Where is home for you? Rural Northern Utah

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?  steak, salmon, homemade whole wheat bread.  Yum!

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  Pineapple Sherbet with a scoop of pineapple on top.  Yum!  (I think I’m hungry now)

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet?  Definitely sweet.  I can’t leave the Werther’s caramel candies alone.

8. Beverage of choice?  WATER!!!

9. What’s your least favorite food?  Any green vegetable. LOL!

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use?  I use my MacBook Pro with Photoshop CS4 and Illustrator CS4

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started?  For 5 years…but the first 3 I didn’t know I was digi scrapping.  I printed books with my photos, the story, and a few primitive “elements” I’d designed.  Then one day I stumbled on ScrapMatters and realized you could BUY what I was making.  I was in HEAVEN!

12. What was your 1st LO about? Um…this IS embarrassing.  Here’s one of my first “real” layouts.

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)?  I like to crochet, paint, and read…but I spend very little time on those hobbies…scrapping is more fun.  LOL!

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you?  Creatively fitting the story on the page.  I usually have a LOT of journaling and a lot of photos…just fitting everything in.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?  Whenever I go into the ‘quilting’ store I think, “Someday this will be one of my talents.”  And I’d always like to improve my drawing skills….hmmm…and photography…and….

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?  I’m not much of a movie or TV watcher, but I am hooked on White Collar.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  At the kitchen table.  A handful of almonds or Werther’s and a bottle of water nearby.  Baby in my lap, kids around with their laptops or they’ll watch TV or do homework.

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

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  I have a master’s degree in mathematics education…I actually understand ALL of my kids math homework.

20. When did you start designing? I started designing a couple years ago, but only for myself for the first six months…then I entered the ScrapMatters design star competition and it took off from there.

21. How would you describe your design style?  Realistic, fun, bright

22. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation?  The longer I do this, the more I see ideas everywhere.  For example, a few weeks ago in the grocery store checkout lane I saw a Martha Stewart magazine with a light blue gingham background, red napkin (I think) and a grilled hamburger.  From that came the revamp of Chillin’ & Grillin’

23. Which of your kits showcases you style the most?  Wow…this one is hard…Probably the Celebrate! combo.  It’s got some felt, some “real” items, and some doodles.

24. What is your favorite color scheme to design with?  Anything with blue in it.  LOL!  I have a hard time NOT including some blue in a kit.

25. Favorite kit you’ve designed?  I always like my most recent kit the best, but my all time favorite would have to be Sunnyside Up.  It reminds me of fond memories of my childhood:  my Dad made waffles every Saturday morning while I was growing up.

Thanks Chelle!  Check out her full store here!!

-Kelli (Kellig)

Hello there ladies

I am Lina (aka LDrag Designs)
today I would like to show you a few tips on how we can use the
Magic Wand Tool on our photoshop to cut specific shapes!!
OK?
let’s start
TIP 1
I want to cut a pic on my page so that it has exactly the same shape as my frame because I want to angle the frame and it will have the same look!

In order to do so, I go to my layers pallette and I select my frame. Then, I click with my Magic Wand Tool somewhere on the outside of the frame, so that I see marching ants running around my frame.

Make sure you have contiguous checked on the Magic Wand’s Tool palette cause otherwise it won’t check only the outside but the frame too!

Then, select the photo layer on your pallette and click EDIT – Cut
or the short keys Ctrl – X

After that you can shadow your frame!

Remember the object you are using as shape to cut how you want must not be shadowed!

Tip 2

Recently I had a Speed Scrap and I had asked the girls to use a triple frame and add on it only one photo and in the rest add something else, like another paper as patchwork!

How can I add only one pic inside the middle shape of the frame?

I select again the frame layer and with my Magic wand Tool I click where I want to have the photo! In this case in the middle of the frame, until I see marching ants running around the shape I want to put the photo!
Then I select again the photo layer and do the following!

SELECT- Inverse and then
EDIT – Cut
and voilla!!
The pic is in the inside of the frame!

You can follow the same procedure if you want to add a paper to the other two places but you can save some time if you do the following!!

Open another paper and put it behind the frame, it doesn’t matter if it is in front of or behind the photo as it will not stay as it is!
You can make it a little smaller like this!!

Now, in order to select the 2 places in the frame you can click on the first, using your Magic Wand Tool as always and then in order to click on the second you must have the SHIFT key pressed in order to select them both!

Then follow the same

SELECT – Inverse and then
EDIT – Cut and here you go!

Add some shadows too and you are finished!!

This was you can cut multiple shapes without repeating the same routine all the time!!

These tips can be applied to many things like masks or other shapes that are difficult to cut!!

Hope I have given you a new tip today!!

and here are a few pages from our team to see it in action!

by Heidi aka scrappurple

using Easter Salutations  by British Designs& Studio Tangie and All about the photos by Designs by Tater

and by Shari

 and

here is mine using my new Kit Love Is…  collab with JennCK Designs

If you have any questions, just ask! I can’t wait to see what you make!

A Rules Reminder:

- You have until the end of August to complete this challenge.
- Post your pages in the “Saturday Special” gallery and link it back to the thread  in the forum.
- You will earn 1 point for your LO and a bonus point if you use a new release (within 7 days of release – be sure to mention this in the forum and in your credits).
- You don’t have to use ScrapMatters products, but we love it when you do!
- No double dipping, your LO must be unique to this challenge.
- At the end I will pick a random winner to receive an extra bonus point.

Can’t wait to see your pages!!
Hugs
Lina

Happy Thursday, Everyone! Tgmousechick Kim back again for the August edition of Getting Hybrid. Today, I’m going to walk you through making printable/hybrid labels- just in time for heading back to school. Here are just a few ways you can incorporate printable labels into your life:

- Bookplates

- To/From Gift Tags (the holidays are coming!)

- ID and Name Tags (for events, moving boxes, etc)

- Jar Labels (doing any canning this summer?)

- Lunch Box Notes

- Homemade stickers

I thought I was going to have to go into depth about adapting Word templates into overlays that can be used in Photoshop or other programs, but I was pleasantly surprised when I went to www.avery.com (Avery-Dennsion, a popular label supplier) and a few of their templates were made for Photoshop!  When you go to the site, type in the keyword “Photoshop” and it will pull up their psd templates. These are free- you just have to register on the site. As of Tuesday, they had psd templates for their 3″x4″ shipping labels (6 per sheet- which is what I’ll show you today), and a few others.

So, let’s get started!

I opened up the Avery template in Photoshop, and it consisted of two layers: a blank background, and an overlay with the label boundaries. I started by simplying using my shape tool and drawing a rectangle to define the boundaries of my label. I drew the rectangle slightly bigger than the label to allow for full bleed (the design going clear to the edge of the label). It also allows for a millimeter or two here and there of where your template says where the label is and where it actually is. That said, when you design your label, be aware of where you place your digital embellishments. Don’t place them right up against the ede of the label unless you are OK with it potentially getting clipped off. Take my example in the screen shot below. I arranged the clouds knowing that parts of them will get clippped off, where I kept the kite a little closer to the inside of the label, since I wanted that element in tact even if my label was slightly out of alignment with the template:

Here is my complete set of labels, ready to be sent to the printer. I kept the Avery template overlay layer shown so you can see what the label should look like printed. Before you print, go ahead and hide the overlay layer. You don’t need those extra gray lines on your labels if the alignment is slightly off- less trimming for you later!

A summary of the kits I used:

top left: Kids at Play by the ScrapMatters Team; top right: Explore, Learn, Grow and Journaling Blocks by Sahlin Studio; middle left: Mermaid Lagoon by Britt-ish Designs; middle right: Kiss That Frog by Britt-ish Designs and DeCrow Designs; bottom left: I’m a Dreamer- Revisted by Britt-ish Design; bottom right: Double Dipped by Bella Gypsy

You see I put a collection of different projects on a single sheet: a bunch of ID labels for my daughter’s composition notebooks for school, a bookplate (the Journaling Blocks by Sahlin Studio made these ridiculously easy), a lunch box note, and a gift tag. For the future, you can save each of these mini projects as its own psd or jpeg. That will make printing a sheet of labels fast and easy.

Run your labels through the printer. If you want to be ultra precise on matching up the edges of the labels, run a test print in draft mode of a sheet of scrap paper. I hold that up to a sheet of labels to check the alignment, and move blocks as necessary for the real print. Otherwise, I just kept my scissors handly for a quick trim after printing.

When you print, remember that you are typically not printing on the same coated paper that you may use for other hybrid projects- so be prepared that your colors may not be as sharp and vibrant. However, I found my print quality to be very acceptable. Alternatively, you can print labels on your inkjet-coated papers, and then run them through an adhesive, like your Xyron (Amanda did this for her project you’ll see in a bit).

In this photo, you can see the benefit of making your starting rectangle slightly bigger than the label itself. See how the image goes right to the edge of the label?

Finally, to truly “Hyb-Up” your project, you can embellish with the usual suspects. Choose your embellishments carefully. If you are making book plates, for example, you probably don’t want to add anything super chunky, since it will be closed within the book. Don’t damage your book spines!! For the ID labels, I added some Stickles glitter glue:

Here are my finished projects! You can see the lunch box note, and two of the composition book labels. I also had my daughter write in her own name on one:

Amanda (AbHall), used this idea to make an ID label (and embellishments) for her son’s saxophone case. She use Night Music and Simply Stamped Red Alpha by Andilynn Designs:

You have all month to show me your label creations as part of the Matter of Scrap challenges! Remember to post your projects in the “Hybrid Challenges” section of the gallery, and post to this accompanying thread in the forums. Also remember that you get a bonus point for using a new product (a product is considered new if you post your project within a week  that the product is released). Challenge projects need to be posted before midnight PDT on August 31st.

Have a great week everyone!!

Welcome to another round of Grand Theft Layout! This week we’ll be raiding the fabulous gallery of andrea4376! To complete this challenge, you’ll need to browse through her gallery and choose a layout to inspire a page of your own. Make sure to check out the details in the forum and post your layout along with a link to the layout you chose from her gallery.

I chose to lift this page:

And here’s my lift using Seaside Kit by The Design Girl and Stitchy Bits from Inspirations by Day:

And check out all of the awesome inspiration provided by the CT:

alansrock chose to lift this page:

And her lift using Play Chef mini kit by Scrapmuss Designs:

TanyaH666 chose to lift this one:

And her lift using Easter Salutations by Britt-ish Designs and Tangie Baxter:

jennamy82 picked this page:

And here’s her lift using Sunbeams and Daydreams by Connie Prince:

Challenge reminders:
-You will receive one point for posting your layout in this thread & in the Grand Theft Layout gallery. 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 the month I will choose one layout at random for a bonus point!

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

-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!

PRIVET everyone!

I posted a thread in the forum over the past couple of weeks asking what YOU in the community wanted as a tip or tutorial and of the ideas expressed I was intrigued by the request from Neeny! She asked how to shadow elements when using a dark background. I’m not a shadow expert since I cheat and use styles for my shadows and since we’ve covered shadows three or more times as a Sat Special I figured it would be a fun Sat Special to challenge you to cross over to the DARK side and ask you to use a dark background on your page!

Tips: I found it best to use a darker shade of blue for my shadow colors to give my shadows more depth. There are some great tutorials here, here and here about shadows that might help you. And there are a set of shadow styles from Jennifer Barrette for sale in the store here.

Becca shares this tip as well, “I know that when I shadow I often change my blend mode to Linear Burn. On dark backgrounds linear burn is way too dark though, so I stick with multiply, but I’ll often darken the opacity of the shadow to 85 when I do that b/c it seems that the shadow doesn’t show up as well on the dark background.”

My page:

And here is what the wonderful Creative Team whipped up…
Fiona made this page using After Dark by Sahlin Studio and The Cutting Edge by Chelle’s Creations:

Becky’s page using Adventures in Reading & Iconology by Plum Dumpling Designs, Round the Block Template by Man In The Moon Designs, Paper Cuts from Designs by Sarah Bennett, Garden Party from The Design Girl and Sweetest Days by Erica Zane:

Becca made this using After Dark by Sahlin Studio :

Kat’s page using After Dark by Sahlin Studio & Jennifer Barette’s shadow styles:

Amber made this page using All For One Template & Made in America by Britt-ish Designs, Polka Dotty Alpha by Wimpychompers and Glass Pebble Alpha by Sahlin Studio:

Lori’s page using Miss Kitty by Britt-ish Designs and Jubilant by Connie Prince:

scrappurple made this 2-pager using Make a Wish by Sahlin Studio & Valorie Wibbens and Birthday Word Art by Sahlin Studios:

Challenge reminders:
-Post your pages in the “Saturday Special” gallery and link it back to the thread in the forum. 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 August I will choose my favorite layout for a bonus point!

-You have until the end of Aug to have your page count for 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!

I can’t wait to see your DARK side pages!
-Jami

Hello Henriette here with this months photochallenge and we will be talking about how to photograph a butterfly.

From an article by Steve Berardi from PhotoNaturalist

Butterflies are pretty sensitive little creatures. Get too close, and they’ll fly away in a hurry. And, even when you do get close, they’re constantly moving from flower to flower, gathering their most precious prize: sweet nectar. All this makes it difficult to photograph butterflies, but here are 8 tips for dealing with some of these problems:

1. Use a tripod, but keep the head loose
Butterflies move quickly from flower to flower, so you won’t have time to lock in your tripod. But, you can still use it for some stability by keeping the head loose (so you can quickly move the camera).

2. Wait for colder weather
Butterflies need heat from the sun to use their wings, so they like to take it easy when it’s colder out (early morning or late afternoon). With colder weather, you’ll be able to approach them more easily.

3. Position your camera’s sensor so it’s parallel to the butterfly’s wings
You only get one geometrical plane of complete sharpness, so you want to put as much of your subject in this plane as possible. With butterflies, you’ll want their body and wings tack sharp, so make sure your camera’s sensor is parallel to them.

4. Wait until the butterfly is frontlit by the sun
Side lighting will usually result in a harsh shadow across the butterfly’s wings, and backlighting is always difficult because of flares. So, wait until the butterfly moves to a position where it’s frontlit by the sun.

5. Use a fast shutter
When you’re photographing butterflies, three things are almost always moving: the camera, the butterfly, and the flower it’s perched on. To help freeze the action and increase your chances of getting a sharp photo, use a fast shutter by increasing your ISO to 400.

6. Shoot in JPEG mode (sometimes)
If you’re having a hard time with the wind and a constantly moving butterfly, you may want to consider shooting in JPEG instead of RAW. This will allow you to snap a lot more shots in a burst, increasing your chances of getting a sharp photo (when everything stood still for a microsecond).

7. Wait for butterflies (patiently), don’t chase them
If the butterflies seem extra sensitive when you’re trying to approach them, then try to just wait patiently at one flower instead. Although butterflies will usually get scared if you approach them, they’ll usually land on flowers right next to you if you’re already sitting there. Be patient though: it might be 15-20 minutes before a butterfly shows up.

8. Be careful not to cast a shadow on the butterfly
Butterflies love the sun, so if you cast a shadow on them, they’ll usually fly away. Remember this as you’re approaching them.

Please read the posting rules too, especially about posting in the right gallery, thank you!!

1. Upload your photo (and LO if you have one) to the appropriate gallery, then please link it back to the challenge in the forum
2. Just one entry per person will be eligible for a point, one extra point can be earned for doing a LO with the picture and if you win the challenge you also gain one extra point
3. The pictures must be especially made for this months challenge
4. No double dipping with other challenges please

Here are two gorgeous pictures from Heidi and Amanda

And my own go at the challenge

Have fun!!