Beautiful photos and colors! I love how the photos are framed, the paint splats and scatters behind everything, and the borders on the sides and bottom.  Please congratulate alinalove for winning Layout of the Week!

To leave love, click the image above.  She used Lilacs in Bloom by Jennifer Labre

Fonts as Titles

By Michelle Bradshaw

There are so many wonderful fonts available and they are a wonderful option for a title if there isn’t an alpha set from your kit. Even if you find a font you like, it just might not look too good as a title.

Here are some tips to manipulate the font and still have it create a wonderful title.

Thin fonts- Example 1- Papyrus; Example 2- Scriptina Notice how thin the font appears

Next we will manipulate the font for a thicker appearance.

Duplicate the text layer [ctrl/cmd +j]- Sometimes that is all that is needed to give the font an extra boost.

If still not to your liking, this next tip is an easy one. Click the zoom tool [keyboard shortcut ‘z’]. In the option bar select Actual Pixels. Switch to the Move tool [keyboard shortcut V] and using the arrow keys, nudge the new layer one pixel to the right.

Let’s look at other styles of font that could be used as a title that might need a bit of manipulation.

If there is a font where the letters are closer together than one wishes for a title such as

From the text option bar, select the character and toggle option and adjust the horizontal scale. The same can be done using the vertical scale if the font feels too short.

And here is the same font, same size and only the scale adjusted.

Experiment and see what works for your pages.

Happy Scrapping,

Michelle

We are changing things up just a bit at ScrapMatters, and we are so excited about this first change – we’re sure you will be, too! Rather than our usual (small) Manic Monday sale each week, we’ll be having a HUGE Monthly Manic Monday sale on the third Monday of every month. There will be more products, more layout inspiration, more savings, more fun.. just MORE! So join us and check out the 50+ products available for just 50% off! The sale runs from 12am-11:59pm ET today (Monday) only, so act quickly before these savings are gone!

Hi!  I hope your weekend is starting off nicely and that you’ve got time to check out some really wonderful layouts!  It’s weeks like this that make blogging the GSOs an absolute joy!  So many beautiful layouts in the gallery this week and many ended up in the GSO thread.

Michelle (msbrad) nailed the May 1st journaling challenge with this first gorgeous layout.  It was nominated by Debby (debbysrose) who excitedly said, “I have one, I have one! This layout by Michelle is awesome, such a lovely tribute to her Mom and capturing such an important part of both of their lives. The kit was perfect, the extraction AMAZING, the layering something else.”

“I just stumbled upon this page in the gallery. How stinkin’ cute is this little guy? The page is stunning with the clustering and color choices to accent the photo. Just beautiful!” said Kate when she treated us to this layout by Gail (gwalters).   And Gail had a second layout chosen for GSO, too!  Be sure to check it out in the gallery.

Kate was on a roll and nominated this adorable layout by scrappinnewbie.  She said, “I also found this one, I must have a thing for little ones at the moment, because here’s another stunning page with another little cutie! I love the pattern paper combinations and color choices, it really makes the page pop.”

This next layout by mhreen08 caught Olga’s (zinzilah) eye for its “vibrant colours and a feel of happiness.”  She said, “beautifully created piece of art, I like it more than Warhol’s as yours has colourful splashes that create a happy look!”  The photo effect is amazing and colors fabulous!

Gail paid it forward and nominated this next amazing layout that was was inspired by this month’s Ad Challenge.  Gail said, “This layout by Dawn (Aussiegirl) is eye-catchingly awesome. I love the whole concept of the photo, and the way she created the layout with it. The color scheme and composition are great and she did a perfect job with the selective coloring. Very nice!!

Lastly, Jessica (Kramer.zoo) chose this precious layout.  She said, “I keep looking at this LO by mrspotts!! The photo blend is beautifully done and the small photo cluster is wonderful!! Simply beautiful!!”  I love the stitched edges and the title work is so perfect!

Each layout above is linked back to the gallery for credits. Don’t forget to check out this week’s GSO thread to see some more equally beautiful layouts.  And when you come across a layout in the gallery that knocks your socks off, feel free to make someone’s day and nominate it for a GSO.

~Dolores

We have another beautiful beach themed layout this week!  We must all be needing a beach vacation because these are SPEAKING to us! =)  Look how beautiful these colors are!  I love the rustic feel and how the photo treatment used works perfectly with the color tones in the kit! Please congratulate Natascha for winning Layout of the Week!

To leave love, click the image above.  She used Flights of Fancy and Project Sketch Vol. 1 by River~Rose.

Monday ONLY!! Select items are 50% off!! Visit the ScrapMatters Shop for more details!!
*Sale runs 12am-11:59pm ET. HURRY! What are you waiting for!?! *

Saving Hard Drive Space – part 2

By Michelle Bradshaw

I’m hoping everyone enjoyed the iNSD for May, 2013 and you were able to find many lovely digital supplies with all the super sales and freebies. Now it is the daunting task of unzipping, organizing and finally scrapbooking. Did you purchase so much that you now feel the need for another EHD?

Don’t dash to the store just yet, as I have a few tips that might just save some drive space.

After unzipping your kits, what do you do with those zipps? If you choose to save them, consider placing them onto DVD or moving them to a different drive location. If in the same place as your unzipped kit, you’ve increased the file size plus if your drive goes bad…there go both. [I delete them].

Here are a few others I do—

-Place all the items of a kit into the same folder, and only have an alpha folder inside.

-Alphas- keep either the individual letters OR the all in one, not both

-Templates-keep just the file format you use and delete the rest

-Previews-keep just one of the kit and delete the rest

-delete the MACOSX folder if there is one [I have PC, no need to keep]

- just one TOU, link to FB, or blog per designer, not one in each kit

For me, this just makes it easier and less cluttered.

All the best, happy scrapping.

Michelle

So, are you recovered from last weekend’s iNSD fun and shopping?  I just love getting good deals and there were some great ones at ScrapMatters!  I’ve unzipped my purchases, haven’t done my filing yet, but hope to soon.  And I really hope to scrap with everything, too!  We’ve got some great layouts in the gallery and lots made with iNSD realeases.  These were some of the layouts in this week’s GSO thread.

Michelle (msbrad) is our resident beach girl so naturally was drawn to this layout by dodiegonzales. She said, “I know.. Water related and I could not resist! Check out this alpha.”  That group photo is wonderful!

This next layout by Lindsay KS not only is a GSO, but was also chosen as Layout of the Week!  Lisa (kelseyll) nominated Lindsay’s layous and said, “This one by Lindsay_KS is just stunning!!!”  I am envious of her tropical vacation and aweseome clustering!

Michelle came back with another GSO, and said, “I am in love with this WA [I want an 8x10 of it] and along with Trina’s expression, does this page not totally ROCK!”

Jessica (Kramer.zoo) found this beauty in the gallery and said, “I had to add this one from dianeskie, Pure. It is purely beautiful with the white wood BG paper..and the pops of blue completes it!!”

This next layout makes me want to go back in time to take more pictures of my own daughter when she was a baby…and I’d take my digital camera with me since I didn’t have one then!  Michelle shared Kim’s (kmkarayannis) layout with these words, “What a fantastic set of expressions on this sweet baby! Love the blending of photos and the composition with the focus pictures. Perfect title for the page. I feel a scraplift coming.”

Our last GSO is by Chris (porkchops mom).  Michelle found this layout and said, “I’m having a ball looking at all the fabulous LO’s in the gallery. Love the layered mats with the pretty edgework. Super page flow right to the title.”

Aren’t those all so beautiful?  I just love the inspiration I find in the ScrapMatters gallery and GSO thread.  Check out this past week’s GSO thread for even more wonderful layouts!  Each layout is linked back to the gallery for credit information.  Feel free to leave love for our scrappers and if you find something you absolutely love in the gallery, please let us know about it in next week’s GSO thread!  Thanks for spending part of your day with us.  I hope the rest of your weekend is marvelous!

~Dolores