Hello Scrappers! This week we are highlighting Monique. Her gallery is filled with simple STUNNING layouts. I’m sure you can find tons of inspiration.

I chose to lift: So Happy Together

Here’s mine:

And here’s some inspiration from the ScrapMatters Creative Team:

Heidi chose to lift:  So Different

and here’s her layout:  So Alike

Gi Christina chose:  Right Now

And here’s her layout: a moment of pure magic

Jamie chose: Be happy being who you are

And her layout: Aiden

Becca chose: France

and here’s her layout: Lili

And Marlen chose: Sven is the Man

and here’s her layout:  Ritter Sport Museum

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 March I will choose one layout at random for a bonus point!

-You have until the end of March to complete your layout for your points 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!

Can’t wait to see what you create!

–Chelle

Hi everyone, Connie here with my first chance at hosting a Template Tuesday challenge here at SM. I’m very excited to share this template with you & can’t wait to see what you come up with!!

*There are no rules this time other than to use the template

Download Here: http://www.4shared.com/file/237555197/50ac1bd7/cap_031610Tuestemp.html

My layout:

And some amazing inspiration from the team using the template!

By JillyFish using: “Alvean’s Beauty Parlor” by Andilynn Designs

By kim21673 using Plugged In and Hang Up Word and Date Tags by Connie Prince

By misfitinmn using I Wuff You by Connie Prince & Bella Gypsy

By profiler_mar using The Bees Knees and The Bees Knees WA by Connie Prince

By abhall76 using SM Birthday Gift Kit & Felty Alpha by WM[squared]

By .megan. using Play by Sahlin Studio and Decrow Designs

By anrobe using Vibrant Memories by Pri Rocha

By loribear using Remember Me by Sarah Bennett

By QuiltyMom using The Good Life by Juno Designs

By jennamy82 using Banana Split by Britt-ish Designs and Gwenipooh Designs

Now before you go, just a few quick reminders:

* Post your layouts to the Tuesday Template gallery, then link us up here so we can leave you lots of love
* You will earn one point by participating in this challenge. You can receive an EXTRA point for using a product that has been released in the seven days prior to your post – be sure to make a note of this in your post so you receive proper credit!
* Your layout must be unique to this challenge – no double dipping..
* You have until the end of the month to complete the challenge
* At the end of the month, I’ll choose one random winner to receive an EXTRA point

Have fun creating!!!

Connie Prince

Heidi here with a new Saturday special … shadows.  There are so many different directions I could go, but today I am going to show you how to change the color of your shadow.  If you have questions about shadows, you can always check here and here for a wealth of information. Before I get started, I wanted to highlight an amazing product in our store … Get Real – Realistic Drop Shadow Styles by Jennifer Barrette.  Jennifer had made it simple to apply a shadow to almost any element you can imagine.  With my example below, I have used her shadow styles on my layouts. Simple and easy.  Jennifer was kind enough to offer a coupon if you would like to purchase her style :

$1 off
code – getreal_1off
expires – March 20th 2010

O.k., onto the lesson.  Have you ever had an item that you added a shadow to, but it just doesn’t look right?  Sometimes, having a black shadow isn’t natural.  Look around you right now.  Are the items casting shadows black? Maybe they are a soft shade of gray. Maybe the are reflecting the color of the item as the shadow. Keep this mind as you go to shadow today’s layout.

However you add your shadow, go ahead and add it to your paper/element/etc.  Now, I want you to double click on the “fx” on your layer you shadowed.

It should bring up a box that looks like this:
Make sure you that the  “drop shadow” box is highlighted in blue like the #2 shows. If that is not highlighted, you will not see the screen above.  Next, I want you to click in the black box circled in #3.  It should bring up a new box that looks like this:
Notice that your cursor can now choose a new color if you place it over your layout. Next, I want you to click on your paper.  You color box will change to the color of the paper and this is o.k.  Now you want to start moving down on the color box.  I usually go to the gray side of my color.  Watch how the shadow color changes on your element.  Does it now look a little softer and more natural?  Keep playing with it until you get a shadow that looks like it would if it were sitting in front of you right now.  Or, if you have Jennifer’s style, you can keep the color where it is and just move the sliders as shown by the #4 until you get a color you are happy with.

For my layout above, I had white paper under my pics/elements.  With Jennifer’s shadows, she has a brown color for the shadow which give a nice warm natural shadow.  But for this particular layout, I wanted my shadow a little more on the “cool” side, so I changed the shadow color.  I did not, however, change the shadow color of the white paper resting on the bottom brown paper.  It was the perfect color for that paper.

Here is my layout:

Please note that this was using CS4.  I am not familiar with Elements, but I was told by Denise, who is the queen said that the dialog boxes look different, but the concept still works. This also works in Paint Shop Pro.

Good Morning!!  Andrea (chia) here with this weeks Grand Theft Layout.  We have some new girls on the ScrapMatter’s Creative Team and I wanted to highlight the growing gallery of one of these new CT members…dianeskie.  She has a fun style that I’m sure you will love lifting!!

I chose to lift Enjoy Every Moment…

Here is my layout using Happy Go Lucky by Jenn Barrette Designs…

And here is what has inspired the ScrapMatter’s Team…

wm[squared] lifted…

And using “Play Bundle” by Sahlin Studios & DeCrow Designs and White Paper: “Just The Basics – Cardstock” by WM[squared] Designs, she came up with…

Tanya lifted…And here is her beautiful layout created with Enjoy The Moment, Enjoy The Moment Snipettes, Stitched Swirls and Tuck and Wave Templates…

scrappurple lifted…And came up with this fun, winter layout…

jennamy82 lifted…And here is her lift using Daisy Crazy by Trixie Scraps & Madame Wing…

hoo-rah and abcmomof4 lifted…

hoo-rah’s using Feeling Moments from Pri Rocha, Storytime Collab from Sarah Bennett, Lil’ Digi Bits by Jude, and Stacy’s Back Door Designs, Crayon, Crayoff Alpha from Denise Beatty, Glitter Mess from Juno Designs…

and abcmomof4’s using explore.learn.grow staple, stitches and string (recolored) by Sahlin Studio, Sister Sue by Sarah Bennett…

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 March I will choose one layout at random for a bonus point!

-You have until the end of March to complete your layout for your points 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!

Enjoy the lifting! I can’t wait to see what you’ve done!!

Happy Tuesday, scrappers! Are you excited for another edition of your favorite MOS challenge? {wink, wink} Here’s your template for this week, and the only rule is to honor the month of St. Patrick by including something GREEN in your layout.

**NEW** Fly Free by Jennifer Barrette, Get Real Shadow Styles by Jennifer Barrette, Font: sf_Lily

by Wendy – WM[squared]

“Alice” by Brittish Designs, “Just the Basics: Cardstock” by WM[squared] Designs *new 2-26-10*, font: DJB Gimme Space

by Courtney {cnscrap}

Glass Pebble Alpha, Scratched Notes, Est. Date, So Grateful – all by Sahlin Studio, A Knight’s Tale by Britt-ish Designs & Man in the Moon Designs

by Jenn {abcmomof4}

Britt’s Miss Kitty Add-On and Faith Trust and Pixie Dust 2, WM [Squared]’s Shabby Chic Alpha and Teen Grunge Stitches, Sahlin Studio’s Enjoy the Moment

by Stephanie {nanienamou}

Frosted Jubilee By Becca

by Gi Cristina

365 days of love by Gwenipooh Designs, Slim metal alpha by Gwenipooh Designs, Stitch Me Up by Chelle’s Creations

by Sweeet

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow by Plum Dumpling Designs

by Jenn {jennamy82}

Already your Mother by Page Frocks

Now all you have to do is stop by the forum to download the template and post your layout.  You have till the end of the month to play.. Have fun!  I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

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!

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!

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!

Okay okay let’s lift a SM Girl!! For this GTL challenge I have chosen to lift snowdrop (Heather). Check out her gallery here . Isn’t it just FULL of inspiring layouts?!?! There is TONS to chose from!

I lifted this layout:

And this is the layout I came up with (using “I Wuff You” by Connie Prince, Glass Pebble Alpha and Say it with Metal: Fall by Sahlin Studios):

And now for some awesome creative layouts from the SM team…..

Wendy chose Heather’s “Glee” layout to lift:

And created this cute handsome layout (using “Layers of Love Template” by Denise Beatty Originals, “Worn Scuffed Chipboard Alpha” by Sahlin Studios, and “A Knights Tale” by Man In the Moon Designs and Britt-ish Designs):

Amber lifted Heather’s “Walt, Mickey, & Me” layout:

And she created this sweet layout (using “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” by Stolen Moments and Scraps by Jenn, “The Only Date Stamps You’ll Ever Need” by Stolen Moments, “JH_Kari” by Jeni Hopewell, and “Get Real Shadow Styles” by Jennifer Barrette):

Jen picked Heather’s “Innoventions” layout:

And she created this fun layout (using “Just the Right Medicine Bundle” by Haynay Designs, “JH with a Marker” and “JH_Amber” by Jeni Hopewell):

Lori selected Heather’s “Gardens in Canada” layout:

And she created this beautiful layout (using “Love Blooms” by Jennifer Barrette):

Now wasn’t that some awesome inspiration???

A few quick SM guidelines:

- You will have until the end of February to complete this challenge. Please upload it to the GTL gallery and leave your LO image and Heather’s LO image (both linked) in the GTL 02/17/10 thread.

- You will receive one point for completing the challenge. You can earn an additional point for using a NEW product from the SM store! (Please indicate that you used something new with your LO/link in the forum.)

- I will choose one lucky winner (random) who will receive an ADDITIONAL point!

- You don’t have to use SM products in this challenge, but we LOVE it when you do!

- Remember no double dipping…your layout must be UNIQUE to this challenge!

Looking forward to seeing which layout of Heather’s inspired you!

~Courtney (cnscrap)