Hello everyone,

It’s Kayla, aka keepscrappin here with today’s challenge.  I hope ya’ll are having fun with the new challenge system here at ScrapMatters.  Go here for the full list of challenges for December.  It’s fun and easy to win great prizes, so make sure to check it out.

Okay, enough chit chat, let’s get to the challenge.

#5 – The northern hemisphere is starting to be covered in snow. Use a white background for your page.

Easy Peasy – right!  Here’s my layout with a white background.

Layout credits:

Template – Gratitude Freebie 11 from Memory Clips
Kit – Christmas Blues from Diana’s Creations  (new 12.2.11)
Font – century gothic

And here’s some helpful tips I use when making layouts with white backgrounds.  Just use the ones that work for your layout.

1. Add your shadows as you go, so you can see how it’ll look.
2. Let your photos be the focus of your layout.
3. Make sure there’s enough contrast between your background and any white elements, so they’ll show up.
4. White backgrounds variy from snow white (white) to grayish or creamy whites. So if you use a gray or creamy white background, use white elements in the same white color family to make it pleasing to the eye.
5. Add an overlay/ texture to your background to give it more ummph.  Here’s a whole section that are available in the SM shop.
6. Sometimes it’s fun to play with subtle brushes or paint splats on a white background like I’ve done on the above layout to give it a little more interest and draw your eye to the photos and across the page and down to the title.  Boy, that’s was a mouthful!  LOL

Well, that’s it for today, so get scrappin those white background layouts and win yourself some great prizes.

keepscrappin’

Kayla

Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s Saturday Special. Have you ever had a picture that you wished was black & white? Maybe you have the perfect kit for your picture but the colors just don’t seem to work together. Or maybe you are looking for the elegant look that black & white pictures give. There are many ways that you can convert your color picture to black & white. One of the most common ways to convert it is to change the color mode to grayscale under the image menu. This tends to leave your picture fairly bland though. Today I’m going to show you a way to convert your picture without losing the contrast and making you picture look flat. (The screenshots and directions are in Photoshop Elements 5.0.) First open up the picture that you want to convert to black & white. Duplicate the picture by right clicking on the thumbnail in the Photo Bin and selecting Duplicate. This is so you are not working on the original and accidently save over top of it. Press D to set your foreground and background to the default black and white. Make sure that the black is in the top box. If it isn’t press X to switch them. Now go to the top of the Layers Palette and choose Levels from the Adjustment Layers menu. When the box pops up don’t change anything on it right now, just click ok. This will add a layer to your Layers palette named Levels 1. Go back to the Layers Adjustment menu and this time chose Gradient Map. Check to make sure the Gradient map is set on black to white. If it is not click on the arrow next to the gradient map and choose the correct gradient from the popup menu. Click ok. This will give you a layer in the Layers Palette named Gradient Map 1. Just going this far will already give you a better black & white picture, but we are not done yet. In the Layers palette, double-click on the Levels thumbnail in the Levels 1 layer. This will popup the Levels box. From here we are going to edit the individual colors, starting with red. So go ahead and choose the Red channel from the drop down menu. Grab the black (shadow) arrow under the Input Levels and slide it right. This will increase the shadows in the red channel. [IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm313/p_a_sandbulte/red.jpg[/IMG] When you think you are satisfied with this edit, go back up to the drop down menu and choose the Green channel. On this one we are going to slide the white (highlights) arrow to the left. Again when you are satisfied with this edit, go back up to the drop down menu. This time we are going to work in the Blue channel. Go ahead and move the highlights arrow to the quite a bit to the left. Move the shadows arrow just a little bit to the right. Not every picture you convert will have the same settings, play around with the sliders a bit until you get the effect you are looking for. When you are happy with how your picture looks go ahead and click OK. One last step and then we are done. Go to the Layers palette, click on More. From that menu choose Flatten Image. This will flatten the adjustment layers into your picture. You can also use ctrl+Shift+E to do this. Check out the pictures side by side. The one on the left I just used the grayscale mode to convert the picture. Look how much of a difference there is in the one on the right. Here is my page with my new black & white picture using LDrag’s Blessings of Life and Stolen Moments & Rosy Posy’s Here and Now. Check out these great pages by the ScrapMatters’ CT. Kayla made this cute page using WM Squared’s Inspired by Fran templates and Full of Joy and Add-on by Band Geek Designs. Here is a sweet one by Chel. This one by Ophelia uses Jennifer Labre’s Full of Life and True Blue Studio’s Summer Garden Templates. Here is one from Tamara using Amy Stoffel’s Make a Move. Challenge reminders: -For the month of September you will receive two points for posting in this thread & in the Saturday Special gallery. You can receive an additional two points for using new Scrap Matters products; please make a note of new products in your post. And at the end of the month you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points! -You have until the end of September to complete this challenge for September MOS points or wait to post in October for October MOS points! -Remember no double dipping… layout must be unique to this challenge. -You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product beginning July 8, 2011.

Hello, It’s Cathy here to host the It’s In The Cards Challenge for 09/22/2011. I’ve got a fairly simple card template that you can dress up to your liking! I took this template and created a gatefold card as my sample. Here’s a preview of the template and sample:

Download the template here or on the linked image above.

And here’s a close up look at my sample:

My sample card was made using Chocolate Frosted Snowflakes by Stolen Moments.  Here are some great samples made up by our awesome creative team.

Tracy made this adorable daisy card using Denim and Daisies - Papers and Elements by Jenn Labre.

Sarah used My Magical Place Add-On Kit and My Magical Place: Add On Alpha by Haynay Designs to make this magical birthday card.  The Mickey silhouettes were a participation prize that she got at another site.

Tamara used  Funky Lane by Sugary Fancy and the all over bracket punch by Martha Stewart to create her cute card.

OK here’s a review of the challenge rules:

Remember that September is double points month!!

-You will receive two points for posting in the “It’s in the Cards Challenge 9/22/2011″ thread and in the “It’s in the Cards” gallery
-You can receive an additional 2 points for using new Scrap Matters products; please make a note of new products in your post. So I can give you the correct credits!
-You have until the end of September to complete this challenge for MOS 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 hope you’ll join us for this challenge! Happy creating!

~Cathy~

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone’s had a great week! Day from Inspirations here and today I’m going to share with you one of my favorite tricks for making a quick title to coordinate with any page or kit you are working with!
I’ve worked this in PS CS4 but you should be able to do similar with other programs

1. Choose a chunky font and type out your title in the size you want. Don’t worry about color as that’ll be changing! Once you’ve got it, right click the layer in the layers palette and choose “Rasterize Type” (This is called “Simplify Layer” in PSE)

2. Pick a paper to fill your alphabet with and drag it onto a layer above your title. Right click the paper layer in the layers palette and choose “Create Clipping Mask”. (In PSE group the layers by pressing CTRL+G with the paper layer selected)

3. You should now see your paper in the shape of your title. You can move around the paper layer to get whichever part of the pattern showing that you like. When it looks the way you want it, right click the paper in the layers palette and choose “Merge Down” to make your title all one layer.

4. Now you can use your title as is if you like, but you can also play around with some effects to make it pop a bit more. In the effects menu (the little round f button at the bottom of the layers palette) inner or outer glow or shadow, bevel and emboss and stroke would be my main choices.

5. For this I’m using a stroke to give the alphabet a sticker-like look. Adjust the size of the stroke, the placement (in the letters, out or straddling the border) and the color.

6. Now add your title to your page, give it a drop shadow and finish your LO!

Here’s mine, I used the colab kit Vintage Surf Shop, a few elements from my kit Catchin’ A Break and my Tiny Alphabet

and here’s some inspiration from the SM creative team!

Kayla

Tamara

Ophelia

Hi everyone and welcome to this week’s Grand Theft Layout Challenge!
Today’s choice is Yolanda aka y_baros. Her gallery is a big inspiration for me and I hope you’ll love it, too!
Soooo, your challenge this week (and the whole next month!) is to browse y_baros’ gallery, find a layout you like and come back here with both the page you picked and the page you scrapped!
And because our designers here at ScrapMatters love Yolanda’s work, too, there’s even some more help for you all in the shop!

This is the page I picked:

and turned it into:

Credits: For the Love of the Boys by Stolen Moments Designs & Jady Day Studio

And more inspiration from our wonderful CT ladies!

Tracy (sunshinetk) used one of Yolanda’s inspired templates to create this all boy page:

Credits: Be Inspired – Yolanda templates by WM2, It’s a Boy Thing by WM2 and Haynay Designs

Melissa (prettypeaches) picked this page:

and created this wonder which is actually a double pager!

Credits: Hitting the Waves By Jady Day Studio, Basic Bits By Inspirations from Day

Tamara (tsmspt) decided to use the templates and this is her page (gotta love the doggy pic!):

Credits: Basically Black Alpha by Plum Dumpling Designs, First Flight by Down this Road Designs, Be Inspired – Yolanda – Templates by WMSquared

Carina (cinna) picked:

And this is her scary lift:

Credits: After Midnight by Jennifer Labre

Jacqueline1976 found inspiration from this page:

And this is her sweet creation:

Credits: Serenity by Happy Scrap Girl, Words from the kit In the History of ever by Amy Stoffel, Tag from the kit Merry Around by KimB, Paper Flower from the kit Letting go by Amy Stoffel

Isabel (Leandi) picked this one:

And made her own version:

Credits: Window to Happiness by LDrag Designs
————–

Challenge reminders:

-You will receive one point for posting in this thread & in the Grand Theft Layout Challenge 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 you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points!

-You have until the end of September to complete this challenge to earn MOS points.

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

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product beginning July 8, 2011.

Download here.

Here is my layout with this template using Andilynn Designs A Boy’s Treasures and Words Matter: A Boy’s Treasures.

And here are pages created by the wonderful CT.

Amy used Love This Boy by Amy Stoffel.

Here is one from Chel using Jady Day Studio’s Hitting the Waves, Band Geek Designs’ Under the Apple Tree Alpha & Dream Big Designs’ Cabin Critters – Graffiti.

Cami used First Flight by Dream Big Designs.

Carina used Country Time by Forever Joy.

Tamara used Imagine If by Erica Zane.

Challenge reminders:

-You will receive one point for posting in this thread & in the Tuesday Template 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 you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points!
-You have until the end of August to complete this challenge for August MOS points or wait to post in September for September MOS points!
-Remember no double dipping…your layout must be unique to this challenge.
-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product.

Happy Saturday to you all! Becca, aka becca372 here. Whew, I’ve been busy this week with all my back-to-school prep (I teach Kindergarten)! I know many of you have had children go back to school recently, and we’re almost ready to go back here in Michigan. Today, though, I have a lesson just for you!

I love to blend papers for backgrounds, because I L.O.V.E. patterned papers, but sometimes they can overwhelm a page, so I like to subtle them up…and then the reverse can be true-sometimes I love a solid background, but it just needs a little more texture to work for my layout…so, there are a couple of ways to do it-and a step-by-step with screen shots will follow, but the basic process is to layer your papers, and then change the blending mode and/or opacity, OR use a layer mask (if you’ve got them) or an eraser to create the effect you want.

So, here’s how to do it! Here I’ve selected a yellow paper from Jady Day and Kay Miller’s new collab, A Girl’s Life. There is a GREAT yellow paper with white polka dots in the kit, but I didn’t want quite that much yellow for my background. I opened this solid yellow… 

and then I layered this great polka dot paper over it (I’ve moved it over, here, so you can see my layers)

And now I’m going to play with my blending modes….click the little tab above your layers palette that usually reads “normal” and you get lots of other choices to play with. I tried several but settled on Overlay. I then changed the opacity to 72%…just play with yours until you like it! You can also create multiple layers, at multiple blending modes, to create a look you like…

Now, at this point you can either be done and move on with your layout from here, OR you can do a bit more… In the PSCS versions of photoshop, and in PSE9, you can apply a layer mask to your paper layers-put one over your top layer (click the icon under your layers palette that looks like a rectangle with a circle inside), and then select a brush (I used a large, soft brush, and also reduced the opacity of my brush so that the edges of my masking were soft and subtle), and make sure your color selector thingy is set to white (the trick with layer masks is this–white erases, black brings it back–I always remember “white out” and “back in black”, LOL). Anyway, then just erase away what you want. If you DON’T have layer masks as an option, you can TOTALLY do this with your eraser tool (you can reduce the opacity on it, too!), it’s just a little harder to fix if you do something you don’t like!

So, yeah, on my papers, I’ve used that large, soft brush to erase some of the top paper, letting more yellow bleed through. This space is where I will be putting my photo and elements, just giving another layer of oomph to my page.

And here’s my final layout, using Jady Day Studio’s new collab with Kay Miller, It’s A Girl’s Life

If you are really struggling with the layer masking or the erasing, you can always take the short-cut of using a pre-made mask, which many designers have available (there are quite a few in different packs/kits in our shop!) and use those to clip your papers to!

Here are some more fantastic layouts to inspire you from our fab ScrapMatters team!
By Ophelia:

By Day:

and By Sarah:

and just in case you need a bit more inspiration, here are a couple more layouts from my gallery-in this first one, I used two similarly colored papers from Steph.Designs A La Campagne kit (1 craft paper, then a wonderfully textured paper) and used the soft light setting to get that extra texture I was needing.

And on this layout, I used a clipping mask (originally made for photos) to clip one of Erica Zane’s great papers onto my layout.

So, what do you think, a good how-to today? I hope you try it out!

Here are all the details for this challenge, please read carefully!

Challenge reminders:
-You will receive one point for posting in this thread & in the Saturday Special 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 (August) you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points! The same is true for those of you who scrap along with me in September!
- You have until the end of August to complete this challenge for August MOS points, and if you can’t get it done by then, you get the added bonus of having until the end of September to complete this challenge for September MOS points!!

-Remember no double dipping…your photo and/or layout must be unique to this challenge.

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM products as of July 8, 2011.

Can’t wait to see what you create!

Hello fellow scrappers,

Kayla aka keepscrappin here with today’s Saturday Special Challenge.  I love to have a title on all of my layouts; however, sometimes coming up with a new title for every layout can get hard.  I like my title to convey a message or reinforce the theme of my page, so when I’m stuck for a title one of the places I turn to for inspiration is word art.  Plus using a piece of word art for my title can be an easy and quick way to finish off my page.

So the challenge for today is to use word art for your title.  You can make your own word art or use a premade word art as is or combine it with a font, alpha, or embellishments.  The choice is yours – just have some fun and make your title really shine on your layout.

Many kits come with word art but if the kit you’re working with doesn’t have the perfect one for you, check out the special section for word art here in the ScrapMatters store.  Below are just a couple of the many word art packs available.

Here’s my layout using a word art (part recolored) from Little Princess Sighs Word Art by Graham Like the Cracker for the title and Fairytale from The Design Girl.

And here’s some inspiration from the Fabulous SM CT.

Becca used the Fresh Fun kit and Word Art from KimB for this understated beauty.

Ophelia used WM[Squared]‘s NEW Great Escape California for this Hollywood Blockbuster.

Kim used For the Love of Girls from Stolen Moments and Jady Day Studio for this sweet page.

Melissa used Mulberry Fields Family Word Art By KimB Designs and Lazy Days-E By Erica Zane for this cute family page.

Heather also used the NEW Great Escape: California Bundle from WM [Squared] for her star-studded page.

and Trista used the Fresh Fun kit and word art from KimB for her playful page.

Challenge reminders:
-You will receive one point for posting in the Saturday Special 8.6.11 forum thread & in the Saturday Special gallery. You can receive an additional point for using new Scrap Matters products; [COLOR="Red"]please make a note of new products in your post[/COLOR]. And at the end of the month you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points!

-You have until the end of August 2011 to complete this challenge to earn MOS points.

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

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product beginning July 8, 2011.

Hi Everyone! Cathy here with an interactive card for this “It’s in the Cards Challenge”. There is a window and a dial so that you can change up what display’s on the front of the card. I’ve included instructions in the download file.

Here is a preview of the file and a sample card.

My sample was made using the ScrapMatters Design Team Collaborative kit “Cupcakes and Candles”

Here you can see a different item showing through the display window:

Download the template HERE.

Let’s get a look at some other samples made up by our awesome creative team.

From Carina using Footloose and Fancy Scatters by Graham Like the Cracker and the Rainbows and Butterflies kit by WM Squared Designs and Graham Like the Cracker. I love the little birdie peaking through the window.

If I got this card I’d be intrigued to find out what else I could see when I turn the dial!!

Karen has created this very colorful and fun vacation greeting. She used Heat Wave: Beach Fun by Band Geek Designs I just love all the sweet treats that are hidden in the window.

Rebecca used the wonderful ScrapMatters Design Team Collab kit Tropical Float to create this ultra happy celebration card. Check out the spirits awaiting the recipient on her card!

Look at this wonderful creation by Sarah. She used Just Peachy by GeniaBeana Scraps. I just love how she changed up the template to use the window to display her sentiment!

The card that Tracy made is such a sweet way to celebrate a special anniversary. I just love all the sweet hearts! She used A Dreamy Day by The Design Girl.

Here’s a review of the challenge rules:

-You will receive one point for posting in this thread and in the “It’s in the Cards” gallery
-You can receive an additional point for using new Scrap Matters products; please make a note of new products in your post.
- since this challenge is starting so late in the month, it will run through August. At the end of July or August (depending on when your project was posted) you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points!
-You have until the end of August to complete this challenge for MOS 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 hope you’ll join us for this challenge! Happy creating!

Hi everyone and welcome to a new Grand Theft Layout Challenge! While having a look at past ladies being “stolen” their galleries  I noticed that our own Trista aka scrappyt has never been lifted! That’s insane to me because Trista has always been a major inspiration for me, esp. when I was learning how to cluster!
So your challenge this week is to browse Trista’s gallery, find a layout you like and come back here with both the page you picked and the page you scrapped finding inspiration in Trista’s one.

I picked Different Drum:

and turned it into:

Credits: Yesterday Today Tomorrow by Plum Dumpling Designs

And more inspirations from our talented CT members!

Manda lifted Pig Race:

and came up with this yummy page:

Credits: Summer Refreshment Solid Papers by Down This Road Designs, Messy Love [patterns] by LDrag Designs, Messy Love [ellies] by LDrag Designs

Fiona (canadianmommy) choose Splash Into Summer

and created this delicious layout:

Credits: July Mix-a-Kit by the ScrapMatters designers

Amy (anrobe) picked She Tumbles

and came up with this cute pet page:

Credits: My First Pet by WimpyChompers Creations

Cami’s choice was Special Delivery

and she delivered this beauty:

Credits: What’s Cooking by Erica Zane

————–

Challenge reminders:

-You will receive one point for posting in this thread & in the Grand Theft Layout Challenge 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 you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points!

-You have until the end of July to complete this challenge to earn MOS points.

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

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product beginning July 8, 2011.