Crop-A-Dile Video, a Sketch, Challenge and a Mickey Mouse Layout!

Sunday's Weekly Scrapbooking Round-Up 11th October 2009

I've had a busy week, published the latest issue of the Simply Scrapbooking Now Newsletter, had a birthday and then my demo at the ScrapBuddies crop yesterday! No still not slowing down, but I am working on it!

I did actually manage an 8x8 scrapbook page (right) which was made as part of the Basic Grey Challenge's Blog sketch challenge for this past week. Link to that below.

I have just finished the first in a series of pages for my "Intentional Scrapbooking" and you'll see that soon.

What the dickins is that?" you may well ask. Well Intentional Scrapbooking is about scrapbooking your intentions, such as what you want in life, affirmations, positive messages, etc. But you make these for you.

If you know what a "vision board" is then it is a similar thing to that, but as you are actively creating these pages, instead of just cutting out things you want to have or be, you are generating more powerful signals to the universe and hopefully your intentions will come to be mroe quickly.

Does that sound a bit "woo woo" to you? Well I will be talking about it more shortly, and explaining that Scrapbooking IS a form of therapy, more so than just say beadmaking, becuase it is a form of expression, but rather than making pages about past events... with Intentional Scrapbooking you are creating pages about your future and how you WANT it to be.

So onto this week's Round-Up...


Mickey Mouse Layout - Basic Grey Challenge
I decided to join in with the Basic Grey Challenges Blog this week and so here is my interpretation of the sketch…
It’s an 8×8 scrapbook page. I have noticed that there are mostly cards posted on the challenge blog as examples, but I scrapbooked it...

*************************************************

Video Tutorial - Sewing using Templates on your Pages and Cards
Stitching, using fibres such as embroidery threads, can add a lovely touch to scrapbook layouts and, indeed greetings cards. There are companies that make templates for such a technique, but of course you are limited to their designs.
You can print out any image, keeping it simple of course, and use that as a simple template...

**************************************************

Scrapbooking Product Review:
Crop-A-Dile
If you just want to set eyelets on your pages, then there are cheaper alternatives, but if you want to punch holes in thick media, such as chipboard, (apparently even leather, plastic, metal, acrylic, fabric, wood and poly - although I haven’t tried any of those myself!) the a Crop-A-Dile is probably a good buy for you.

**************************************************

October 09 Sketch & Challenge
Here is the Sketch for this month. It’s a multi-photo (well dual-photo anyway!) scrapbook page, however I think I may use one large photo instead of 2 smaller ones when I create my page...

Scrapbooking Video Tutorial, Freebie & Giveaway, Journaling Idea and Inspiration

Sunday's Weekly Scrapbooking Round-Up 27th September 2009

Hi Everyone! The major thing happening this week is you need to get on over to the SundayLDesigns.com blog to leave a comment to be in with a chance to win a giveaway AND pick up a freebie template - the blog post explains all, as does the video with it, details below...

Video: Make a Scrapbooking Sketchbook with free download
You know how when it’s your birthday, and you go into the office (assuming you work in an office by day, or have done so at one time) strangely it’s You who is expected to “get the cakes in”?! Well in the spirit of that tradition… although it is the birthday of the SimplyScrapbookingNow Newsletter… it’s the Newsletter giving the FREEBIE to All along with a video tutorial (which gives more information too)!
Every month I send the Newsletter subscribers some sort of freebie download, but this month the freebie is available to Everyone and it is available right here! Go to the post>>>

******************************************************************

Photo Journaling Block
I have posted a link to an article (below) showing how to use a faded picture as a journaling block instead of a plain coloured background. An example is pictured here. (on the blog post)
This article refers to using Photoshop to make the block, but the same principle could apply to traditional scrapbooking. How..? read more>>>

***************************************************************

"Wait For Me" by Lean (Doggy Scrapbook Layout)

OK, so I am a bit biased anyway because Lean's dog looks very similar to my Inde, but nonetheless this latest creation of Lean's is a stunning example of layering and roundness! I am currently making a mini album (as part of Shimelle's September class) which is circular, and have always been keen on curves rather than angles (well that's the excuse for my waistline anyway!!) LOL

There are some close-ups of the detail over on Lean's blog

**************************************************************

Fantastic Cards by Susan
These little darlings are by Susan and her blog is at One4Joy Daily. I think the undies on the washing line is super cute, and an unusual card to receive for most, I would think!

I particularly like the multi coloured card. I am a bit of a sucker for all things rainbow coloured! But I like the lacework pattern and the flower embellishments, really pretty.

Cute quick page

I'm still on a course in London today!!

No, I'm not a slow learner... it's a 2 day course!! LOL

So here is another quicky post.

For those of you into digi scrapping, you already know what a "quick page" is. This is a lovely download for you from Creative Escapade Nathy's blog.

For traditional scrappers, you can still download it, print it and add your picture.

Although frustratingly I can see whether it is jpeg file or not, cos it's in a zip file that I can't test download because I am not using my computer! How frustrating!

So, if it's not a jpeg (it may be a .psd file which is for use with photoshop or PSE) then you can just use it as a page to scraplift.

I just liked the lovely softness of the page.

A "sketchy" scrapbooking sketch and template

I'm on a course in London today!! So this is a very short post!

I found this template on the scrapmatters.com site... it's from last Tuesday's post.

It is actually a downloadable template for those of you into digital scrapbooking, but I thought it made a jolly good sketch for traditional layout too.

It would be great to layout the photos (and or journaling blocks/page accents) as per the sketch and then doodle around each to make the sketchy frames!

Colour Blocking Greetings Card

Here is a card I made during the demonstration I gave at ScrapBuddies regarding Colour Blocking.

Colour Blocking is merely the use of blocks, of coloured paper, photos, journaling, etc. You can purchase templates for this technique and it's a quick way to make pages. But also for cards. This is a very simple card with 6 blocks of patterned paper in a grid design with a larger centrepice carrying a peel off and some embellishments. Simple but effective.

Here is an article about Colour Blocking at Scrapbooking.com magazine.

Here is a link to Papermaze - it shows you some of the templates you can buy to help you create pages usin this technique. And... you can turn each template through 90 degrees to make 4 different layouts, and then of course you can flip the whole thing over and have another 4!

If you want more information on this technique, search under "colour blocking templates scrapbooking".

Hybrid Scrapbooking - What's that again?

I was surfing around the web... as you do... and found this blog.

Di Hickman's blog has a link to a free template as a temptation to visit the Prima Hybrid website.

I haven't had a chance to take a good look at the Hybrid Scrapbooking site myself yet as I only found it today, and I believe it only actually launched yesterday, so a brand new site.

Hybrid scrapbooking is the mixture of digital and traditional scrapbooking, so it will be interesting to see what this and other sites will come up with for us scrapbookers.

I do believe that hybrid scrapbooking will grow a lot in the coming months as more and more people try out digi scrapping! I shall be checking out the sites and reporting back to you all.

New Year... New Me!

Well I have come into 2008 with a bang! Full of enthusiasm for "out with the Old and in with the New" !!

If you are like me, (and I think it is a little bit of a prerequisite personality trait for a scrapbooker to be honest!) then you are a teensy bit of a hoarder... am I right?

Definitely for scrapbooking purposes do I keep things that I would normally have thrown, but then there are the clothes that I haven't worn for ages, and frankly forgotten I had because they are tucked behind some towels in the linen cupboard because there is little storage space in my house!

Christmas, or rather the aftermath, is one of the those times that tends to highlight how much we really do already have and just don't use, even though we thought it was a good idea at the time. I have to say that I have stopped buying clothes thinking to myself "I can take that bit in or I can shortened the legs!" I just don't buy it now unless it fits properly, because we never get around to it do we?!

Anyway... I have big plans for a massive clear out this weekend of my clothes and my daughters clothes and a few of her older toys, bearing in mind her birthday and christmas being within 2 weeks of each other means she has LOTS more!

But the biggest decision I have made, just today in fact, is to change my main business website over to Scrapbooking! That means creating a whole new website from scratch! which... yes... means a whole lot of extra work!

However, I plan to put up FREE TEMPLATES and FREE SKETCHES for both digital and traditional scrapbooking and useful information with links to other sites. I am currently in the process of designing a special little tool for scrapbookers to use to set their own challenges - (that's all the info I can give you on that one at the mo!)

I am also writing a SCRAPBOOKING FOR BEGINNERS ebook which will be available from there too.

So watch this space, as they say, as it will be here that I announce the new website's launch!

As for the photo... just thought a cheesy grin from my daughter might cheer a dreary winter's evening!

Christmas Photos and Scrapbooking

Well I'm back after the festivities of the season!!

Here is a layout-in-progress - it is basically finished, and actually I created it whilst showing my family (sister and mum) what digital scrapbooking was all about!

Most of the page apart from the two flowers and the ribbon, is actually a "Beauty Quickpage" by Cinzia Loosemore. I just placed the photograph behind and the flowers and ribbon on top and voila!

I should really put on some information about who it is and when it was... and may be I will shortly... now then... where did I put those chocolates!!!

Digi scrapbooking - lots of pictures

My latest offering - some of this is created using freebies and some items I have purchased.

The template is for an 8x8 page which, unfortunately for here has a white background, so I doctored the jpg for this post by drawing a black line around the edge to define the edges!

I used a layout - SimplySarah_LayeredTemplate16 from simplysarahdesigns.blogspot.com(freebie)

Paper - When I can remember I will note it!! LOL

Buttons - Shabby Princess Festival kit (freebie)

Fonts - IKHIOOGLA (free) Gloucester MT Ext and Arial Narrow

Flower - Cinzia Loosemore "Always" collection (I've recoloured it)

Didn't take long once I got the hang of placing "clipping" and "merging" all the different layers with their photos!

Still got 7 pctures on this little layout... another event covered!