Heritage photos, digital scrapping, and a giveaway!

My scrapbooking friend Alexandra asked me to do a post about scrapping heritage photos on a challenge blog she writes on called Scrap Rendez-vous. The page posted today, so I encourage you to go over and read it! Here's a page from the post using heritage photos:

(published in Create: Quick and Easy 2011)

The photos might not seem heritage, but they are almost 30 years old. They were also starting to fade, a problem I've see with photos I have from the 70s and 80s. I scanned these photos, did some color and lighting corrections, then added textures to mask inconsistencies between the photos. For kicks, I added them to a collage, added brushes, then stitched to connect the digi to the paper.

This past week I posted this LO on Ella Publishing--yes, it's full digi:

I'm not a digi scrapper, but I do like some of the effects that I can do with digi, so I make* the occasional project with digi; most of what I plan are photo books. I just prefer my own design to what online photo companies make.

So since today's post is about using the computer for scrapbooking, I'd like to share a giveaway connected to digital or hybrid scrapbooking thanks to Ella Publishing! I have THREE coupon codes to giveaway for the journaling product I used above on the digi page, from the List It! collection of Ella Fun. These products can be used on digital projects like I did or downloaded to use on hybrid pages. Here's a description of the collections (click on the collection titles to see the products in the shop):

List It! journaling guides make it easier than ever to capture important details about your everyday life RIGHT NOW.

List It! Childhood
Some of the 91 prompts in List It! Childhood Edition are obvious and universal, others are quirky and unique. But they'll all help you unlock important memories from your childhood—from school memories and family experiences to your childhood fashion and music tastes.

List It! Holiday
Many of the 94 prompts in List It! Holiday Edition are obvious and universal, others are quirky and unique. But they're all inspired by major events on the calendar, from winter to spring to Valentine’s Day to Christmas.

List It! Everyday Life
Of the 90 prompts in List It! Everyday Life Edition some are standard and universal, others are quirky and unique. But they'll all help you paint a complete picture of what your life is like—your schedule and routine, your goals and pursuits, the people you love, your home and surroundings, your possessions, and more.

If you want to be one of THREE winners, please leave a comment telling me how you use your computer when scrapbooking. I will draw three winners Friday, September 9 at 8 P.M. CST.

*When I say that I make digi pages, I'm exaggerating a little. I've made one other page and a photo book that used basically the same design and the same papers throughout. I have plans for more, so maybe I'm not fibbing.

My kind of hybrid

I love paper. I have a bunch of digi supplies, but I love paper so much I can't go full blown digi.

Still, I love playing around with digi and incorporating it into my pages, mostly through the photos. I often print my photos in smaller sizes or templates using PSE 7. I also like using brushes on the photos, actions, and textures.

Here I used templates, textures, and brushes on a LO that is a technique I've done lately and loved. It is currently published in Scrapbook Trends Quick and Easy idea book:


The photos are from 1986--yes, that's 14-year-old me. The photos were fading, so I scanned them and played around with lighting and color to restore them. I couldn't get it just right, so I added textures to them to make it look like they're messed up because...well, because I messed with them! The brushes on the edges were there just for pretty.

Still, it's a pretty blocky design. To break it up a little, and just because I love to stitch, I drew light pencil lines onto the paper LO to "complete" the flourishes. I also connected them to the journaling card.

I love that technique so much I decided to add it to the following, more recent LO using Studio Calico's Into the Woods kit:




The photos were chosen from the heritage photos my mom brought me last month. I found many with only a partial, toothless smile, which reminded me of why I smiled like that: I had horrible teeth. I didn't want anyone to look at them. I decided to scrap that not-so-great memory, with a wish that my boys never feel that way, especially if they inherit my teeth.

A reminder if you are interested in scrapping heritage photos: for many more creative ideas for scrapping heritage photos, check out How to Scrapbook your Personal Heritage from Ella:

Right now it's my go-to when I'm checking out my heritage photos to scrap.

Entering the dark side; I'll be back in a week

My scrapbooking this week is focused on creating a digital photo book so I can use up my Groupon before it expires. So little by little, I am applying my puny digi skills to creating an 8x8 book about Disneyworld.

I'm following guidelines produced by Marnie Flores starting with this entry at writeclickscrapbook this past fall. I'm also using a kit from Songbird Avenue called Port Au Prince. I am also adding some random brushes and using a general design I tend to use on vacation albums.

I'm not an experienced digi scrapper; in fact, I've only made one page. Truthfully, I'm more of a hybrid scrapper.

There is a logic to putting together a design digitally, though; it's about layers, which I deal with in paper layouts too, so I think I can do this. I just have to make sure PSE doesn't randomly switch me to a new layer, which it did twice tonight, X%&#! So if you can hear mild swearing from a distance, it's because I made a mistake. Thank goodness for the undo button. Would that all of life were that way!

Last night I selected papers, resized and named them, one yellow, blue, green, and orange, plus two stripes and a white. Tonight I also figured out how to install fonts, plus shopped for photo corners, which in all my digi stuff I did not have.

Tonight I made my page production goal: I created page one. Here it is:


ETA: I just noticed my title overlapped the stripe--went back and fixed it, thank goodness!

Goal for tomorrow: Design the first page spread (which I've done on paper and just need to create the template for) and select photos from each park/event.

Wish me a swear-word free evening tomorrow!

And now for the busy season

NOTE: If your name is Sharon Rahn or Melinda Larson, read no further; I will mention your birthday presents.

The school I teach in goes by trimesters, so we have 4 weeks left in this term. I am awash with very important papers to grade, while deflecting student questions about "HowcanIgetafewmorepoints?" and still creating meaning, motivational lessons.

Now is when my scrapping s l o w s down. Still, I got some pictures set up for a few layouts--Project 12 October, a layout about me and my husband, and one about this past weekend I plan on calling "Mount Leafmore." I also need to get on the ball with using a Groupon my husband got me--two photo books for cheap! It's only good, however, for 2 more weeks.

*

I should have started on it earlier. Now I'm panicking a little.

Still, photobooks are perfect for a mini-album for both my SIL and my mom, both of whom have birthdays this month. They both went to Disneyworld with us last summer, so this is a chance to put together a quick digi album. Thank you, Marnie Flores at write click scrapbook for your recipe on how to quick-assemble a digi photo album. I shall be following your directions religiously this week, hopefully with minimal cursing and maximum keeping up with my grading.

To sign off, here's a page I did with some rediscovered photos from my son's birthday, using this week's color scheme from The Color Room.

Making templates

I am not a digi gal. True, I own various free kits, background papers, brushes, and so on, but I rarely use them. I took May Flaum's hybrid scrapping class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, which got me using my digi supplies more than I had, but I love moving pieces of paper around too much to go fully to the Dark Side. So I'm Anakin Skywalker in Episode 2 when it comes to digital scrapbooking, not Anakin at the end of Episode 3.

The most common way I use my computer to scrapbook has been to create digital templates for my photos. I learned how to do this comfortably from a Cathy Zielske tutorial she did on Ali Edwards' site (Cathy's got a lot of great digi/hybrid tutorials: explore them here). If you want to figure out how to create templates, watch the video and download her step-by-step guide.

I have a spot on my computer where I save digital products. I have them organized according to product type: kits, frames, journaling spots, brushes, and templates. When I create a template, I save it in the Template file by titling it something helpful. Here's some of my go-to templates:

• 4x6 wallets (a 4x6 document with two 2.5x3.5 wallets on it)
• 4x6 3-inch photos (a 4x6 document with two 3 inch square photos)
• 4x6 2-inch photos (a 4x6 document with six 2-inch photos)
  
• a 5x7 document with two 3.5 photos

I like 4x6 inch templates for obvious reasons: I can print them cheaply with my next photo order. If I make a photo collage that I want to print as is, then I usually make it an 8x10 document. I like printing my photos through scrapbookpictures.com, but if I'm impatient, I want regular-sized photos that I can print at Target quickly too.

After I load the photos into my template, I save the new file with a new name, then I "un-do" the photos I put in so I can reuse the template. Once you learn how, it's easy-peasy, and that makes it even easier to fit a lot of photos on one or two pages.

Spring Break

This week is spring break for me and the boys. My goal is to have as much fun as we can without my going crazy or the boys killing each other. So far we're off to a good start. Here's how the day went for the boys:

• Cartoon Network on a weekday
• monster bowl of cereal
• making what they called "spinners" out of paper and tossing them around
• going to the play place at Lifetime Fitness while I swam
• going to Byerly's to get veggies for dinner (and look at crab legs--the boys won't eat them, but they love to look at them!)
• ride their bikes
• play legos and pirate legos inside, allowing me some computer time to edit photos

I took some random photos throughout the day to fit into a template I got through my hybrid class. It's called "One Fine Day," and it certainly has been one. Soon I'll run over to Target to print the photos and put together pages while I watch Castle tonight and find out if Detective Beckett has really been blown up. Since she's a lead, and Castle's romantic interest, I doubt it, but you never know.

Here's a LO I did this weekend for the hybrid class:

The assignment was to use some digi paper. I took one from a kit I bought from Songbird Avenue called Port au Prince. I didn't spend much time selecting paper--I just found one from the huge amount with the kit that looked interesting, then printed it out on textured cardstock and found paper and product that looked good with it. As always, any time I can use a load of Primas on my layout, job well done.