Scrap Skills

Sometimes there are items in a designer’s digital scrapbooking kits that I look at and think, “that’s nice, but I don’t think I’ll use it.” That was my thought when I first saw doodles in a kit. I had no idea what to do with them. But, Chelle has a Youtube video here to show you all you need to know to be able to fill the doodles with any color or paper you want making those doodles some of the most versatile elements in any kit. Go ahead and watch – I’ll wait.

Wasn’t that cool? Although the particular kit Chelle used in the video is not currently available, she has lots of other doodles in the market. Let me show you some in use.

Krista used Good Night Teddy kit and {Doodles} to make her page and the teddy bear accent on her page, but you can find the kit and the doodles and a whole lot more in the {Bundle} if you’re looking for a great deal. Isn’t he perfect? It’s an adorable accent to her photo.

You don’t have to color in the the doodles. Sometimes, the doodles alone make the perfect accent to a page. Take Jenn’s page, for example. She used a lined ledger-style paper for her background, so the doodles she used from Oh Snap! look like they were hand-drawn on her page. The doodles are all included in this kit, one of the most versatile kits around.

Lots of Chells’a products have doodles. Ladybug Hugs has a doodled alpha; Tea for Two has a teacup border doodle; and Chelle has lots of CU doodle alphas (don’t let that CU designation scare you – anyone can use them!). So grab a doodle and have a play. I’m sure you’ll love the personal touch it adds to your memory keeping.

Quite often in life, it’s the details that matter. That’s true in digital scrapbooking, also. In traditional paper scrapbooking, shadows are added by the light source used for viewing, so in digital pages, shadows need to be added to make a page look as they would on a traditional page. They can be tricky, but the right shadows make a world of difference. Take a look at the following pairs of pages that show a page first without shadows applied and then with. Look closely at each example to see how different thicknesses of elements are shadowed with different depths just as they would be in real life.

First, an example from Donna: she used Big City and a template from Scrapping with Liz. Look at the shadows on the photos compared to the thickness of the shadows on the felt pieces. 

Next, a page from Carol using Under Construction . The intended thickness of the cluster of elements is really obvious is the second layout, as it should be, and is much more realistic that the un-shadowed version.

Finally, it’s easy to see the stacked effect of the elements on the next page. Wow, what a difference those shadows make!

If you need help with shadows, the easiest thing to do is add Chelle’s Me & My Shadow Styles to your software. She has taken the guesswork out of shadowing for us, and they are perfect for taking your shadow skills up a notch.

Hey, you! Don’t turn around – I’m talking to YOU. Turn that camera around, or hand it to a passerby, and get in the photos. Your family will be so glad you did. So often, the photographer is the least one photographed, and our family members truly wish there were more photos of us when we neglect to get in front of the lens. Sometimes it’s a difficult thing to do emotionally if we are self-conscious about the way we look, but it’s time to put that behind us and step out in front of the lens. I have some great layouts to show you where Chelle and her CT have made pages using photos including their own images. Take a look!

First, Kayla handed her camera to one of her children when they were taking a break at Disney’s California Adventure. Vacations are must-do events for getting in front of the lens, and look how happy she and her husband look. It’s a great photo deserving a full page spread. By the way, she used Chelle’s Put a Ring On It and   the matching alpha.

Next, Jan also used a vacation as an opportunity to get a family photo. Maybe she set the timer and did the run-in-ten-seconds-and-look-like-you-were-there-waiting trick or maybe she handed the camera to a passerby, but whatever the technique, she got a great shot of the whole family. She used Surfin’ USA, Surfin’ USA alpha, At the Beach, and Anchors Away for her page. 

Next, I have a few pages from Chelle. She does some scrapping on her phone, and I think she made these first two pages with the Project Life App on her iPhone. Her husband took the selfies with the phone camera, and then she was all set to scrap. It’s super convenient, and she has a video here to show you how to incorporate her cards into the app.

Her next page was not made with her phone but her regular digital scrapbooking program, and she used Rock the Vote.

And finally, here she is with her family playing in the foam. If you look closely, you can see she’s wearing her Scrap Orchard t-shirt. 

I hope the pages I’ve shared have inspired you to get yourself in the photos. Don’t be shy, now!

Hello Chelle’s Creations fans! Ever wonder how you can get your journaling to match the lines on a journal card in your favorite digital scrapbooking kit? There are a variety of ways to do it.  Chelle wrote a blog post with instructions here, if you want to take a look. A couple of Chelle’s Creations CT members have some examples to show us with explanations on how they created it in their particular programs.

First, let’s look at Lisa’s page. She used Chelle’s Lovin from the Oven kit and Journal cards. She used Photoshop to create her page and says she used the tools under “character” to adjust spacing between lines and picked an appropriate font size for the lines. Take a look!

Next, Jan shows us how she achieves the text effect with Storybook Creator Plus. She says, “For my page I did two things: 1) I changed the size of my font to best match the lines of the journaling box; then 2) flattened the text box and unlocked the aspect ratio to fine-tune the resizing to best match the lines. I always make a copy of the live journaled text box and save it hidden on the page, in case I ever want to come back and change my journaling. Another option if you are using lined paper is to insert an empty photo frame onto your page, resize the frame as desired, then fill it with the paper, allowing you to easily enlarge or reduce the size of the paper to fit while keeping its original size and aspect ratio.” She used Out of this World kit, borders, and word art.

Do you have a different technique? Leave us a comment below and share for all to read. One of the things I LOVE about the scrapbooking community is the willingness to share information. Let’s keep that going here and help each other out. Thanks and happy scrapping!

Hello friends! Are you staying warm this week? I’m sure our friends in the southern hemisphere are, but we in the north are a bit chilly. That means we have lots of indoor time to make digital scrapbooking pages, right? If you are needing inspiration for some hot titles, Chelle’s Creative Team Members have been doing some creative title work with mixing alphas, and they have a couple of pages to show us.

First, Jen used alphas from Down on the Farm, Master Builder & Get Your Grill On to make her awesome double page. She also used About a Boy and Lay It on There #10 template from Chelle’s Creations. I love the playful feel the mixed alphas give this layout.

And Krista also mixed alphas, but choosing just two alphas in contrasting colors gave her main word in the title more presence. She used Chelle’s Jump Zone {alpha}, At the Beach, and CU Burlap Bits.

Well, maybe you need a few digital scrapbooking pages about love, too, but surely THAT is all you need. Right? Pages about loved ones and about things we love are so much fun to make, aren’t they? Chelle’s Creative team members have a few new pages they’ve shared with us all about the objects of their affections.

First, Karen used a template by Scrapping with Liz and Chelle’s Chocolate Lovers to declare her love. Loving him more than chocolate is HUGE. 

Helen chose to make her page about the things her daughter loves. I love her list of ten things, and I really love that playing with Mommy made her list. So sweet! She used Summer Lovin and CU Frayed Masks.

Finally, Heather used Lovin’ from the Oven and the coordinating journal cards to make this yummy page about baking cookies with her little one. I’m sure mommy and daughter both loved this activity.  

So, maybe all you need is love, chocolate, and cookies along with some digital scrapbooking for good measure.

There are lots of ways to use frames on your digital scrapbooking layouts. Chelle’s CT members have shared a few pages to show you what they like to do. Let’s start with a one photo layout with a stacked frame choice. Jennifer did this to draw attention to her focal point, and it looks fabulous. I love the way she filled the paper frames with the same photo and stacked them one on top of the other. She used See Clearly Now and the coordinating alpha. 

Next, Krista made a couple of pages for us. She used Chelle’s Movie Night for her pages, and instead of filling the frames with photos, she stacked the frames on top of a couple of her pictures to draw attention to them. It’s a great technique and very easy to do since the photo doesn’t need to fill the frame but just hang out underneath it.

Finally, Lisa has used a plethora of framing ideas on her page. She has angled frames to attract attention much like Krista’s, mats that frame/outline points of interest, word art tag outlines to frame text, and she has used frames and elements to create scenes. She used Down On the Farm to create her adorable page.

Happy New Year! Are you busy scrapping your holiday memories from 2014? I am trying to catch up on all my digital scrapbooking projects from the previous year. Thankfully, Chelle’s Creations has just the products I need, and she has some amazingly talented CT members who help me know how to get my pages looking realistic when printed. Today, Helen and Karen have given me some tips to share with you on how they make clusters to look pleasing to the eye.

Helen says, “I always shadow down and right, but when I have an element sitting on top of another element I will double shadow. I copy the element then shadow down and right, and next I paste the element so I now have 2 (one on top of the other). I will then shadow up and right and turn down the opacity. I do this as I feel that if I was putting real life objects on top of each other it wouldn’t be flat to the page.”

Here is her example of only shadowing down and right. Look closely at the red flower and the stack of books in the cluster on the bottom right.

Now look at the same cluster in the following image in which Helen has added her opposite shadow technique.

Isn’t that a huge improvement? And it’s not much effort for a big payoff in realism. Here’s her full layout for you to enjoy. By the way, she has used Chelle’s Creations Teacher’s Pet.

Karen describes her cluster like this: ” When I first started digi scrapping, clustering was what I struggled with the most. I still struggle with it at times, moving and adding elements all around until it pleases my eye. What helped me at first was using templates (which I still use 99.9% of the time). They helped me with where to place clusters. And from there, I tend to keep my clusters simple. I like the rule of three, which I used in this layout. I used three flowers in the cluster, varying in size for balance and used leaves underneath to fill it out.” She began her layout with a Scrapping with Liz template and used Chelle’s Creations Good Night Teddy kit and Instalife cards for the content.

Here’s a closer look at the kits Helen and Karen used.  The images are linked to the items in the store.

Here’s hoping we can all catch up on our memory keeping!

Hi Chelle’s Creations fans! Today we’re talking about a method for arranging items on your digital scrapbooking page called visual triangle placement. Simply put, it means placing your photos, or clusters, or combinations of such in a large triangle so the reader’s eye follows your three main points around the page. It can help to either draw your eye to the one large focal spot, or it can help you to see the page as a whole and not miss a single detail. Let me show you a couple of examples.

First, Heather has used a combination of elements from Roller Coasters & Cotton Candy to form her triangle. From her journal box on the top left to the large photo on the right to the title cluster on the bottom, she has the reader’s attention captured in a flow of the story of her memory of taking her children to the carnival. She didn’t have many pictures that day, so she used her one large photo, a large title piece (you can find that word art here), and her words to create a digital scrapbooking page that will elicit fond memories from her family each time they look at it. And isn’t that what we want? 

Krista used a slightly different technique for her visual triangle. The large photo on the page tells the obvious story, but it is anchored on the page perfectly by the clusters of beach elements from Chelle’s At the Beach kit, all placed at the corners of her visual triangle. This technique draws your eye to that focal point photo. Just a few simple touches were all that was needed to complete the story: the date, a few bits of word art, and the title art.

If you would like a closer look at the kits used for this blog post, check these out. The images are linked to the store.

One of the easiest ways to add interest to your digital scrapbooking page projects is to add texture. Put simply, that means adding anything that makes a reader want to reach out and touch the page. It can be achieved by adding a textured paper like a wood grain or a plaid weave or by stacking elements of varying thickness and feel. Chelle’s very talented team members have a few pages to show you as examples.

First, Jennifer made a page with a wood grain as a background paper. It fits the theme of her page perfectly and makes me want to feel the page. She also stacked elements of varying thicknesses and surface textures, and she used Get Your Grill On and Get Your Grill on Fire {Alpha}. (If you don’t have these two items and want to shop, you might want to look at the bundle in the market; it includes a few more items for just a few pennies more).

Next, Jan took a trip to my home town, Chattanooga, TN, and she went to a Lookouts baseball game. She used several of Chelle’s kits to mix and match and make a very tactile layout of her photos from the game that is full of various textured items. Included on her page, you’ll see items from Batter Up: Baseball, Rock the Vote, Summertime, and Liberty.

Finally, Melissa also had some sports photos. She scrapped a page about her daughter’s cheerleading experience using Go! Fight! Win!, Play the Game, Delightful Alpha Doodles, and Holly Jolly Holiday (retired). Melissa says about her page, “The crinkly paper, the glitter, the poms, even the turf scream texture to me,” and I must say I agree. I love the textured elements with that turf in her photo.