Words on Wednesday

Hello Friends! Kids say the funniest things. You just never know what to expect. Here’s a funny conversation I had last summer with Chelle’s little man. He said to me, “This is not your house.” I agreed. “You live far away.” I again agreed with him. “This is my house.” Again I agreed. I wondered where he was headed with this conversation, but that was the end of the conversation. I love to talk to little kids. It’s always interesting! Since it’s Valentine’s Day this week, I’m challenging you (encouraging) to interview your little friends about “love.”

Here are some ideas for questions you can ask kids.

1. What is your happiest memory?
2. Why do you like being a kid?
3. One word to describe you would be _______.
4. What advice would you give your parents?
5. If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?
6. What do you like to do for fun?
7. Tell about a funny time in your life.
8. What is your favorite thing to do? Why?
9. What is your favorite thing to do with your friends?
10. What do you love most about your sibling?
11. What was the nicest thing you did for someone?
12. What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?
13. What is your favorite thing to do in the summer?
14. What would be the ideal allowance? Tell me how you would use it.
15. What do you think makes a person good-looking?
16. Name two things we should do as a family on the weekend.
17. What is the grossest thing you can think of?

Here are some layouts showing the interview’s out CT Team did.

First up is Kayla. She used LadyBug Hugs.

This is Carol’s layout.

Carol used Teacher’s Pet & Girl Power.

Have a great day!

Hello Friends!

Why do you use word art (s) in your digital scrapbooking?  I love them. They can say anything or create an action-like movement to your layout. They add texture. You can change them up to match your layout or theme.

Here’s some basic ideas I thought of about word art(s).

1.  Use bits and pieces of quotes or common phrases.
2.  You can use many different “materials” by changing up the brushes in Photoshop.
3.  Find the right words
4.  Fit the title to the theme.
5.  Be consistent if you like matchy-matchy.

Chelle makes fantastic word art. She uses the same font for all her word art(s) so they are consistent. Let me show you a few of my favorite word art(s) she has made.

Remember how I said they can include an action?

• Quit Buggin’ Me {Bug Town} we all have little people who followed us around.
• Boing! Check out Jump Zone
• Fabulous 50s, let’s go dancing.
• Good Night Teddy has me ready for a nap.
• Liberty? I love a parade and fireworks.
• Down on the Farm, I can smell the freshly cut hay.
• Roller Coasters & Cotton Candy? I can feel the wind on my face as I ride that roller coaster.

Go for it! Make your own word art(s) or go browse in Chelle’s store. I know you’ll find some great ideas there.

Hello Friends!

Do you use definitions in your digital scrapbooking? A fun word you emphasize as a title or a way to provide dimension in your layouts. Using a word that adds depth to your layout as well as being an action word that describes the action in the layout can be really fun! Let me show you some ideas from our creative team. {I linked up the active products for you below the layouts!}

Carol used Game On & Mark My Words (check your stash, this product has been retired.)  I love all the pictures Carol used in her layout. They really pull you into the layout.

Kayla used Good Night Teddy & Good Night Teddy InstaLife Cards. Doesn’t ‘zonked’ fit perfectly? Absolutely perfect!

Kimberly used Loom Love. I would never have guessed this layout was from the Loom Love collection Chelle created. Love all the brightness and fun this layout portrays.

Why not look over your pictures and come up with your very own “word” to describe your layout. I hope you’ll post them in the Scrap Orchard pin gallery so that I can see them.

Hey Friends!

Have you started adding #’s to your layouts?  Sure, they are a trendy thing right now, but preserving your memories is about preserving the trends as well.  And they are a fun and creative way to title your layouts or in your journaling.

Here’s a layout by Chelle.

Chelle used the hashtag in her title as well as in her journaling.  Here’s a closer look at the journaling.  It’s just a list of hashtags:

Here’s an idea from Jenny.

Next time you are stumped in telling the story, try a few hashtags!  #itsfun #youshouldtryit #seehoweasyitis

Did you catch that hashtag? The use of the hashtag with a key word is everywhere these days, and the word hashtag was even added to the Oxford dictionary this year. What started as a way to categorize comments in social media has now become commonplace, and digital scrapbooking fans are using them for emphasis on page titles. If you saw Sari’s post here a few days ago, you might have seen that Chelle even had her daughter hold a sign with “#senior” on it for a back to school photo. I love the way scrappers are using them on their pages, and Chelle’s Creative Team Members have shared some layouts for inspiration.

First, let’s take a look back at Chelle’s page. The hashtags and the photos tell the story so well not much journaling is required in addition. 

Helen used Summer’s End papers and alpha to make a page about a trip to the shoreline. Her hashtag adds emphasis to a title that aptly describes the adorable photos.

Lisa has used Trick or Treat, Chelle’s latest Halloween-themed kit, to make a page about dealing with all that candy and braces. The kit includes some word art pieces, and Lisa customized them by adding the hashtag to the word “Boo” and by creating some word strips of her own.

#happyscrapping

Hi!

How are you doing on journaling? Do you find yourself making a list? I was thinking about it and found this interview Chelle’s did back in the day… well, her digital scrapbooking day. It was originally posted in July 2011 on her blog, just after she started her digital scrapbooking design business. Here’s what she had to say:

Journaling is so important because it’s telling the stories that are part of our memories.

• Sometimes
your
journaling
doesn’t
fit
in
a
tidy
paragraph.
• Sometimes
your
journaling
isn’t
complete
sentences.
• Sometimes
your
journaling is just a few words or phrases.
• It’s
time
for
a
list.

{Chelle used one of her original kits. It’s now retired.}

Remember, when using a list for your journaling, the format of the items is important. In general you want the items in your list to be consistent. For example:

• Spinning
• Twirling
• Swaying
• Run←See?  It doesn’t belong.

Unless you are doing it on purpose for effect.  Here I wanted to emphasize the contrast:

• Making pancakes for breakfast.
• Racing to sign papers.
• Searching for backpacks.
• Watching for the bus.
• Silence…at last.

{Chelle used one of her early kits that is retired.)

Lists can be especially useful in stories where you find yourself saying, “and then we went here…and then we did this…and then…and then…” Leave out the “and then” and turn it into a list…MUCH more interesting to read.

Here’s a layout from Jenn S from our creative team. Look at how she used a list. I bet you have tons of ideas now. Go for it!

Jenn used Mickey Mouse Club March & Mickey Mouse Club March Alpha.

The next time you are ready to journal…just make a list of the things that come to your mind as you reflect on the photos…then turn your journaling into a list.

Hugs!

Hello Friends, Do you talk to the traffic as you drive? “Brakes, brakes would be good here!” Or talk to your plants? “Deadhead. Deadhead, it’s time to Deadhead!” How about groceries in your cupboards or fridge? “I know I bought some. Where are you hiding?” Sound familiar? What if your “things” could talk to you?

Sometimes an interesting way to tell your story is through a message to or from an inanimate object. For example, Do the monkeys at the zoo have something to say about people staring at them each day? Jenny shows us her “take” on what this monkey might be thinking.

She used Zoo Crew Jungle {Bundle}.

Helen’s layout allows us to wonder what a pumpkin thinks as it transitions into a jack-o-lantern. If I were the knife what would I think?

Helen used Falling 4 U.

Try writing your journaling from a different perspective. I wonder what the inanimate objects in your photo’s would say?

Hello Friends!

Have you ever tried including a graph or chart in your digital scrapbooking layouts? They can really make an impact. They can be colorful or black and white, whatever you want to emphasize. Graphs can show weight loss, days exercising, or even the # of day your child made their bed or cleaned their room. Charts can be used for chores or potty training. Let me show you the ideas from our creative team.

Look how HELEN used a pie chart to share descriptive words about her daughter. Helen shared this information about making charts. “I got a little bit stumped on how to split the percentage so I used this website, you can make all different types of charts for free. http://www.meta-chart.com/

She used Letters From Home (retired)

Jenny made a chore chart for her little alien.

She used Out of this World.

Krista thought she’d try the chart making website Helen provided above.

She used Aviator, Aviator Bonus Papers & Basic Black Alpha.
     

Try that funky chart maker out. I think you’ll be making charts for all your layouts.

Hello Friends!

What reasons do you have for using vertical titles in your digital scrapbooking layouts? I asked our creative team to help me with a list.

• to indicate verticality–like a waterfall, or something very tall like a skyscraper
• sometimes it’s just a lack of space in the horizontal axis
• that’s the way it’s shown on the template {my favorite response)
• works with the composition of pics
• because that’s what space there is available
• sometimes to simulate movement
• using a vertical title with blocked layouts
• When the title won’t fit any other way

What other ideas do you have? Let me show you what our creative team came up with. Kayla created this layout. Her title is on the other side of the page from her journaling.

Jenn S used a verticle title on the side of her journaling.

Jenny split her titles up. One horizontal and one vertical.

What other ideas do you have for vertical titles?

Hello Friends!

How do you emphasize your journaling on your digital scrapbooking layouts?

Chelle suggests:

• Change the color of some of the words (words you want to emphasize)

• Put paper behind words you want to emphasize.  Use either the marquee tool or the polygon lasso tool to select the spots you want, then use ALT-Backspace  to fill the space (make sure you are on a new layer below the words)

Here are some other ideas.

• Replace words with elements that go along with your journaling
• Use a washi tape or staple to emphasize it
• circle a word or weave a string around a word
• change the font size
• underline something
• use a handwriting font that is similar to your own handwriting

No matter what you choose to do or how you do it, we all want to emphasize something about our layouts. Highlights are a great way to get people to notice something important on a page. Little kids will touch that highlighted spot because they remember it as something different.

Let me show you a couple of ideas from our CT. Kimberly used the brushes in Mark My Words (retired) to match the colors to the papers in the kit to highlight her journaling. She also adjusted the leading so the journaling matched the lines in the ledger paper.

Kimberly used Game On!

Christine changed the font colors in her journaling to emphasize them. They really tie together her use of the term “Jump.”

Christine used Jump Zone & Jump Zone Alpha.

Helen used elements in Bug Town to replace her journaling.

She used Bug Town (Bundle).

What are some things you like to highlight?