Spark Templates

Liz has a beautiful set of new digital scrapbook templates in the market.  It was inspired by a gorgeous kit by Faith True called Spark, which celebrates the difference we can make in our world. The templates are licensed for CU/S4H use, and all new releases at Scrap Orchard are 20% off for the first week.

Spark Templates are a unique mix of elegant details, strong geometric lines and modest decoration. Taking from the vintage elements of Faith's kit, the script fonts and oval framing lend an elegant feel to these templates.  The simple cluster work keeps the focus on your photos and storytelling.

Spark Templates

And here is Faith's Spark kit:

Spark

Thanks for stopping by!

Photography & My Weekend

I just finished a photography class over at Big Picture Classes, Mastering Manual Mode by Elisha Snow. I don't think it's being offered right now but they may offer it again. I just finished up the 8 week class & I've been practicing my photography skills over the last 8 weeks. So I thought I would share with you some pics I took this weekend...on manual mode! I can't wait to scap some of these photos!

Our church had a family camping trip. This is a photo I took at dusk. 

Another one. What's camping without playing in the fire.

By the campfire. There is no way I could have gotten

a shot like this in auto mode. 

This is my brother & sister-in-law & their 3 little boys.

We did a "photoshoot" downtown.

I wanted to practice :)

Pin It

(I'm trying out this pin it button, we'll see if it works!)

Aren't they adorable & there's a nother little boy on the way!

I just had to add the caption in the blank space....it was just asking for it. 

Another one. I think this was the fave.

I used a free action from My4Hens Photography to spruce up this photo a bit.

And then me & my hubby went hiking this weekend. All by ourselves!

I never get pics of just me & my hubby so I brought along the

tripod & set the self timer so that I could remember our hike.

 This is my hubby....always being goofy.

But I do love him, very much! Trudging my camera bag all around for me.

Anyway, there's a lot more I want to learn but I think I'm off to a good start....after all, I've had my DSLR for 3 years now, it's about time!



Photo Blends and Cupcake Wrappers (freebie too!)

A fun and simple hybrid project and a beautiful new set of digital scrapbook templates are now in the market. These new releases are CU/S4H friendly and are 20% off through 9/29.

Photo Blends Templates feature large faded masks paired with traditional photo spots.  The faded masks are perfect for blending large accent photos into the background.  Adorned with scallops, foliage and  flower clustering, these templates have a feminine feel, but can be used just as easily for masculine pages.

Photo Blends Templates

Give your cupcakes an extra special touch with these Cupcake Wrapper Templates! Using digital, get the look of layered scallops without cutting by hand or the need of a cutting machine. Three different scallop styles are included, as well as one version with a text path along the top of the wrapper.

Cupcake Wrapper Templates

Your freebie is a set of hybrid Cake Pop and Cupcake Toppers.  Enjoy!

Sneak Peek Monday & Giveaway

I had a fun weekend with my family. We spent a few days at a cabin with all of my siblings, their spouses, my nieces & nephews, & my parents. We had a lot of fun but I'm glad to be back to my own home & INTERNET!

So I'm back to my routine & it's the normal Monday Sneak Peek & Giveaway today. I have two new releases for you. One is pretty standard (but still fun) & the other is something hybrid. Can you guess what it is?

Now for the giveaway. Just leave a comment here on the blog telling me a fun thing you did this weekend. You have until 9/21 at 12am EST. Then I'll announce the winner in the comments here & on my facebook page after midnight on 9/21.

As usual here is some fun stuff going on at the Orchard.
Make it Snappy with prizes by Laura Banasiak on Wednesday at 10pm in the Scrap Orchard Challenge Forum.

And if you are going to Digiscrapapalooza you don't want to miss out on your chance to get a free digiscrapapalooza hotel room! Click on photo for more details.

That's it for now folks. Now back to the regular craziness that is Monday.



Strips & Photo Templates, Inspiration Starters

There are two new releases in the market. These were made for a guest spot over at Log Your Memory & are now being released at Scrap Orchard.  These releases are CU/S4H friendly and are 20% off through 9/22.

Inspiration Starters is a set of scrapping basics. It includes matted photo spots with paired journaling, pie charts, time lines, two circular text paths and a faded mask. You'll also find word-art and an alphabet that are based around the journey of personal growth. Whether the word-art inspires you to scrap about your own growth, or the journalers or time-line templates help you organize your layout, you will find these tools to be useful time and time again.

Inspiration Starters

Strips & Photo Templates were inspired by paper pieces, strips and ribbons.  The overall design is built on blocked arrangements, but the strips and angles makes these pages very playful.  This is a fun set with a mix of full page design and white space.  There are spots for large and small photos, and there is ample space devoted to storytelling.

Strips & Photo Templates

Using Inspiration Starters

Using Strips & Photo Templates

Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek Tuesday?!?

I'm mixin' things up a bit this week & doing my sneak peek today instead of yesterday. Maybe it has something to do with procrastination, I don't know, or maybe it's because I just need to change things up every once in awhile. Either way, here it is for you today. It's actually something I put together for my guest spot over at Log Your Memory. You can go on over to their blog today & enter to win one of the sets (*hint, hint* If you go on over to Log Your Memory you can see a full preview of one of the sets) but just in case you don't win it over there you'll be able to grab both sets in my store on Thursday. Plus there's a chance to win them, right here, on my blog. Just leave me a comment & I'll choose a winner tomorrow night (Wednesday 9/14 at 12am EST).

And don't forget this week's Make it Snappy over at Scrap Orchard.

You can win prizes from Ziggle Designs!

I also wanted to tell you that the Scrap Orchard Blog is really happening lately. They have a few new features including:

Short 'n' Sweet Sunday

Mixed Media Monday

Tuesday Tutorial

Word Art Wednesdays

Template Thursday

Find it Friday

iSpy Saturday

You should really check these posts out.....especially last week's Template Thursday. Just sayin' you might find something FREE from me! Happy Tuesday!

How to Change a Template - Video Tutorial

I know it's supposed to be Sneak Peek Monday but I decided to switch things up a bit. Don't worry, you'll still get a sneak peek & chance to win my new products but you'll have to wait until tomorrow.

I decided to make a really quick video tutorial to show you how to edit a digital scrapbook template. You know how sometimes you have a template you really want to use but there are too many photo spots or maybe the photo spots are too small & you need to change it up a little bit? This little video will help you do that. I realize, after already making the video & uploading it to YouTube, that I totally forgot to show you how to add photo spots....that will have to wait for another post (very soon) but this should help you a little bit for now.

I'm using a template that I made for a new feature on the Scrap Orchard blog called Template Thursday. You can go grab the template now (for a limited time) & try this tutorial out if you want to or if this tutorial is easy peasy for you & you already know how to do this then you can just go on over & grab the template & totally ignore this post. :)

I've finally learned the proper way to upload videos to YouTube & I'm going to work on uploading some of my older video tutorials to YouTube so that they will be better quality....yay! Just to warn you, if you check out my YouTube channel, my other videos out there are of my kids. There is absolutely nothing to do with digital scrapbooking in them.....but some of them are cute! There are also a couple of videos I did for a Scrap Orchard 'Get to know you' thing that we did in the forum, just in case you were wondering why me & my kids are answering a bunch of unimportant questions.

That's it for now folks. See you tomorrow for the sneak peek.

New Double Temps & Fun Fades & Freebie

The winner from Monday's Sneak Peek was MandaK. Congrats Amanda, hope you have fun playing with the templates and masks.

A mini set of double-page templates and some new faded masks are in the market. Both of these new products are CU/S4H and CT friendly, priced at 20% off through 9/15.

Double Temps - Mini Set 1 has large photos with classic paper-style matting behind the photos and paper. They're prettied up with bold banners and cute element clusters. Plenty of space is reserved for your storytelling, if you so desire.

Double Temps - Mini Set 1

Fun Fades - Masks is a new addition to the line of faded masks.  These masks are large (some of the files are 10 inches across).  The faded edges are overlaid with the silhouettes of star patterns, flowers, paint sprays or brush strokes.  There are so many ways you can use these - simply as a clipping mask for your photo, or you can layer them under your photo with color fills, glitter or paper.

Fun Fades - Masks

Using Fun Fades - Masks

Your freebie is an additional Fun Fade mask to add to your set.  Enjoy!

Update! I made a big blunder in my newsletter this week and  mixed up the freebies sooooo I'm posting them both here for anybody who might have missed them. This is the one that was supposed to be in my newsletter. Hope you'll forgive me!

The links have been updated correctly even though they have the wrong names!

How do I print my Double Page layout?

I don’t know about you but I am growing to love double page templates the more I create lasting pages with them! However, there is one question that I keep hearing from people….”how do you take a 24x12 layout and prepare it for sending to the printer?” Liz did a video tutorial on the blog about this very topic recently and I found it very useful as I like her way of doing it better than my way. You can see that video HERE. Still, it is always good to show a few different ways to do things because what may seem simple to one person may not to another. Therefore, I asked Liz if I could create a tutorial of screenshots depicting my “soon-to-be-former” way of trimming your 24x12 completed layout into two separate 12x12 layouts for printing while preserving your original 24x12 layout. By the way, I use Photoshop CS5, therefore, this may differ if you use a different program. So, here goes…

Screenshot #1 – just shows my original 24x12 complete layout….

Screenshot #2 – As indicated by the red arrows in the shot, choose your cropping tool from the left toolbar. Next, type in the width & height to show 12 in by 12 in. And, finally, make sure your resolution is at 300 pixels/inch.


Screenshot #3 – beginning in the upper left corner of your 24x12 layout, hold the left side of your mouse while dragging it diagonally toward the bottom right corner. Marching ants will appear around the left side portion of your layout. When you release your mouse the right side becomes darker. Press ENTER to apply.


Screenshot #4 – after you apply the action the right side of your layout will disappear but don’t worry as we will get it back. Now, save this 12x12 image however you normally do for printing. Make sure to “save as” and name it something different from how you named the 24x12 layout so you do not override it by mistake. Next, press CTRL Z or at the top of your screen choose Edit and then Undo or Step Backward and you will get your original 24x12 layout back……


Screenshot #5 – just shows you the drop down box under Edit.


Screenshot #6 – See? Didn’t I tell you it would come back? Now you just repeat steps #2 - #5 on the right side and you will have successfully prepared your 24x12 layout for printing as (2) 12x12 layouts!!


And there you have it….Helen’s way! I hope that maybe this helps you or someone you know that is looking for a way to take their 24x12 layout and turn it in to two separate 12x12 layouts for printing.