Wonderful Cut Out - Hybrid Print

I recently rearranged my girls' rooms. There was a need for me to update some of the wall art. I decided I would try some of my cut outs to make a print for their wall. I chose the 'wonderful' cut out from my Totally Awesome Cut Out pack. 

I used Warm and Cozy Paper from Mommyish, products from Bloom MPM, and the heart is from Totes Adorbs by Sahlin Studio.

I just opened up a new 8x10 document in Photoshop, placed my Wonderful Cut Out on top and then got to work decorating it. The hardest part was finding papers that worked together with the color scheme of the room. I added a stroke to the outside of the cut out to add more depth. Then I printed it on my home printer and stuck it in a frame. This is totally doable on a silhouette as well - svg files are included.

I think it looks great on her wall, and I still have the print I made for her back in 2012! 

If you want more tips on how to use the Cut Outs Jenn just wrote a great blog post on different techniques to try when using them. There are so many fun ways to use them.

-Liz

Globe Cut Outs Layout Workshop

There is no Monday Highlight today for you, but I do have some other inspiration and a highlight of it's own!

Nicole from Der Scrapbook Laden used my Globe Cut Outs in a work shop she did. I just loved the results and wanted to share them with you here.

These make me want to make a paper layout. If you would like to see more of the finished pages from the workshop check them out here.

I just can't believe that my stuff is being used to scrap memories from all over the world!
-Liz

Happy Mother's Day Cut Out {FREEBIE!!}

Yesterday Mother's were on my mind so I decided to have some fun and make a cut out for Mother's Day. Making these cut outs are my new favorite thing. Don't worry. I'm still lovin' designing templates, but sometimes it's fun to do something a little different. Plus these are easy to add to pretty much any template!

So to all those Mother's out there or any lady who has been a mother figure to someone, I hope you had a Happy Mother's Day.

-Liz

Photoshop Silhouette Tutorial Part II - 4 years later!

Four years ago I posted a Photoshop Silhouette Tutorial. Since then we have added 3 more children to our family, and I finally got around to making silhouettes of the rest of our children. Poor Matthew joined our family 3 years ago, and I just made his! I was going to update my tutorial, but after watching my old video, I realized I made my silhouette the same way and there wasn't much to update.

You can watch the tutorial here:

Instead of making a new tutorial I'm just going to share my new silhouette wall. Here's our youngest son. I found an old frame at a thrift store and decorated his silhouette with some digital scrapbook paper form The Lilypad. I printed it out on my home printer.

Here's our updated wall. Now that I'm look at it the crooked frames are driving me crazy! I need to go fix them.

Here's the wall in our old house. Not sure which one I like better. I don't have that wall space in the new house.

Check out this page I scrapped way back when, when I only had 3 kids. I really need to do this again.

If you have any questions let me know.

-Liz

Christmas Poster Made with Digital Scrapbook Elements

I have this wooden hanger in my living room, and I switch out posters on it. Usually the posters coordinate with whatever we are learning in school. For Christmas I wanted something a little more festive and couldn't quite find what I wanted. Since I'm handy in Photoshop I thought, why not make my own?

So I did!

I realize my poster is a little small for the wooden frames. Apparently I was off on my measurements. Next time I make another poster I'll be sure to order something a bit bigger.

I started with a blank 11x17 canvas in Photoshop and then used elements from this kit to make a wreath like frame. I used Ctrl+J to duplicate the different elements, and I used the move tool to rotate the elements until everything look good.

I used Mulberry Script Pro Bold to type up my words.

Then I used Persnickety Prints to print my poster. I ordered an 11x17 Pearl Press Print. It has a nice shiny pearl look to it. It was only $1 extra to get the Pearl Print. Totally worth it.

Now, if I could only get the rest of my Christmas decorations up!
-Liz

Resizing a Template for Paper Scrapping

Hey there!  It's Katrina (that paper/hybrid scrapper girl), from Paper, Scissors and Glue on the blog today to share with you how I used one of Liz's templates on a traditional layout and resized the shapes to make them work with my photo size.  Also, look at templates in different ways as you will see!

Confession, I was going to do a tutorial about patterns, importing and organizing them into the Silhouette Studio software.  But, I updated my software and it sent me to the cloud version!  I haven't had time to play around yet, so I thought I would do something that anyone with a Silhouette (or similar) cutting machine would be able to try!

Supplies
Pattern Paper, Washi Tape, Acrylic Shapes, Journaling Tag, Chipboard, Letters-American Crafts
Flair-A Flair for Buttons (Etsy)
Sequins-Jillibean Soup
Twine-May Arts
Bird, Butterfly-Crate Paper
Star Pins-Maya Road
Adhesive-Therm O Web
Silhouette Cameo with Studio Software

I used the Recyclables 43 template for my layout.  It's a great set of templates and there are lots of possibilities with it.  Most people see a "house" in the "Love Lives Here" template, but I saw a doghouse!  And how cute would this be with a four picture collage to make it look like windows?!  

Recyclables 43 at The Lilypad

I started by opening all the PNG's that I wanted to use in my Silhouette software.  Once I had them opened, I traced and then filled them with similar colors like the template and moved all of them to one mat.  I closed out the PNGS once I had done this, because they seem to slow down the software if you get too many things open.  

Once I had them on one mat, I then arranged them according to the template.

I had already printed my picture and it was smaller than the picture area (grey box). I grouped all my shapes together by selecting the arrow (aka pointer tool) and then drawing a box around all my shaped.  You can see the grey box around all the shape below.  Once you have the box around everything, right click and select "GROUP".  That will group everything you have selected together so you can move it around or in my case resize!  It's so easy to resize an entire template all at once!  

Once I had everything grouped together, I moved all the pieces up to the ruler at the top of my screen and resized until I had the picture area (grey box) approximately the size of my printed picture.  This kept everything in proportion within the template.  You can see my picture was around 4.25 inches, the template picture area was over 5 inches.  I didn't look, because I knew I was going to shrink it!

Once I resized, I right clicked and ungrouped everything so that I could cut out the pieces in different pattern papers.  Yes, I could have just wrote down the measurements of the basic pieces, but I am horribly with a ruler and it was easier just to cut with my Silhouette since I already had the shapes!  And make sure you have all shapes off of your mat, except the one you are wanting to cut.  I have a terrible habit of forgetting that!  

I cut the roof border twice, so that I could have a layered effect!  I love how it turned out.  I used foam adhesive on both layers to give it dimension and some fun. 

As I started putting it together, I realized that I wanted another layer for the background.  I took the pink shape I had made and just created an offset for it.  This way I knew it would be in proportion to the entire template.

I subbed the journaling area with a journaling card from the collection I was working with.  I have a ton of these and never know how to use them, but this gives me ideas now!

Let me know what you would like to see me do with Liz's templates or what you would like to learn. Or if there is a specific template you want me to work with.  Also, would you like me to use more digital collections printed out, etc?  Just leave me a comment!!  This is new for me to, but so exciting and I love learning and sharing.  Have a great week!

You Get Me-Hybrid Layout Tutorial on Filling Shapes

It's Katrina from Paper, Scissors and Glue here today to show you a tutorial on how to use the Scrapping with Liz templates in your Silhouette Studio software.  You will need the Designer Edition version software, because you need the ability to trace PNG files, which is what we will be working with.   Edited:  The original version of software will trace PNG files, but you do need the Designer Edition to do the fill patterns that is talked about!

Here's the layout I am going to show you how I put together completely in the software.  There are several different ways to use Liz's templates with actual paper products, not just digital ones!

Scrapping with Liz Template Recyclables 41

Amber LaBau-My Tribe Kit

A Flair for Buttons-Flair Button

Enamel Dots-Freckled Fawn

Doily-American Crafts

Epson-Premium Presentation Paper

Adhesive-Therm O Web

Silhouette Cameo

Start by opening your PNGs in your Silhouette Studio software.  When I did this each PNG opened up in a new mat preview.  Which actually makes it easier to trace.  Then I copied them all over to one mat view, so that I could put my layout together.  Here is a screen shot of all of them moved over to one mat view.  Note, I had not traced these yet, just had them open.  But they are easier to trace when they are individual.

Place your PNG on your mat.  Then you are going to want to select the "TRACE" feature.  It is the sixth button from the top right edge of your software, it's highlighted in blue here.  The trace options will open up and you will want to click on "Select Trace Area".  This will allow  you to draw a box around your shape.  The box will be grey and you will be able to adjust the size to fit your shape. 

The "High Pass Filter" box will be checked, you need to uncheck it and moved the "Threshold" up to 100%.  When you do this it will fill in the shaped of the PNG a bright yellow.  You want to make sure the shape is completely filled in and then you will hit the "Trace Outer Edge" option.

Once you click the "trace outer edge" there will be red lines (or whatever color your cut lines are set to) appear around the edge of the shape.  If you look below, you will see once I moved my PNG shape out of the way I am left with the same shape with cut lines.  Woot, now the fun begins!!

Now, you can either cut the shape out of pattern paper, or you can fill it with patterns that are loaded into your software.  Don't worry, my next post will be on how to get those patterns into your software!  There are preset patterns in the software that you can play around with to get an idea of what to do.

If you select your shape and then select a pattern, your shape will fill with the chosen pattern.  You can just pick and choose until you find one that you like!  

I did the pattern filling with every shape that I traced, since I was using a digital kit.  This allows me to see if I like what I have created before printing.  I print each piece individually and then put the layout together by hand.  I place as many pieces on a 12x12 sheet as I can, to save on paper.  Or you can just cut the shapes out of actual paper that you have on hand!  I wanted to play with these patterns though, since I splurged and got a wide format printer.  

Now, you can print and cut these all in the Silhouette software, but I actually just printed and then used my trimmer and scissors to cut them. These were easy, straight lines, some of the other shapes it would be better to print and cut if you are using digital papers.  

Now the fun part for hybrid scrapping is actually putting the layout together with all the little details that you can add!  I did use the Print and Cut feature for elements of the digital kit I was playing with, but that's for another post!

I will be going into more details on how to incorporate Liz's templates into your own scrapping and hopefully maybe making you pull some paper out of your stash OR nudging you to step your toes into digital if you are a paper scrapper.  It's combining the best of both worlds for me!!  Thanks for stopping by the blog today!!!

Introducing Paper Scrapper Katrina

Swirl Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Gossamer Blue Kit Supplies

Pattern Papers-Basic Grey, Echo Park, Webster's Pages, Gossamer Blue (some are by One Little Bird one is by Traci Reed),Teresa Collins

Cardstock-American Crafts

Resin Flowers, Metal Flourish-Basic Grey

Chipboard, Buttons-Teresa Collins

Buttons-Heidi Swapp

Stickers-Webster's Pages

Other Supplies:Doilies-American Crafts

Adhesive-Therm O Web (there's a NON digital supply!)

Chipboard &-American Crafts

Enamel Dot-Doodlebug Designs

Stamp-Pebbles

Twine-May Arts

Isn't this paper page just gorgeous? It's from Katrina, the newest member of my Creative Team! She made this page with my Swirl Templates. I've been wanting to see how my digital templates could be translated into paper layouts (using a Silhouette and other techniques). Katrina is going to help show us how. She'll be making some pages and writing up some blog post for us. I'm so excited to have her join the team. 

Maybe she'll convert me back to a paper scrapper? Probably not, but I have been tempted to try some hybrid layouts and this just might be the key. And for those of you who are paper scrappers I'm excited to see how this might help you.

So, welcome Katrina to the team and check out her blog over at paperscissorsandglue.blogspot.com.
-Liz

Joy to the World: Print & Free Template

I needed (I guess it was more of a want!) a Christmas print for a frame in my hallway. Since I'm handy with photoshop, and I have all of these beautiful kits to use, why not make my own? So, I did. Here's how it turned out:

Everyday December by Juno Designs

World Paper from Leavin' on a Jet Plane by Laura Banasiak and Jenn Barrette

Look at those shadows. It looks like I made it with real scrapbook supplies.

What do you think? I no longer have a color printer, so I had to order a print. I chose Walmart since I wanted it in a hurry. I think it turned out pretty good. This is what it looked like in photoshop:

And since I went through all that trouble to make it (really it wasn't that much trouble), I thought I would share the template I made to create the print. Just click the image to download. There is a .psd, tiff, .page, and pngs included in the download.

-Liz

Advent Journal Cards: Finished Product

You may or may not remember the Advent countdown that I made with these journal cards. I finally set aside some time to put them all together. It really only took me a few minutes. It was just a matter of doing it. I thought I would show you the finished product.

I gathered some different ricrac, punched a hole in the corner of each card, and then threaded them through with a safety pin.

Then I tied them together.

I also wrote the date on the very first journal card just so I could remember what year this was from. Because I know that even though I think I'll remember the year these were from...I most likely won't.

Now we can easily flip through them all and they'll stay together.

This is what the back of them look like. Each day during the month of December each of the girls wrote what they were thankful for. I know we are going to love pulling this off the shelf each Christmas and reading through it.

-Liz