inspired to record my digi timeline

I’m taking Ali Edward’s ‘Hello Story’ class which offers a story structure each week.  First up was using a timeline as the basis and I was inspired to create a layout about my digital use history – I’ve had several conversations touching on this recently.  I had great fun finding all the icons and looking up some of the dates. 

Being at a University meant that I had access to many new aspects early because they were often used on campus before they were generaly available. 

Have you recorded your history with all things digital?  or social media?

blogland baby shower for Cate

When Deb sent out an invite to an online baby shower for Cate I was intrigued, mostly because I’ve never attended one.

Deb’s idea was for us scrappers to create the basics of a page, using Cate’s favourite purple, so that Cate could then add a photo and some words and have a lovely album of her newest baby. Well I have plenty of purple stuff so putting together a page was fun.

I didn't really send her the photo of Carrie, me and Deb! I just preferred the photo of the page when I had a photo in place and that one was on my table when I made this in late April.

I though that Cate could use the ‘5’ in various ways – 5 days, 5 weeks, 5 favourite something, 5 facts, a hand or foot closeup (5 perfect digits) etc

So raising my glass to Cate and her new baby and to Deb for organising the shower and off to check out what else is happening for this blogland baby shower

clean and simple success

I’m taking a great 3 month class by Cathy Z on BPS called ‘clean and simple’ in reference to her hybrid scrapping style.  I’ve always been a big fan of Cathy’s approach and design aesthetic and her teaching style. This is the third class I’ve taken with her.

We receive an assignment each week with tips on design and approach to memory keeping, a template and tutorials on using PSE for those who are new to it.  Each LO follows Cathy’s process of designing on the computer and then printing the photos and title and journaling separately and then sticking them together on cardstock. 

There is an interesting mix in class of those who are new to the digital aspect and those, like me, who are comfortable with the digital but have not recently cut and pasted for real (rather than using ctrl c and ctrl v !).  When putting together a LO I remembered how frustrated I am at my inability to cut in a straight line even when using a trimmer and how hard I find it to line things up and how I get glue in places it wasn’t intended to go.  And how hard it is to photograph a LO so it looks square and the colour looks good.

The LO above was easier to keep aligned because I taped the photo block and the journaling block together and then cut them both so the top and bottom lined up. And I doctored the photo in PSE to make it square ( I used the yellow of the background to fill in bits around the edge)

I’m really enjoying the class and weekly assignment.  The class community is very active on the gallery and in comments and assistance and Cathy is present all the time, commenting on LOs and answering questions and joining in chat.  It is these aspects of an online class that I most enjoy. 

And it meant I recorded my enjoyment of all the flowers in my front garden.

Any tips for a returning paper scrapper?

Deb was in town !!!

Back from a lovely weekend in London to meet Deb and Carrie, and Alison and Mel.  Such a strange mix of familiar and unfamiliar – known lives in previously unheard voices; conversations using real names rather than blog pseudonyms; chat in real time on several topics. 

I met up with Deb, Carrie and Alison for breakfast at the hotel and then a wander around Covent Garden market as it awoke. Plenty of chat and touch and laughter and of course photos of everything, including some up and downs.  So refreshing to be around other scrappers when whipping out the camera to take photos of everything. 

Then the number 9 bus to Kensington for lunch with 7 more scrapping bloggers.  Again plenty of camera action amongst the chatter and laughter.

Indeed the novelty of all the photo taking inspired my first layout of the weekend.

the bottom right photo is Ruth doing the series of photos of each of us with Deb and Carrie – and here is mine

We did take a group photo in the restaurant – but took pity on the helpful waiter and agreed to share the image rather than pass him 11 cameras.

So lovely to meet blogfriends who have been part of my life since Shimelle’s blogging class in 2009. 

Lifting and passing

I was lucky enough to be the first recipient of Michelle Meisenbach’s book Lifted in Pass the Book Year 2 organised by Melissa. 

As you might guess, this book discusses different ways of scrap lifting ideas from one layout to use on a new layout.  I was particularly interested in her ideas on lifting components of a layout such as photo content or feel; or the text as well as lifting the structure.  I appreciated the number of examples with 2 lifts from each layout and notes of which components were lifted. 

I enjoyed dipping into the book and keeping the ideas in mind as I toured blogland.  I’ve been more assiduous lately in noting down layouts that grab me so that I can go back to them when I want to create a layout of my own.  I did that yesterday to create a layout about a recent visit from a good friend in New Zealand

[film strip, pennant and folder tab all from K Pertiet, papers from Audrey Neal]

I took my inspiration from a  layout by Alexa which she had lifted from a recipe page in a magazine.

I’m now ready to pass on this book so leave me a comment if you want to be in the draw.  If you’ve not come across Pass the Book before, Melissa has all the details.  I’ll make the draw on the morning of 18th (UK time).

and then it rained some more

we’ve had a lot of rain in the UK over the last few weeks – both heavy rain and many days of rain.  At the weekend the water levels in my local river rose above the banks and covered the park where I normally walk.  I was talking to a neighbour who has lived here for years who said that she couldn’t remember the water coming up so high and then as she went on her way she laughed and said ‘all we can do is grumble’.  I immediately thought that would make an excellent title for a layout with photos of the over flowing river.

In the big photo – that tree is usually surrounded by grass and those black things sticking out of the water are the tall plants in the flower beds.

And I decided to use the photo with the bright coloured barrier as my take on ‘border’ in Rinda’s Summertime Photo Scavenger hunt – it shows an artificial border erected to stop the water; the border of leaves showing the high watermark and the border between water and grass

and this is what it usually looks like – the water really did rise above its normal position

it seems from news reports that unseasonal weather is common at the moment – are you experiencing it at the moment?

well i saw it

I saw this photo idea somewhere on blogland (sorry didn’t save link) and thought that the Olympic torch relay was a good subject where I wanted to highlight a section of the photo.  Felt good to be making a layout for a change.  I’ll be printing this 6 x 6 which is why the font looks big for a 12 x 12

Credits – I made the template.  Paper is Audrey Neal’s Whiteout paper set from Design House digital; date is from Biograffitti (now retired)

First snow

Our first snow of this winter inspired me to create a layout – while making it I realised I haven’t created one for several months and can’t think why.

The template is one of this weeks free items from Kate Pertiet, including the winter clusters behind the photos, making it an easy creation.

Journaling: What a surprise when I opened the blinds on Saturday morning – it was white.

I put on my red wellies and headed out with my camera before it all melted.  Walking by the river I liked the contrast of the dark trees.

It was all gone by the evening – this kind of snow I can deal with – seasonal photos and no disruption.

I know grabbing the camera hasn’t always been my first reaction to snow – making a snowman and staying inside have been my normal reaction over the years. Have those of you in areas that get snow in December had any yet?

recognising the everyday shot

Yesterday I walked into my living room and looked at the sofa and thought – that is an everyday shot – it sums up part of my life right now.

I used it with an overlay from Cathy Z and printed as a normal size photo.  This is becoming my favourite method of memory keeping.

Have you had one of those moments or shots recently?

bubbles

journaling reads

Bubbles, big bubbles, I mean really big - I had to stop and watch.

All they were using was string looped onto canes and a big bucket of liquid - so much fun from such simple tools.

I’d watched jugglers and unicyclists and people sitting on tall poles and squeezing through tennis racquets and hoola hooping but these bubbles were my favourite street entertainment at the Fringe this year.

 

The big word art I used as the title is from Ali Edwards – I’m really enjoying using several of her overlays at the moment.  The texture in the background is a texture from Pixel Dust Photo Art.  I created the template – probably subliminally inspired by Cathy Z.

Are you a bubble fan?

When you date a layout to you put the date you created it or, as I have here, the date the event took place? 

keeping it simple

More and more I’m drawn to recording memories by writing on a photo and adding frames or wordart. 

Here I used a gradient layer to fade the photo on the left to give a clean space to write.  The ‘document’ is from a pack by Cathy Z

Is anyone else watching the rugby?

love fireworks

The Festival Fireworks end the Festival season with a fabulous display that many in Edinburgh enjoy for free for various vantage points around the city.  The local radio transmits the live concert so that everyone can enjoy the full spectacle, not just those with tickets for the Prince’s street area.

I love fireworks.  I always try to photograph them – taking masses in the knowledge a few will be OK.  When I saw this template pop up on Scrapping with Liz today I knew it would work well for a selection of photos to give an overall impression and not focus on any one photo.

Journaling reads

ending with a BANG and lots of oohs and aahhs. This year we had a perfect vantage point for the Festival fireworks exploding off the castle and listened to the accompanying life music relayed on local radio. Incredible synchronicity between music and pyrotechnics. I remembered to watch and enjoy as well as press the camera shutter !!!

The font for ‘bang’ is Hootie with wow effects applied in PSE.  The rest of the text is j.d. font.

Are you a firework fan and do you attempt photographs of them?

I love project runway

Journaling reads

From the very first episode of series 1, I’ve been hooked.

I love any reality show that tests a group of experts but this is my favourite in the genre.

I love the range of challenges, including wacky ones and designing for larger models

I love Tim Gunn as the mentor and his plea to ‘make it work’

I love the silhouette at the start of the runway

I love the ritual of best and worst on the stage to be quizzed by the judges.

But most of all I love the design and the creations that the designers make, under immense pressure, each week.

I was prompted to create this layout by Shimelle’s prompt to use the title ‘I love’ coinciding with me watching the current USA series.  I’ve watched the Australia series too and loved it, even without Tim Gunn.  I also incorporated Shimelle’s prompt to use a cluster of 3 similar things as embellishment.

Are you a Project Runway fan?

Credits: template Cathy Z from Design Your Life class; hearts from Anna Aspena; Scrap Sisters, R Young and Paislee Press. 

beautiful tropical beach

I’m back on the layout roll.  Creating my list for my Monday layout reminded me that I haven’t created a layout about my trip to Ille de Pines while holidaying in New Caledonia two years ago.  I used Shimelle’s sketch of the week.  I really like the 4 small photos in the strip as well as the focal photo. Pushing my normal approach by using a pattern paper as well as the textured papers and in adding the doodle like circles behind the papers.



Journaling reads
The quintessential tropical paradise beach – soft golden sand; turquoise water; safe bays and shoals of small, luminescent fish.
A 2 hours ferry ride from Noumea on the Betico means it is an easy and popular weekend day trip for locals and tourists alike.
The ship back was full of satisfied, tired, sun kissed people – and a fair bit of sand.

Credits - Date stamp – LLL creations.  Circle doodle – Kim Klassen brusht.  Word strips, perforated frames and papers from The blog train’s august bloghop – by kk simplicity paper; LollyPop Des Happyfun; ADD; jusmedigital.  Font Maiandra GD

Looking back

I’ve done plenty of digiart and photo enhancing recently but can’t remember when I last created a layout. So I took the challenge on Simple Aussie Girls to create a layout about me.  I do create lots of layouts about me but am happy to add another.  This one records my movement around the world and back over the last three decades.

Writing on photos – digitally and with pens – is rather a go to habit at the moment. 

I’d happily print out just the image with the writing (after moving the date onto the image).  I created this part first and then thought about putting it onto a more traditional layout size.  I actually did two versions (one of the many possibilities I love about digi scrapping). Do you have a preference between the versions?

anniversary BBQ

Really in a LO groove at the moment.

Last week we had a BBQ to mark my parent’s Golden Wedding Anniversary (50 years). 

As I say in the journaling – we planned a BBQ and luckily it was sunny after weeks of rain.

I have made a mini album for my parents (I will post photos when it is finished) and decided that for my album I wanted one simple page that captured the atmosphere.  I may well create some other pages later with more of the photos.

For this layout I used a template by Katie Pertiett and made some changes.  This is what it looked like originally.  I changed the paper size, changed the title, moved the heart so I could use the box for journaling, and increased the photos so that the lines were over them rather than around them.

The font is Segeo Script

If you are intrigued by digital scrapbook layouts and using Photoshop Elements but would like some help getting started then check out my ‘getting started with pse’ one on one tutorials.

a photo a day for the scavenger hunt

I was looking at the photos that I had taken for the Sunday scavenger hunt this week and realised that I had taken one a day, Monday to Friday and that they were a nice overview of my week.  So I put them together in a digital scrapbook layout, for a change, using a template from Cathy Z’s Design Your Life class.

The categories were

windows and doors – walking in the park I’ve often wondered why these have been blocked off

eyelashes – I knew my sister had some stunning falsies so I asked her when we were Skyping and then took a photo of the screen as she showed me

paint – I rarely buy it but I love the range available in types of paint and colours

veins on a leaf – plenty in the garden

faceless portrait – loving my new kindle

If you are interested in creating a digital scrapbook page using PhotoShop Elements but want some personal help then have a look at my new one on one buddy session (via skype). to create a scrapbook page or enhance photos

feels so good to grow my lunch

prompted by the Simple Aussie Girls 1st simple scrap challenge template, to tell a simple story of my week.

I used the eyedropper tool to take all of the colours for the layout from the photos, including changing the colour of the stitching to match the strawberry, and date. 

I turned the template into a 12 x 12 using resize canvas on the image menu and added the strip on the left.

Thanks to the simple Aussie girls for showcasing simple layouts and providing the versatile template.

If you want some easy to follow instructions on using PhotoShop Elements to create simple layouts check out DigiScrap Buddy.

using my Grandfather’s photos

I created this page as if it was from my Grandfather's photo album – he is paddling in both photos.  I love the hats they are wearing to paddle.

I used an oldbook background from ShadowHouse Creation, photo corners from Heaters Scraps and the travelling typewriter font.

The scans that I have of the two photos were in different types of black and white so I added texture to both to make them look the same.  First I used Kim Klassen’s linen on multiply blending mode (40% opacity) and then her portrait texture on soft light blending mode.  I applied the same textures to the labels to give them the same aged look.

I’m pleased with this approach and will use it for some more of the old family photos that I have.

Check out Kim Klassen’s site for more textures applied to photos of people (not a common content for texturising).

crazy days of summer - water

I walk by the river most days and by the beach at least once a week.  So the third weekly prompt at Crazy Days of Summer – water – was a case of ‘which picture to use’ rather than ‘what can I photograph?’. Sunday last week there was lovely sunshine of the water and clear views (there is often fog and the other side disappears).

I chose this as my water shot for the Crazy Days of Summer collection.  It is straight out of camera.

Looking at the other photos I took that day I was inspired to create a layout using a lovely versatile template from Paislee Press (see here for a very different page I made with the template).

Font is matisse and I applied a down bevel layer style to the template doodle to make the lines look as if they were drawn into the background.