Category Archives: digi scrap

Jun10

Summer’s Almost Here!

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Summer’s Almost Here!

I really look forward to summer every year, but this year? I’m practically jumping up and down as it gets closer and closer. At last, I have no more preparations to do for class, and only a few papers to correct before I can get started on grades. I’m proctoring 2 regents (the big NYS standardized subject tests) and reading one more to a student. The last thing on the list for teaching this year is to attend the graduation ceremony. That’s totally do-able.

The kids are close to done as well. My high schooler is done with classes on Monday, and his last regents exams are on Friday of next week. My youngest has a week and a half of school left, so there’s only a handful more lunches I need to pack for the rest of the year. And my exchange student is heading home next week as well. It’s going to be quiet around here without him.

The thing I’m looking forward to most? No 6am alarms.

For those of you with kids, has your summer vacation started yet? For those of you not still wrapped up in the school schedule, what are you planning for summer fun? What are you all going to be doing crafty-wise? I’m going to take advantage of no school today and come up with some ideas for things I want to do over the summer. I’ll probably even bug the kids to make a wish list/summer bucket list.

Look out summer, here we come!

schools out||noexcusescrapbooking.com

(If you’re curious, it’s a digi page, all supplies are from Traci Reed’s Are We Done Yet kit available at Sweet Shoppe Designs.)

Feb18

Playing Catch-Up

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Playing Catch-Up

This week has been weirdly busy, so while I have been able to continue to create pages every day, I haven’t been able to share them on the blog with you.

Let’s do a quick run-down for you:

I tried to make a rhyming poem for this page, but ditched it when nothing but doggerel made it onto the practice paper.
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This page was all about playing with fun fonts. And filling in the blanks on the prompt, “Don’t Let the ____, _____,” based on the “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” books. (If you haven’t read any Mo Willems books, you need to. He’s the Dr. Seuss of our generation.

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Trying to remember books that were read to me as a child for the next prompt, and I can’t remember any of them. However, I vividly remember reading to my little sister “The Monster at the End of This Book,” hence the monster themed paper.
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This page came together in half an hour, when I realized at 10:45 that I hadn’t made a page for the day. I used a few photos that I had put aside to document my new iPhone, and lots of scraps from my scrap bin. One of the big benefits of LOAD is how fast I scrap now. There’s a lot less indecision when time is a limiting factor.
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And then page creation got a bit hairy. We headed off to my sister’s, which meant I either needed to bring scrapbooking supplies, or find an alternative way to scrapbook if I was going to continue making a page a day. Solution? The Project Life app for iPhone.

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Both Monday and Tuesday, I used photos I or my sister had taken to document the events of the day, a few cards from various kits, and the pages were done. And shared on Flickr! I am loving how versatile my iphone is! But that’s a post for anther day.
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That brings us up to today. We got home about an hour and a half ago. Next on the to-do list? Listening to today’s prompt.

There are so many ways to scrapbook every day. Pick one and start telling YOUR story. It is definitely worth it.

Dec7

Keep Calm and Jingle On!

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Keep Calm and Jingle On!

Have you heard of Scrapbook Campus? It’s a website about using Paintshop Pro for scrapbooking, run by my friend Cassel, and she’s got some fun freebies for you this month.

For the first twelve days of the month, she’s got templates for twelve card and envelope sets. You can use them with your digital supplies, or let them inspire you to create with your paper stash. You just need to sign up on her website, and you’ll get a link to each template in your mailbox each morning. If you sign up today, tomorrow will be your first email, but Cassel will have a link to all twelve card and envelope templates available at the end of the series.

This is the template I worked with:

ScrapbookCampus-Card06

Isn’t that a lovely base to work with? The four-square is one of my favorite base designs to build pages.

Now, the next question was how did I want to use this? To create cards for mailing? As a starting point for the design of a scrapbook page? How about as a spot for hidden journaling?

Yep, that’s it! Journaling card it is! My next debate–make the envelope to hold the card or not? That decision was taken out of my hands when my printer died on me. As in it will no longer turn on for me. So no printing envelopes for me! I was able to get the card printed however.

jingle card front || noexcusescrapbooking.com

To make the card, I started by choosing four papers from a couple Christmas digi kits. I probably got them from Jessica Sprague’s website, one set was by Echo Park, and the other was by Pink Paisley. Both of them are older and may not be available any longer.

I assigned one paper to each square, and then added text to one, and a reindeer to another.

Then it was time to print it and trim it.

jingle card || noexcusescrapbooking.com

And yes, I did decide to add a paper on the back at the last minute. That was a collage paper that seemed to tie the two sets together.

After cutting it out, I folded it, and added my journaling, and then started to put my page together.

a decorated life || noexcusescrapbooking.com

Since the journaling was all about decorating the house for the holidays, it made sense to use a bunch of holiday embellishments. I even stamped and fussy cut a reindeer to help carry design elements throughout the page.

jingle on details || noexcusescrapbooking.com

One last little idea for you: since I wanted to be able to pull out the card and read it, I added a leftover borderstrip to use as a line to slip the card over. It’s anchored by the brads on the poinsettias and holly leaves. Yes, those brads are functional as well as decorative! My favorite kind of embellishment!

Thanks for visiting! If you like what you’ve seen, make sure you join my mailing list up at the top of the page! there are always some fun ideas floating around here!

Mar3

Do YOU want to be a Design Star?

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Do YOU want to be a Design Star?

How many of you out there have ever dabbled in digi-scrapbooking? How many of you have wanted to design your own patterned papers or embellishments? How about pocket page cards and cut files? Have you ever wanted to design those?

Do you have a basic grasp on how to use Photoshop? (Most important concept-do you understand layers?)

You do? Excellent, because there’s a class coming up that you will absolutely LOVE.

The Design Star with Traci Reed class (affiliate link) over at Scrapaneers is now open for registration, and begins Aprll 7th. She first ran the class last fall, and I was lucky enough to take the class.

Before I took the class, I had only used Photoshop Elements, and I was able to complete some of the assignments in Elements. However, there are certain things you can do in Photoshop that you can NOT do in Elements, so for the end of class, I took advantage of Adobe’s free trial and used Adobe Creative Cloud.

By the end of the class, I was able to make this:

preview first digi kit

(If you want to download it and take a closer look at it you can find the info here: Doing a Digi Dance)

The Design Star class (affiliate link) is jam packed with information, and Traci walks you through the entire design process, from creating a mood board and color palette, to creating your own patterns and word art and embellishments. Not only is there great introductory information pre-recorded for each week’s topic, but there are also office hours, where Traci demonstrates  tricks, shortcuts, and techniques that will really help you learn the ins and outs of digital designing. There’s even a peer review and a one-on-one video chat with Traci at the end of class to go over your strengths and weaknesses!

I can not recommend this class highly enough. No matter what your skill level is, you will learn a lot that you can use to create gorgeous digital products, be it for your own personal use, or as a professional designer.

If you have any questions about the class, drop them in the comments, and I’ll forward them on to Traci and get some answers for you. Maybe we’ll even have a Q&A post later this month for  you!

This is one class that is worth every penny, and then some. If you harbor even vague dreams of becoming a digi designer, this class will get you on your way!

Dec27

Doing a Digi Dance

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Doing a Digi Dance

Today’s giveaway is for all you folks who like to play with digi pages.

This past fall, I took a design class from the fabulous Traci Reed at Scrapaneers. In it, we learned the whole process of how to create a digi kit, from inspiration to finished product.

This is my first digi kit, ever! I hope you enjoy it.

preview first digi kit

If you click this link, you’ll be able to download the entire kit from dropbox.  Let me know what you think of it. I’d love the input!

See you tomorrow with my last giveaway!