I Need Ideas - You Can Help

If you consider yourself new to digital scrapbooking, please leave me a comment and tell me a question that you have or something you would be interested in learning.

If you are a more seasoned scrapper and have a tip you would like to share, please e-mail me and tell me what you would like to write about. It could be specific to a scrapping program or more general to digital scrapbooking.

Surfing the galleries

So even if you have only been scrapping for a short time, you have probably had an experience where you sit down to scrap and end up staring at the screen for 15 minutes. Or maybe you start working on a layout and keep trying to change it, but just can’t seem to get it “right.” Even the most practiced scrappers will experience this block.

Last post, I encouraged you to look at some sketches for inspiration. Today I want to share another tip – just head to your local online gallery. Tons of scrapbooking sights have galleries. One of my favorites is the gallery at DST. Take a look at all of the beautiful layouts there! Really any scrapbook page can be used as a sketch for your next layout. Or maybe the colors on the page, an element, or a filter on a picture inspire you. Just look around the gallery and find some layouts that make you say – Wow, I love that. Then find the link in the gallery that says “Add to favorites.” This will bookmark these layouts so that you can go back to “My favorites” later.

When you find a layout that you want to work from, just go for it. Use what inspires you from the layout to create your own. This process is called scraplifting. It is a nice idea if you upload your layout to a gallery to mention the person you scraplifted or even to link to their layout.

Here are some fun scraplifts that I found:
This layout:
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=44346&si=scraplift&what=allfields
Is a scraplift of this one:
http://www.thedigiboutique.com/studio/showphoto.php?photo=7757&cat=500&ppuser=183

This layout:
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43522&si=scraplift&what=allfields
Is a scraplift of this one:
http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/35576/cat/500/ppuser/7749

This layout:
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43317&si=scraplift&what=allfields
Is a scraplift of this one:
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=36205&cat=504&limit=recent

Now you go and create one of your own. And if you really enjoy scraplifting you can check out this blog:
Digi-Scraplift

Sketchy Inspiration

Some of my favorite inspirations when I was a beginner digiscrapper were layout sketches. Here are a few of my favorite websites to go for sketches:
http://www.scrap-maps.com/12x12_2p.php
Look on the left side and you will see options for all sizes and numbers of pictures. (Take note, though, that 12x12 sketches can be used for any size square layout.)
http://www.littlebit.com/ideas_scrap/Sketches_1/index.htm
http://www.pagemaps.com/nov06maps.htm
You can find lots more by searching on the web.

When you pick a sketch, the idea is to use it for inspiration. You can copy as little or as much from the sketch as you want. You can also leave the sketch open in the web browser and refer back to it while you make your layout, or you can right click on the layout, Save Image, and then open it in your graphics program to refer to. Don’t forget to add any elements you want, shadows, etc. Make sure you are saving frequently.

Here is a sketch I got from Scrap Maps and the layout I did from it:

Bright Kids by Amanda Rockwell, Font: Comic Sans, Inked edge recolored by Kim Hill

You can see that I used the four paper strips from the sketch and put the title on the bottom. I chose to add some journaling and staples and didn’t use the stitching from the sketch.

Next time you sit down to scrap and don’t know where to start, take a look at some sketches for inspiration.

Shadow Challenge Ended

Thanks to everyone who sent me layouts for the shadow challenge. I loved seeing them. I have sent out the prizes, so check your e-mail. If you didn't get it, please leave me a comment.

*Note: only two more days to show me a layout with shadows to get the date stamps below!*

How to Use a Quickpage

Quickpages are digital scrapbooking pages that are already completed, with space left for a picture. This is a quick and easy way to scrap fairly quickly (hence the name quickpage). Some designers will use free quickpages as a way to show off a sample of their newest work. Other places will sell single quickpages or an entire album of quickpages.

Quickpages are usually saved as a PNG file. If you remember back to what we learned about saving, PNG files keep the transparency. This is important so that the quickpage can have sections cut out of it, like windows, where the pictures are to go. All you need to do is open the quickpage, open the picture you want on the page, and move the picture onto the quickpage. Then, make use of those nifty layers to move your picture under the quickpage. You can resize the picture to fit in the “window” on the quickpage.

Some quickpages are saved as a JPEG file. If this is the case, instead of a window for the picture, there will be a mat on the page and you put the picture on top of that. The downside to these is that you will have to crop the picture to fit exactly as you want – you can’t hide any part behind the page. This also means that if you want anything over the picture, like photo holders of some kind, you will need to add them. Of course, the other option with a JPEG quickpage is to use the marquee tool to select and then cut out a section of the page, and then slide your picture behind it.

Here is a quickpage for you to download and use. If you download it, I would love for you to leave me a comment.

Click here to download

Take a Look at Fasteners

When you paper scrap, you need to attach each item on your page with some type of glue or fastener. Although we don’t need these things to get things to stick to the page digitally, we can use them to make the page look more realistic. Take a look through some galleries and see what types of fasteners are used. You will see brads, stitching, staples, tape, buttons, photo corners, paperclips and much more.

One of the trickiest fasteners to use is the paperclip. A paper clip needs to go partially over the paper you are clipping and partially under. You can’t do this by moving layers around obviously. What you need to do is to erase part of the paperclip – the part that should be under the paper. Here is a layout I did that used a paperclip:

I am going to zoom up close to the paper clip and then use my eraser tool to wipe away one of the loops of the paperclip, just the part that should be hiding under the paper. You will need to take it slow and do it piece by piece. If you mess-up, just undo and try again. The end result should look like this:

Before

After

Have fun – I free you to go forth and erase!

Posting to galleries

There are so many wonderful websites for digital scrapbookers, and many of them have galleries where we can share the layouts we have made. When I first started posting layouts to the galleries, I had trouble getting the files to be small enough to post while still good enough quality wise. There are many ways to do this. First, you need to check with the gallery to find out what regulations they have for the size of the files you upload to them as this varies slightly from site to site. Then you need reduce your layout size to match that. I have found that 500 pixels across and down is usually accepted, so I resize my layout to be 5 inches in the longest direction and 100 ppi. Then I save it as a jpeg at quality 5. I have found that this keeps the quality good enough to see clearly, but doesn’t make the file size too large for most galleries. You can also go to “Save for the Web” if your program has that option and experiment with different options there.

When you go to the gallery, you will then be able to choose Upload files, click Browse, and then find and upload a copy of your layout. Then there is room to add information. First of all, it is important to credit the designers of any papers, elements, templates, scraplifts, or anything else you used. Second, if you have small journaling on your layout that will be unreadable on the screen, you may want to add the journaling to the description. Some galleries will also encourage you to link to the kits you used in case someone is interested in finding it, or add the program you used to create the layout.

You should also take a couple minutes to think about the things you are posting online, since anyone and everyone will have access to see them. Some people feel very uncomfortable posting pictures of their children online. To get around this and still share your layouts, you can find some free stock photos that you can swap for your own on your layouts before you save them for posting. Related to this, it is usually a good idea to get permission to post pictures of other people’s children. You can also get around these issues by adding large sunglasses to the face in the pictures or blurring or blacking out faces. In addition to picture, take a look at the information on the layout and in the comments. Do you want to use full names, addresses, birth dates, or other personal information? I mention this not to freak you out, but to offer you a chance to think about these things and make a decision you feel comfortable with. Some people work very hard to keep anything personal from being posted. They may take this information off of their layouts or black them out. Others feel that it is not that important and if someone wanted to find that information out they could regardless. It is important that we are aware, though, and making wise choices in this area.


***Note: I forgot to mention a deadline for the shadow's challenge. To get the prize, I need to see your layout by November 16. ***

A Challenge and a Prize

Well, it is a new month and I just finished making some date stamps that I wanted to use as a freebie, so I think it is time for a challenge. A couple of days ago, I talked about the importance of shadows. We also had some wonderful ladies give instructions on how to create shadows in some common digiscrap programs. So the challenge for you is to use shadows in your layout. It is that simple. Create a layout and add some shadows to make things look 3D on your page. You can either post the layout online in a gallery and post a link to the layout in the comments here, or you can e-mail me your layout. Make sure that you leave me an e-mail address to contact you at so I can send you a prize. Everyone who participates will receive these date stamps that I put together. Have fun and I can’t wait to see all the shadows! *Added: To get this prize, I need to see your layout by Nov. 16!*