Why should I always credit designers?

It is important to credit the designers of any papers, elements, templates, scraplifts, or anything else you used. There are many reasons to do this – let me just mention three. First, by purchasing the digital materials, you have often obligated yourself to credit the designer. Many designers specifically say in their TOU (terms of use) that if you post layouts using their products or get those layouts published that you must credit them as the designer. Second, it is only fair to not claim the designer’s work as your own. When paper scrapping, no one assumes that you made your own paper and such, but in the digital world, it is very common for people to make their own papers and elements. If then, you use papers and elements created by someone else, it is courteous to mention who created them and not to assume all of the credit yourself. Third, someone might be looking at your layout in the gallery and want to find the kit that you used. It is nice for you to post the designer and kit name so that they can go and download the kit for themselves if they want.
For more information on this topic you can visit this page on digital piracy.

Challenge Deadline

The deadline for the current challenge is in only two days. Check out this post for details:
Fastener Challenge

Two ideas for overlays

First of all, I should probably address what an overlay is. Basically, it is something that you put over an element on your layout, usually paper, to alter it’s look. Overlays are often used to make the paper look grungy or worn. Here is one example of a paper overlay that is designed to make the edges of the paper look inked. It was created by Kim Hill.

The basic use of an overlay is to add it to your layout and place it in the layer just above the paper you want to alter. Here is what the inked edge looks like on a paper. I had to stretch it a bit to get it to fit even with the edges of the paper. The paper is by Mona Minnie.

The problem is that you often want overlays to add to the layout without being eye-catching themselves. To achieve this, I have two suggestions.

First, you can try to recolor the overlay. Alter the color just a bit to fit your layout. Second, you can adjust the opacity of the overlay. Allow some of the paper underneath to show through so that the overlay doesn’t stand out so sharply. If you don’t know how to do either of things in your program try googling for some tutorials.

To see some examples, look at some of my previous posts. I used a grunge overlay at a low opacity in the Thankful for layout of my hubby and son. Further back, I used a recolored inked edge in the ZZZZZ layout in the post about sketches.

Apology

I need to apologize for not crediting the creations I used on the layouts in my last post. I have added the info so make sure you take a look! :)

Time for a New Challenge

Wow! Can you believe that the first of December is already upon us. My family got together for Thanksgiving weekend, and we will be spending a week with my in-laws over Christmas. As I have a 15-month-old son who is the only grandchild on either side of the family, this means that these two months are going to overflow with pictures. Which means that I will have a blast scrapping them all!

I have found that the best way to get better at digital scrapbooking is to do it often and to try new things. I will often scrap pages that I have no intention of printing just so I can reuse a picture in a new way or try out a different style. A couple of weeks ago, I showed you how to erase part of a paper clip so that it will look “clipped” onto the page. You can check out that post here: Take a Look at Fasteners. You can, of course, use this same technique for other things such as stickpins or charm loops.

Here are two layouts I have done recently with a close up on the fasteners.

Paper, word art, flower: Granma Always said and Dad's cabin by Sherri Tierney; Oodles-of-Doodles by Kim Hill; Grunge overlay by Faith True; envelope: Brown Pink by Moltaz; tags, pins, strap, frame: Pumpkin Cobbler and For My Father by Miss Mint, font: French Script




Jingle Bling by Sherri Tierney, bulb from Hip Dot Holiday by Jen Beschinski, template by Victoria Feemster, font: Socially Awkward

And now for the challenge. I want you to create a layout that uses two different fasteners that you need to use your eraser tool with. Post links to the layout in the comment section here or e-mail them to me. The deadline is Dec 15. For a prize, I will send you a sample of the new desktop templates I have coming out soon:

Have fun and I can’t wait to see the layouts!