In just a short while we’ll post the first instruction right here on the blog! If you’ve never done an event like this before, you’re in for a treat! Here’s a little more information on how things will work:

• I’ll provide one instruction for you every 10 minutes.
• Often the instruction will tell you a type of material to use. If no specific instruction is given on how to use that piece of material, then that means it’s totally up to you!
• Fonts…Fonts are “freebies” and can be used without being explicitly called for in the instructions. This is primarily because journaling is a personal preference, and some folks love it and some don’t :)
• If you have questions about the instruction, please post a comment to the blog. We’ll answer your questions as quickly as possible!
• The last instruction will be posted at 10:50AM EST. You’ll have an additional hour to “play with” your layout, but you must post your finished layout to the gallery HERE by 12 MIDDAY EST to qualify for the prize drawings!

We’ll post the FIRST INSTRUCTION at 10AM EST!

We hope to see you then! :o)

BeckieFast and Fabulous, Uncategorized 16 Comments

Hello everyone!  Beckie here again, bringing you a tiny bit of inspiration for your journaling!

This week I thought it might be fun to interview my fellow Shabby Artists to get their perspective on how they approach journaling for their pages, too!  I also asked them to link me up to their favorite layouts for showcasing journaling – whether their own or someone else’s :)  I hope you’ll find a fresh perspective here that will let you shed your worries and get some journaling on your next page!

What’s your approach?

I love journaling.  Often, my pages start with something I want to write about and then I find photos to help tell my story.  But I know that this isn’t the case for everyone!  I’ve seen many women over the years comment that insecurities in their grammar, stress over “not knowing what to write” and many other obstacles get in the way of adding journaling to a page.  So I asked the Shabby Artists:  “What do you like least about journaling?”

SP: “TYPOS <not noticed until after printing, lol>!”

Kylie: “Sometimes I feel like I’m repeating myself …and I also don’t like it when it takes me hours to choose a font I like!”

Rachel: “Probably trying to find a font that portrays the feeling I want to come across in the page. I have literally over 1000 fonts and it always takes me forever to pick one.”

Rosy: “I’m not a wordy person and deciding what is important to write down and
how to word it, is what I dislike most.”

Jenelle: “I really don’t like it when I see spelling mistakes!!!”

~*~

So, how do we do it? How do we add the pressure of writing “perfect journaling” to the existing responsibility of taking “perfect photos” and creating “incredibly cute and creative” layouts?!  My answer:  Don’t!

Let it all go.  Seriously.

Think about why you scrapbook, for whom you journal, and keep it all in perspective.

SP said it best when she described her philosophy towards scrapbooking:

“Since all of my scrapbook pages are for our little man…I essentially ‘talk’ to him on each page.  Most pages are very personal and almost like letters to him about the day, the photo, the moment, etc.  So, I make sure to type like I talk…I do not spend a lot of time trying to make sure everything is grammatically perfect…I just try to be myself, so he doesn’t look back and wonder, WHO IN THE WORLD WROTE THAT, IT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE MY MOM, lolol!  <– see, just like that run-on sentence right there…there are plenty of them in my albums, lol :o)  I generally have a good idea of what I am going to ‘say’ on each layout – but almost always save it for last (it just works out that way).  There are times when a page is more about the ‘story’ than anything else, and for those layouts – I begin with the journaling (though the formatting might change as the layout takes shape)!  I do think journaling is a super integral part of each page, especially when the picture itself does not ‘tell the story’ :o) “

~*~

Does it matter if you have typos?  Nope.  They will know what you meant!  Heck, with the proliferation of texting and Twitter, our future generations probably won’t recognize formal language anyhow :)  I’ve been scrapping long enough now to see my daughter grow up and learn to read.  She absolutely LOVES to read through my scrapbook pages.  She loves seeing the pictures and absolutely cracks up at the silly stories I’ve journaled over the years – from getting food all over her face as a baby to learning to read just last year.  Sharing these stories and photos will keep those memories alive for both of us forever!

This is what Kim had to say about her approach to journaling:

“My approach to journaling is that it is an important part of telling the story I want to remember later.  Especially with my children, I’d like to think I will remember the simple things they do and say that are so sweet and funny, but realistically I know I will forget some of the little things.  So, I want to try and capture them through journaling on my layouts.  I find myself too often trying to fit journaling on the page after I have pictures and some other elements in place.  It’s not usually what the design of the page is built around.  This is one reason I’ve enjoyed the project scrap layouts this year.  I use these layouts for some of the “random” moments I’ve loved from the month and these layouts were designed with journaling space… perfect!”

~*~

 Rosy had this to say about the layout she selected:  “Lu’s page is not only beautiful but meaningful! She not only journaled about the photo itself, but about the deeper meaning of what is happening. I’m in awe of anyone who can express things in words so beautifully!”

~*~

Use what you have:

Who says you have to write up cute or clever words to accompany your page?  Why not go right to the source – and print your blog, facebook feed, twitter feed, etc?!  What a fascinating little time-capsule that would be!  SP selected this layout by Kylie as one of her favorites…how creative is her journaling!?  It’s TEXT MESSAGES!

And here’s an awesome tip from Anna!  I had to include the whole tip in her own words because I thought it was so incredibly helpful and cute!

“I think that journaling is the most important thing on most layouts.
Usually the only time I won’t write a few words is when I know that I
will be including other pages in my scrapbook that tell the story of a
particular group of photos!!!

Something that has really helped me to remember things that I want to
scrapbook is my iphone! I love that it has voice memos. In fact, just
yesterday I was relistening to a memo and laughing about a funny thing
that happened on Halloween.

My youngest daughter, Breanna had just eaten a lovely little mini
cupcake but later was looking so strangely at her sister Jessica’s
cupcake. Breanna said, “Did all those have wrappers?” Jessica replied,
“Yes”  Breanna said, “Oh, (long pause) I ate the wrapper!”  We all
burst out laughing! SO TYPICAL BREANNA – she dives right in!!!

If I wouldn’t have voice memoed right that moment, there is no way I
would have remembered this story. It will make it so easy when it
comes time to journal those Halloween photos!”

~*~

Embrace it all the way…

And finally, here’s my favorite layout.  It’s one of my own, and it’s very special to me for so many reasons!  I love the photo – for reasons I documented in my journaling – but you know what?  That journaling is MY HANDWRITING!  Yep.  I had my own handwriting turned into a font.  So that’s my own words, in my own writing, capturing a very special time of growth for my sweet boy.

I hope that hearing more about how others approach journaling helps you put those words down on your layout with confidence!  And this post has more ideas on how to incorporate journaling in creative ways onto your pages…click HERE to check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to come back tomorrow when SP stops by with her OCTOBER check-in for Project Scrap!

BeckieInspiration, Uncategorized 11 Comments

Happy Wednesday everyone!  It’s Beckie here again, bringing you the latest edition of Shoppe Tips & Tricks!

Previously, I shared with you a digital way to replicate one of my favorite paper scrapping techniques – watercolor painting.  Today, I’m back with another – this time it’s ink!  We’ll be using a simple layer style to achieve the inked edges effect in this sample below:

See the subtle effect of ink around the edges of the vanilla cardstock and the “fall” letters?…it’s SUPER simple with Inner Glow!  On my sample, I simply selected the vanilla cardstock layer (once it was cropped to the final size) and then with my menu followed this path: Layer –> Layer Style –> Inner Glow.  In the Layer Style box that opened, I set the following values:

The new Gracie alpha – used for the “fall” letters in my sample today – is PERFECT for this technique! 

A few things I’ve learned:

• PLAY with these settings.  Every one of them.  Just drag the slider all the way to the right and watch what happens.  Don’t like it? Move it back!  You’ll learn a lot just from playing around!
• Expect that the “correct” opacity and size will change based on the combination of  “ink” and paper colors you’re using.
• Got a combination you really like?  Simply click the “New Style” button in the upper right corner and you can save your new Inner Glow creation to use over and over again!
• The easiest method I’ve found to quickly apply styles to multiple elements (like letters in a title) is to get one letter all set with all of my desired styles, then right-click on the that layer in the layers palette and select “Copy Layer Style“.  Then select all of the layers on which you’d like to add these styles, and then right-click again and select “Paste Layer Style“.
• If you’ve added a Layer Style like our Inner Glow inked edges and you want to ADD an additional style, like a basic Drop Shadow, you will need to re-open the Layer Style dialog box again to be able to apply an additional style.  Simply check the “Drop Shadow” check box along the left edge, then click on the word drop shadow, and you can then set all of your shadow settings as you want them. The below image is of the Layer Style box showing multiple layer styles applied to the one layer.

 You can get really interesting effects by changing the Contour in the layer style dialog box.  How about this version?!

See the difference in the border around the cardstock and the new “tie-dye” feel to the letters?  For the cardstock, I changed the Contour to “Cone”.  And for the letters, I changed the Contour to “Ring- Double”.  SUPER simple!!  I really, really love the look of the line around the inside edge of the cardstock…close-up, you can see that it’s a realistic looking inked line!

Well, I hope this is one more fun trick you’ll add to your scrapping arsenal :)  Be sure to join us again tomorrow because Kylie will be bringing you her newest FABULOUS Easy-As-Pie Template Challenge!!

BeckieTips and Tricks, Uncategorized 13 Comments

Happy Tuesday from the Shabby Shoppe!  It’s Beckie here, and I’m super excited to announce that our FAST and FABULOUS speed scrap is BACK!

Kylie, SP and I will be your hostesses for our SECOND ever FAST and FABULOUS speed scrap!  Together we’ll answer your questions, keep the instructions coming, and even chat a little along the way :)

:: How does it work? ::

Grab a beverage and your favorite snack…and JOIN US right here at the BLOG at 10AM Eastern Standard Time on SATURDAY MORNING, November 12th!!!   Over the course of ONE HOUR, we’ll give you basic scrapping instructions ONE AT A TIME, every TEN minutes.  At the end of the hour, you’ll have SIX instructions for creating a layout.  Just scrap along as each instruction is given out! ~ too easy!  Then, you’ll have one additional hour to finish up your layout and get it posted in the Shoppe’s FAST and FABULOUS gallery.

During the TWO ‘fast and fabulous scrapping’ HOURS, you can add any comments and/or questions you may have right on the blog!  Kylie, SP and I (Beckie) will be on hand to answer all your questions as they come in!

These basic instructions will help you create your very own FAST and FABULOUS layout!  The final set of instructions from our first speed scrap can be found HERE!  These simple prompts take out the guesswork but still leave all the creativity up to you :)

 :: Share your finished layout with other Shoppe Speed Scrappers! ::

Seeing everyone’s work is always the best part :) It’s so FUN to see how everyone interprets the instructions and how different all of the layouts turn out. Plus…

post your layout to this gallery by 12 midday EST and you’ll be entered into a random drawing to win one of three $10 Shabby Shoppe gift cards!

You can see the “winning” entries from our first speed scrap, as well as the link to the gallery with all of the wonderful layouts created HERE!  We all had a fantabulous time!!

:: About the date and time ::

We know that the date and time may not suit absolutely everyone (time zones, busy schedules and the like!!)…we promise to keep rotating around the dates and times to make sure that we give everyone the chance to participate!  :)

So mark your calendars and join us on Saturday, November 12th at 10 AM EST!  We’ll be sure to remind you again as we get closer to the event date, too!  We’d truly love to see you back with us again OR for the very first time…to scrap fast and fabulous TOGETHER!

Thanks for stopping by!  Kylie will be here tomorrow with her next Gallery Girls feature…who will it be??

BeckieFast and Fabulous, Uncategorized 11 Comments

We hope you had a wonderful time scrapping along with us in our first ever Fast and Fabulous event!  We absolutely loved seeing all of your layouts in the gallery.  We are so happy to announce the winners of our random prize drawings!  Each of our THREE lucky winners will receive a $10 Shabby Shoppe gift card!

Midnight Owl

JLTanner

Whites19

<3  Thank you <3 for joining us – we hope you had as much fun as we did! See you all back here on Monday for another LOTW!!!

P.S. – If you didn’t join us LIVE for our Fast and Fabulous speed scrap, you can still play along yourself!  We’d love to see your layouts in the gallery, too!

BeckieFast and Fabulous, Uncategorized 12 Comments