Hi all! Trish here with my first blog post of the new year! I hope you are all having a great start to the year :) I’m here to present you with this week’s layout of the week. Only… I have more than one. I actually have FIVE, but it’s all good because my five all make up one gorgeous set.

I chose kirplnk‘s “Nicole Wall Art” set. They are so creative and gorgeous, and I just love love love them. I always love pages that are different from the rest, and this set with no pictures and using almost only papers instantly stood out to me. She used Shabby Princess’ Clementine papers just wonderfully.

You can find the individual pages here, here, here, here, and here.

Don’t forget that today is the deadline for Template Challenge EIGHT here at the Blog.  SP will be back on Thursday to announce the ‘winner’, AND to share Template Challenge NINE with everyone.  Until then – have a great week.

TrishLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Morning all! Trish here to bring you this week’s Tips and Tricks :)

Now, I’m not necessarily going to show you how to do something this week, but more help you in doing something many scrappers have a difficult time with… journaling. I know many digi scrappers who sort of cringe on the inside when faced with the task of journaling. It’s always been easy for me - but I love to talk, and I see journaling as just that – talking! It’s telling the story that goes along with the memories connected to the picture that you’re documenting. True, a picture can be worth a thousand words, but when you look back 10 years later – will that picture be able to tell you all about why you chose to keep that picture? Will it tell you why you felt it was important enough to scrap? Maybe, but then again, maybe not.  For me, I scrap so that when my children look back at my pages when they are older – they will know WHY, not just where and when. It’s a way for me to preserve a piece of them and me.

Here are a few of my tips when it comes to journaling:

Record it as you think it or as it happens. If you’re anything like me, you carry your camera with you almost everywhere. You probably have a handbag, too. What you do is just keep a small notepad and pen in there, and when you get the chance, you write down what’s going on when you took the picture. Even jotting down a few short words such as “August 8 – Zach, met teacher, shy but very excited.” or “May 20 – Belly, stared out backdoor, watched boys play, very sad could not go out.” This will give you the building blocks for your journaling later.

• Before you start setting up your page, look at the pictures you want to use. Open a word document, or get a piece of paper, or even create text on a blank canvas. Then, really look at your picture. Write down the date, location, and the main thing you want your journaling to be about. After that write down 2-3 things that cover your main thought that have to do with that memory.
• Think about the tone you want to use. Do you want to sound correct and proper, or do you want to sound like you? Do you want your journaling to come off as humorous, or sad, or serious, or happy? Use adjectives and phrasing to help build that. Make up words, Google words, look them up in your dictionary, write them the way your children say them.
• Use your fonts to help tell your story. (You might end up obsessing over fonts… I do. lol) There are millions of fonts out there… and a lot you can get free. Find a font similar to your own handwriting, or pay someone to convert your actual handwriting to a font. It’ll give your page a nice personal look. Look for fun, funky fonts, romantic swirly fonts, serious typewritten fonts. I can go on and on. What you use will not only help convey the tone of your journaling, but it can also add to the design of your page. And never be scared of mixing fonts together in your journaling – a great way to document a conversation between people.

The most important thing to remember is that this is for you and whoever else you scrap for. It’s not for anyone else, so you shouldn’t let that encumber what you have to say. Once you get past that, you will find it just comes so much easier to you. I know this isn’t the Tips and Tricks…but I hope that this helps you the next time you feel stuck on your journaling. Remember, if you can talk to relate a story – you can journal!

Here are some of my journaled pages:

I hope that this information will help to inspire you the next time you work on a layout where journaling is key :)

Join us tomorrow as Karen brings us a new THURSDAY THIEVERY post!

TrishInspiration, Uncategorized 3 Comments

Good morning!

Trish here with this week’s Layout of the Week! Man, I just totally love doing these posts, because I love going through the gallery and looking at all the amazing pages you ladies make.

This week I picked farrisjc’s “Tea for Two“. She made it for the Blog Template Challenge #6, and I must say it is just amazing! I love the way she combined SP’s Bountiful and Plentiful kits. If I didn’t know they were two separate kits, I would have sworn they were one. And her photos and title work… just wow! Really I just love it all!

Congratulations, farrisjc, and enjoy your gift card to the Shabby Shoppe (sent via email from SP).

Check back with us for tomorrow’s Product Spotlight!

TrishLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 3 Comments

Hi all! Trish here and today we’re going to talk scraplifts!

Now, I don’t often do lifts unless they’re for our Thursday Thievery blog posts or for a challenge, but I recently learned some tricks on how to make them a tad easier.  I was asked to convert some of my friends’ flattened pages into templates and as I was doing these I figured out a way to apply the same principle to lifts. Today… I’m going to share that secret with you!

BUT… (Yes there is always a but – lol!)

…before we begin lets talk about a few scraplifting manners.  I like to practice good ‘manners’ and crediting in digi scrapping. I know not everyone is as picky as I am about these things, but to me, they are more common courtesy than anything else.

Before you start your lift, it’s nice to send a message to the person whose page you are lifting. (Unless it’s for say, a challenge or something like that.) Let them know that you really loved their page. This can be done by simply leaving a comment on their page and telling them what you love and that you want to lift it. I’m always so pleased and honored when people tell me they want to lift something I have created or when they share a layout they have made off of one of my pages. Chances are the person you lift will feel just as pleased and honored. (Also, just something to be aware of; some scrappers prefer their pages not to be lifted, so it’s always nice to ask first, whenever possible.)

After doing a lift, credit that scrapper and their layout in your credits. Adding a link to the original layout is a nice idea too. That way others who admire your page can admire the page you got your inspiration from. And, why not send a message to the other scrapper with a link to your layout; they will really appreciate it.

Since that is out of the way, let me give you my tips to lifting a layout!

First, open the layout in your program. I am lifting fellow Shabby Artist Kylie’s beautiful layout “Good Company”. (You can find the kit used for this layout by clicking HERE – it’s the latest FREE kit – the Plentiful collection by Shabby Princess.) Once you’ve opened the layout simplify the layer (so that it’s no longer locked as a background) and create a new blank layer underneath it.

Next, select your shapes tool. I always start with picture placement. Depending on the picture shape, select the corresponding shape tool. (i.e. circular picture – select your circular shape tool, square/rectangle picture – select rectangle tool). Making sure your blank layer is selected, create that shape under the picture in the layout. Don’t worry about making it perfect just yet.

You should be able to see the outline of your shape you just created even though it is under the layout. If you look in the picture above you can see an arrow pointing to my shape. What we will do now is pull in/out the edges so that your shape matches the shape of the picture.

After you have created your picture shapes, move on to the paper pieces following the same steps as with the pictures. I always change my shape color for each different item I am creating, and then change the saturation amount if they overlap. Here is what I have (minus backgrounds) after creating the shapes of the paper pieces.

Now, mine doesn’t match up with Kylie’s 100% because her paper pieces have been warped. You might want your page to be exact that way so what you would do is, making sure the layer with the original layout is visible, warp the pieces under the layout pulling your areas in and out until the outline of your shape matches the corresponding piece in the layout. I don’t want mine to be exact so I am not warping mine right now.

Now create the background layers. Some pages may have just one paper in its background so you can skip this step. However, if the layout you are lifting is like mine, create the shape(s) of the background papers.

This part is where my pickiness comes in… I don’t do exact 100% lifts of pages.

BUT… that doesn’t mean you can’t – it’s up to the individual scrapper at the time. The same way that you did the papers and photos you can apply those steps to the elements of the layout, just get a corresponding shape or one as close as possible to the original shape. With elements especially, you are going to want to label your shape layers with what that element was, so you don’t become later confused.

You might have noticed that I did not simplify/rasterize my shape layers, it is very important that you do not either at this point or before. Currently (unless you changed the size of the layout you were lifting) you are working at web size NOT print. So once you are done adding your layers, change the size of your work area to the dimensions you print at. If you do your pages in a rectangle format I recommend first changing it to an 8.5×8.5 dimension and then going to your CANVAS (not image) size and adjusting it to the proper size.

See, by not rasterizing the layers before, we will have clear shapes that won’t become fuzzy when we change the size.

That’s it! Just build your page now as if you were using a template. :o) You can keep that layer with the original layout so you can just look at it for pointers while building your page while you work, or you could just delete it. That’s totally up to you. I hope this helps you when working on your lifts.

Here’s my finished lift using this week’s Product Spotlight kit “Rummage Chic“:

Well, I hope y’all enjoyed that and find the post helpful! Don’t miss tomorrow’s post with a little beauty inspiration!

TrishTips and Tricks, Uncategorized 8 Comments

Good morning!

It’s Trish here with this week’s Product Spotlight, Rummage Chic! If you love vintage, patterns, and flowers you will love this kit. This kit is perfect for any season girl pages. The soft colors aren’t so pastel that they make you think spring, and they aren’t so subdued they make you think FALL. They just make me think girl. Plus, and this is a big plus to me, there’s not really any pink! I love girl kits that aren’t all pink. That probably comes from spending 2 years scrapping almost only boy pages, lol! And what is not to love about the alpha in this kit? It’s on a plain cream backing but has the most gorgeous detailed glitter lining the letters on the inside.

Rummage Chic will be on SALE in the Shoppe this week for only $5.21 – that’s a 25% saving!! :o)

Here’s one of my pages made with this stunning kit:

And here is some more fabulous inspiration from the Shabby Artists:

If you’re interested check out this beautiful piece-a-cake album made with Rummage Chic.

See you all back here at the Shabby Shoppe Blog for tomorrow’s update!

TrishProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 5 Comments