Walking Everywhere

Caleb is walking around us all in circles, so I decided to scrapbook the photos of some of his first steps. I can't believe how he went from rolling on the hardwood floor, to crawling up the stairs, to holding onto the furniture, to walking everywhere all in a couple months time! Its all happening so fast...someone make it stop! Pretty soon he'll be 18 and out of the house and I'll still be thinking of him as a new born baby!

I used a template freebie, from Digital Freebies.com, to complete this layout, register and you can receive fun freebies right in your email, every Tuesday and Friday.

CREATIVE TIP: Don't be afraid to add your own elements and design touches to a template. I always add drop shadows to a template, so it has a realistic look. Sometimes the template designer has already added them, but not always. Make the layout yours, if its missing something add it, if you need more room here or the title doesn't look right, move things around. The template is just a map, and we all now that there are hundreds of ways to get to the same endpoint.

"First Steps" Papers and circle stickers from Jessica Sprague, rick rack and swirl patterns from the Express Yourself Kit by RPenn, at Shabby Princess, Overlay from Shabby Princess Vintage Flower Kit and CK Newsman and CK Rugged Fonts.

A Work in Progress

So I'm trying hard to finish my son's baby album, before he turns two! Its a paper scrap book, but I decided to try something fun with his family tree page, so I'm doing this page digitally. I'm still trying to scrounge up pictures of all of my family and Jake's but here's a rough start, I think this would make a a great paper scrap page, but I'm kinda trying to use what I have in stock (I promised Jake, since I've gone primarily digital), so instead of purchasing a whole bunch of new stuff for the page, I decided to use some of my digital supplies instead, because they never run out and I can make them whatever size, shape or color I need them to be. So here's a sneek peak, I'll post all of the credit info, when I get it all finished.

Monkey on Your Back?

Here my son is riding his life sized pandy bear and his stuffed monkey decided to tag along for the ride. As I have said before my son is a huge inspiration to me...even outside of scrapbooking. He never has any worries, and if he trips and falls he just gets back up and tries again. Children don't let the monkies on their backs get them down...no sir, they just keep riding!

"Monkey on Your Back..." Kpertiet's FlapJack Frolic Paper (Blue), Jessica Sprague's Festa Paper (green bubbles) and star sticker, Maleny Violette's Photo cornes, turners and journal strip, Janelle Paige's bunched brown ribbon, Susan Carroll's white rick rack, Pattie Knox's Clip It Brown paper clip. Rage, Capture It, and CK Rugged Fonts.

Snowing Again!?

So we have been working out in our yard to get it ready to enjoythe warm weather, and all to no avail...it is snowing again, so I stayed in all day with my beautiful baby boy and scrapped and caught up on old episodes of Brothers & Sisters! I've told you all that I'm taking a class, and not only am I learning a ton, but I am receiving tons of inspiration from my fellow classmates. Seeing others work on a constant basis, alongside yours not only helps you to step it up a notch, but also gets the creative juices flowing. The three layouts above are layouts that I scraplifted from others. For those of you who don't live and breathe scrapbooking like myself, scraplifting is using an idea from someone else, and is perfectly fine as long as you do not copy there layout exactly, and you give them proper credit.

CREATIVE TIP: When you're looking to complete a lot of layouts in the shortest amount of time, use ideas from others. You can already see that the design or idea works, if it caught your eye in a gallery or a magazine, so use the idea and build off it, but always remember to give credit when necessary. In the above layouts I used everything from basic layout design, to subject matter, to color schemes, from others work.

"Diet Coke" The papers are from Dana Zarling, the Hipster Plume Brush is from Anna Aspnes, both from Designerdigitals.com, The ribbons, staple, sticker and flower are from Shabby Princess and the My life journaling brush comes from Brusheezy. I used CK Rugged font, and the photo was by Lauren Roth. The idea of the diet coke page was scraplifted from the Get it Scrapped Gallery and was submitted by "quilter422".

"Moments Blessed" The paper and folder tab was from Peppermint Creative's Autumn Blend Kit, The moments stamped and fabric swatch brushes are from KPerteit, The splatter brush is from Brusheezy, The staples and frame are from Shabby Princess and the basic layout of the page was scraplifted from the Get it Scrapped Gallery and submitted by "janellebelle".

"A Perfect Day" the papers are from Dana Zarling's Breezy Days paper pack, the two flowers are from Shabby Princess. The Perfect day word art is from Jessica Sprague, the font was CK Curly and the string is from KPertiet's all hung up kit and the alpha charms are by peppermint creative. Some basic design elements were scraplifted from a layout submitted by "anke" on the Get it Scrapped Gallery.

Christmas in March?!

Sorry its been a while, we've been working on our yard, we are especially pround of the pergola we built, I'll post a layout I'm working on that captures the process, but today, I have a bit of Christmas in March! I just started scrapping Christmas of 2009, which was my son's first x-mas. Of course his favorite part was all of the wrappings, but he grew particularly attatched to one item...

CREATIVE TIP: If you don't have any paper that matches the colors or theme you are needing (i.e. x-mas!) Check your favorite digi sites to see what freebies are available...the paper and word art were both available on Designer Digitals free. You have to be member, but it doesn't take long, and there many benefits beside freebies...as if thats not enough!

"Caleb's X-mas Bow" Snowflake Paper by Lynn Grievson (designerdigitals.com), Famorite Holdiay moment Brush by Ali Edwards (designerdigitals.com), Heart Stitching from Shabby Princess' Carousel Kit, Tag from Peppermint Creative's Lucky Charm Kit, Sanded Overlay by KPertiet.

Masked Madness

Ok so I spent most of last night and the better part of my morning fussing around with an assignment for my Mad Digital Skillz Class. We learned about masks yesterday, a scary word I'd been avoiding since I first heard it---and now I know why! Just kidding. You really can do amazing things with masks--at least I've seen it done...I have not yet accomplished anything I would deem to amazing--but it will happen, one day when I'm not expecting it --it will just click, at least I hope so. So I did two of the same LO, one using masks to combine the designs of two papers, and one with the same effect + I used a mask to combine two photos. I'm not sure which one I like better or maybe there both bad...You tell me...what's wrong with these pictures?

CREATIVE TIP: I feel like I've had the creativity drained out of me, and I don't have anything very brilliant to offer on the concept of masks--except that for PSE users, instead of using the mask layer tool that is only offered with the full version of PS, use the layer adjustment tool and select Hue Satuaration. Then place it benethe your second layer in the pallette and the group (CTRL G) your second layer to the mask layer. Use white, black and grey to add, take away and combine color from your first layer to the second.

"Hello Life" Happy Go Lucky Papers and Elements by Shabby Princess, Hello Life frame and label brushes by Ali Edward, Milano LET Font, and stitching and rub on actions from atomic cupcake.

My son started walking last night! YIPPPEEE!!! So I've spent most of the day walking here and there with him, to build up his confidence. But I did have a few minutes during nap time to let my family know of Caleb's newest milestone, and to do a Quickpage, using some new elements I got from various websites. I spotted this hanger on a layout from my class gallery and had to have it. While shopping I spotted that Peppermint Creative is having a huge sale--50% off of their discontinued items. Check it out, the sale is going on until the end of April I believe http://www.peppermintcreative.com/. !

CREATIVE TIP: If your short on time, but just have to get that photo scrapped, just use a quickpage and add new elements to it and give it a personalized touch!

"I Feel...": All hung up embellishment pack from KPerteit, Metal embellishments and hanging font from Shabby Princess, Quickpage from retrodiva, Memories brush from Brusheezy and CK Rugged font.

Terra Chic

Well today I will be spending most of the day outside painting our pergola that we're building in our backyard. So not much time for scrapping, but I will leave you with a little sneek peek at a new kit I'm designing, so far I'm done with 7 of the 9 papers(so the elements are from other designers), but I wanted to see how they look together...tell me what you think. It was inspired by the color scheme we are using in our back yard, earth and metal tones, but I gave the colors a boost--hence the name Terra Chic!

CREATIVE TIP: Try designing your own papers and elements, you'd be suprised how easy it is, granted it takes more time, but it costs less and keeps your designing skills sharp!

"Doggy Dancing" : Boho Frames Brushes from Scrapnfonts, Brass Paper Clip from Shabby Princess, Jane Austen font from Dafont, Papers from Scrappydoo (me).

"Downtown Seattle" : Staples, Flower Charms, and Photo Holders from Shabby Princess, Torn Notebook paper from Jessica Sprague's HAFH kit, CK Rugged font.

FAVORITE FRIDAY FREEBIE

Ok so this wasn't necessarily a "friday freebie" but its friday and its free, so its my favorite friday freebie! If it looks familiar its because I used it in my Duggas and Ditties LO featured in my previous post. Its available any time at Jessica Sprague.com. While your there check out her classes, products and other free stuff! I learned so much from her "Up & Running with Photoshop" class, she's a wonderful teacher, an amazing scrapper, and as if thats not enough, my son Caleb, loves her voice, everytime I watch my class videos, he comes right over to learn more about digi scrapping--too bad all he's really learned so far is to press the DELETE key. AHHHHH!!!

Duggas and Ditties

So last night my husband and I started to discuss our travel plans for this spring, finding ourselves feeling the burden of having to make accomodations for our pets and wondering what life would be like if we could just pick up go whenever. But I immediately thought of my son, and his unconditional love for our animals and the layout Duggas and Ditties was born. Of course I finished the conversation with my husband before breaking into a sketch. But ultimately we realized that our animals are just like our children, in that while we may have to plan our lives around them, but we can't imagine what life would be like with out them! I completed this LO as homework for my second class of MDS, with pattie Knox.

CREATIVE TIP: Use the fill layer option in PSE to change the color of any overlay(or any png file that has a transparent background). Choose your foreground color then select fill layer and make your selections, its as simple as that. Just remember to click the Preserve Transperency box!

"Duggas and Ditties": Jessica Sprague's Home Away From Home Papers, Ali Edward's 12X12 Story Overlay, K Pertiet's Colored Pencil Brush, Shabby Princess' Wild Love Stamp, karabine and jane austen fonts from dafont, and CK rugged

Mad Digital Skillz Class

I started a class on Mar. 9, on the Get It Scrapped website http://www.debbiehodge.com/, taught by Patti Knox from DD--Mad Digital Skillz. Just from the first class I learned the most amazing things about brushes. I thought I knew just about everything there was to know, but boy was I wrong. Here are some of the layouts I created with some of the new techniques I learned. I would REALLY encourage scrappers who are dabbling in digi, to look at the classes available online. They are so worth the money and you will absolutely fall in love with digital. Jessica Sprague also offers some great classes as well, at http://www.jessicasprague.com/. Some classes are video based (like Jessica's) others are handout based (like Patti's) but both kinds are easy to learn from.

CREATIVE TIP: Try using brushes along with the clone stamp in PS to create cut-outs and treatments for your photos!

"Space Needle": LiveE Design's Sun Fun Papers, Atomic Cupcake's Rub-On and Painted Edge Actions, K Perteit's Stamped Block Brush (photos), Grunge Diamond Brush from Brusheez, Milano CK Lovenote and Demi Pump Fonts.

"4 Generations of Love": Karen Lewis's About a Boy Kit, K. Perteit's Fabric Swatch Brushes, Mary Wise's Calligraphy Box Brushes (background) Shabby Princess Vintage Flower Alpha Buttons and Staples, CK Lovenote and Impact fonts.

My Muse

My son Caleb is my muse as far as scrapbooking goes, he is so photogenic and fun, that I find that nearly 8 in 10 LOs are of him. Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing the world around me, when all that my camera lens finds is him, but all I have to do is get that perfect shot of him smiling and I know that his beatiful face is all I need to be inspired! His eyes inspired this layout. Infact this layout is how I found photoshop and found my fourth love! I wanted to use a b&w photo but turn just his eyes back to their original color of blue. Its hard to seen in this small of a photo, but it was an amazing effect, in fact we have a 12x12 of this framed on our wall, my husband loved it so much!

CREATIVE TIP: Try using the Reverse Black and White Tool (Smart Brush) in PSE to select parts of your photo to colorize, thus highlighting them.

"Baby Blue": MJV Frosted Alpha and Ck Lovenote fonts, Peppermint Creative Miss Mint Elements and Stamp, Memory Mixer Circle Border and Stitching, Ellie Lash Studio Paper.

Scrappydoo?

So I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but I thought this would be a fun way to keep my friends and family updated, while talking about what I love most, and hopefully meeting lots of great new people who love scrapbooking as much as I do . So I'm sure some of you are wondering about the nameof my blog. It's actually a pet name my husband has given my diehard hobbie of scrapbooking. While at first I'm sure it was meant as a form of mocking, it has now become an endearing nickname that we all enjoy...