Sample Layout with Sketch #21

“I found sketch 21 a bit harder than sometimes,” said Isabella. “There isn’t really much to it, must have lost my thinking cap; maybe because I’ve been too busy lately. Sometimes the creativity can wane when I have too many things to do. lol!”

Genie: Well I think you’ve come up trumps again, Isabella! I like the torn edge at the top right. Is that easy to do?

Isa: Mm, very easy … it’s a tag that comes with the kit I used, complete with the curled edge. I just made it big enough to cross the top of the layout.

Genie: That sounds like cheating! lol! How long did it take to make all those curvy dots at the side?

Isa: No time at all … it came like that, and I used the overlay setting to blend it to the background which meant it took on the shades behind it. The products are as you see them; all I did was an assembly job and a little simple tweaking like this

Genie: Is digital scrapbooking always that easy?

Isa: At the first level, yes. Then as you grow in experience and practice with your scrapbooking software or photo-editing package you learn to do a lot more. I’ve only got one foot on the lowest rung of the ladder; there’s masses to learn. But you can take it at your own pace - as much or as little as little as you want. I found ScrapGirls’ boss Ro’s Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed a great help. I don’t like reading instructions and these are short video clips explaining what to do. They got me off the ground really quickly.

Genie: Yes, I tried them recently and found them very clear. I find the best way is to work alongside Ro rather than just watching the video. I have Photoshop Elements, so I had it open and as Ro showed how to do something, I’d pause the video and go and do it. If it didn’t work as expected I could just switch back to the video to see what I’d done wrong - but usually things worked first time. It was quite exciting to have a layout made as we went through things.

Here is a larger view of this layout

Journaling reads:

I promised I’d bake a chocolate cake with cherry filling for your birthday.

It’s a recipe I’ve been making for ages and has never failed. As usual I made it the evening before, and for this special occasion I decided to make it a four layer cake and not just the usual two.

Therein lay the problem.

Everything was perfect when I sandwiched the layers with the cherry filling and put them on top of each other. It was when I applied the chocolate fudge icing that disaster set in … the layers began to slide …

OK. We’ve time to run into M&S in the morning before heading off.

Mr Kipling may think he makes ‘exceedingly good’ cakes, but M&S takes the biscuit … or
rather that should be the cake!

The products used in this layout are:

Assemble Your Own Zoom Page: Character

Character Embellishment Biggie

Character Collection Biggie

Fit To Be Tied

ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Curves

If you’d like to use this sketch you can submit your layout to our competition with an opportunity to win a $10 ScrapGirls gift certificate. Contact us for details.

Scrapbooking Sketch #21

The scrapbooking sketch this month is the second in our current mini series, which was inspired by some abstract paintings I saw recently.

If you’re not familiar with using sketches you can read How do I use a Scrapbooking Template

A scrapbooking layout includes a photograph(s), some pretty scrapbooking papers, journaling - telling the story behind the photo - and a few embellishments. What they become when your inspiration is added … is magic! It’s amazing just how different two pages can be using the same sketch idea.

The sketch can be used by a paper or digi-scrapper.

 

Layout Competition

To help inspire you further, there’s a $10 gift certificate to spend at the Scrap Girls Boutique for the best layout submitted this month. Digital products can be printed, but you could use it to start your digital scrapbooking experience, or to buy a Christmas gift for a digital scrapping friend. We’re into helping you cut costs this Christmas! (The fact it’s digital means instant download so less time pressure as the holiday season swings in on us!)

If you wish to enter our layout competition this month please contact us for a few rules and the deadline. Thanks.

See our other free sketches for more ideas to give you a jump start on your pages. And we’ll be back shortly with sample layouts using this month’s scrapbooking sketch #21.

Self Adhesive Chipboard Shapes

Christmas is a comin’ in … Make fun Christmas cards and scrapbooking layouts with these great self adhesive chipboard shapes from Fancy Pants Designs - Happy Holidays Collection They are brand new and come in a useful, re-usable chipboard box with pull-out drawer.

There are co-ordinating chipboard alphas and a fall collection, too. Visit Fancy Pants Designs Embellishments to see their full range and sample layouts using these products at Scrapbook.com

New Look at Scrapbooking Gems

Bear with us!

Please bear with us while we’re hard at work updating the site. Why are we doing this? So you can find things faster, quickly see a wider range of what’s here, and just generally improve the site. We hope you like it. If you want to comment or you find a problem and have time to drop us a note that would be wonderful. There are 2 ways: use the comments or contact us. Thanks for your patience.

Pre-Designed Scrapbook Album

Looking for a way to make a fast scrapbook album as a gift for family or friends? Then try these pre-designed albums from Making Memories. Each one is an 8 x 8, 3-ring album in corduroy; 10 pages are printed with embellishments and the other 10 are not.

There’s a good range of albums covering friends, family, travel, baby boy and baby girl, as well as the Christmas Pre-Designed Album shown here. View them all in the Making Memories category at Scrapbook.com. They will make great Christmas gifts.

iCube Storage

If you’re like me your workspace can get out of hand pretty quickly. Organize your own work area with these handy plastic cubes that combine and stack for the way you like to work.They are from Purple Cows Incorporated and come in white, black, steel, sky, rose, plum, pistachio and melon; you can add shelves, doors, drawers and wheels. View them on the storage and organization page at Scrapbook.com
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Scrapbook.com

Scrapbooking Kits

Short of time? Not sure of your color co-ordination skills? Then a scrapbooking kit could be a good solution. Why? Because the hard work of matching is done for you by the professional designers.

There is a huge range of kits available to choose from, some with just basic items included - just a few papers and scrapbooking stickers - and some with a very comprehensive selection of papers, embellishments, templates, and even alphas. But the common factor for all “kits” is that it includes everything you’ll need to create at least one scrapbook page and often more.

Download a kit from Scrap Girls and you get digital files and printable files, so whether you make digital layouts or traditional paper layouts you are just a few clicks away from a huge, reusable scrapbooking kit.

Unsure about digital scrapping? Try Scrap Girls free Refresh Collection Biggie scrapbooking kit. You’ll get papers, embellishments and word art, plus a ScrapSimple sample pack with two paper templates, two 4×6 layout templates, a brush set, a texture set, styles and instructions on how to use them. And if you require more assistance their Messageboard is a great source of help.

Embellishments

Embellishments are anything you use to enhance your scrapbook page. Typical examples of items referred to as embellishments would be:

• brads
• die cuts
• stamps
• alphas
• tags
• stickers
• journalling blocks
• ribbons
• silk flowers
• paper flowers
• etc.

You can find lots of examples of these here. Just see our product pages.

Fun Photo Tips from your Handbag

Some call it a purse, others a handbag. Whatever it is, you want to be ready to take great photos with it, huh? Here are fun photo tips for people on the go or for those who don’t have enough hands to carry all the camera gear and the baby!

 

Photographing a Special Event

When we’re planning a special occasion there’s a lot to take into account. Much advance preparation is required to make a success. It’s the same when we’re photographing a special event.

From Harvest or Thanksgiving to Christmas or New Year celebrations, birthdays, weddings, graduations and baptisms, there are many special times in a year. We want a camera on hand to record them, yet so often the shots we catch are haphazard.

Read more