Thursday, August 1, 2013

For Spacious Skies

Wow! What a week of fun at Scrap Girls!!!

We've been celebrating our "Staycation: Road Trip" with lots of gorgeous new products, games and prizes. My stop on the road trip was a National Park. Based on my trip to the gorgeous Big Sky Country and Yellowstone National Park, I created my For Spacious Skies Collection. Though it is themed on the Western United States, it is versatile enough for many other geographic areas. It's perfect for all types of outdoor adventure: hiking, camping, climbing, geocaching, and general exploring.


Embellishments included with this collection, OR available separately:


Paper included with this collection, OR available separately:


The Scrap Girls Layout Artists truly outdid themselves this time! Here is some gorgeous eye candy! :)

By Anna Burrows:





By Melanie Cockshott:




By Monica Lebsack:


By Sue Maravelas:


I hope you are pursuing many adventures as summer winds down here in the northern hemisphere. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Digital Art Journaling: Step-by-Step

Art journaling is not exactly new among paper and hybrid scrappers, but incorporating this style into a digital format is a relatively new concept.

It can be hard to know where to start, especially if you have never done an art journaling page project before (or, like me, you have never scrapped with paper!)

In order to make digital art journaling a little easier, I have created the first (in hopefully, what will become a series) Value Pack that is geared specifically toward digital scrappers who would like to try art journaling. It is called "Go Left" and is available exclusively at Scrap Girls:


I used only this Value Pack to create my art journaling page, "She Shall Determine Her Own Path."
 

It might look complicated, but it was really quite easy and fast (and fun!) to create. Here's how I did it:

FIRST: The idea
Recently, I ran across the saying "When nothing goes right, go left." So, I themed this pack loosely on that phrase. I wanted it to be about choices, decisions, life paths and journeys. I included a general pack of embellishments, including my Victorian ladies, a pack of word art with lots of arrows and then some masks and blenders.
 
When I designed the page, above, I was thinking about how far women have come in the last few centuries and how most of the women before us may have never dreamed possible the advancements in equality that women today enjoy. (Well, at least most women in developed countries...but, you get the general idea...)

SECOND: The background
I opened an 8.5" x 11" document. I decided to use the paper ephemera included in the pack to piece together a background. I changed the angles on some, flipped and rotated them, until I got this:

 
 
THIRD: The midground
Next, I added one of my Victorian ladies. I duplicated and resized them and converted the largest one to grayscale (SHIFT+CNTRL+U). Then I arranged them from largest to smallest and changed the opacity and blend modes. Here are the settings I used (left to right, largest to smallest):
Blend Mode: Darker Color, Opacity: 79%
Blend Mode: Darker Color, Opacity: 84%
Blend Mode: Normal, Opacity: 100%
 
This is my "midground" result:
 

 
FOURTH: Edge and corner masks
Next, I added some interest with an edge mask and a blender. (Specifically, JZI_SS_EMB_GoLeft_Mask-1 along the left side and JZI_SS_EMB_GoLeft_Mask-4 in the upper right corner). I sampled a white color from the paint splotch in the BG (already on the paper included in this pack) and clipped that color to the masks. Then I arranged them over the midground layer and it ended up looking like this:
 



 FIFTH: Word art
Then I added some word art in the corners (JZI_SS_EMB_GoLeft_WA_ThisWay). First I distressed the word art, by using one of the masks (JZI_SS_EMB_GoLeft_Mask-4). To distress it, I placed the WA in a layer OVER the mask. Then I clipped the WA to the mask and moved the mask around until it distressed the word art the way I liked it. Then WITH THE MASK LAYER ACTIVE, I CNTRL+CLICKED the WA layer. (Marching ants should appear around the WA). Then I inversed the selection and hit DELETE. This removes the excess mask and leaves only the distressed WA. Then I arranged the WA and my page looked like this:



SIXTH: Embellishments
Finally, I added some flowers across the top of the page. I resized them so they were quite small, added drop shadows and -- Voila! -- my art journaling page is complete!
 

This is just ONE way to use this Value Pack for art journaling. You could also:
  • Create the background by clipping a fill layer to the masks/blenders and layering them.
  • Use real photos, instead of the Victorian lady.
  • Create a midground with styles applied to the embellishment templates in the word art pack.
  • Create a midground by recoloring and layering some of the word art, like a collage.
  • Apply styles to the mask and blenders instead of clipping them to a fill layer.
  • Add more embellishments.
  • Use no embellishments.
  • Add your own journaling to the page with a pen tablet or handwriting font.
The options are quite endless! I hope you enjoyed this step-by-step journey through my art journaling page and I look forward to seeing how you incorporate an art journaling style into your digital pages.
 
Thanks for stopping by! :)

Thursday, July 11, 2013

NEW: Summer Collections!!

Finally, it feels like summer here in central Pennsylvania. After a cold spring, we are loving all of the fun water activities that summer brings!

Here is the perfect collection for all of your water-related projects -- works great for beach or pooltime fun!

 
This collection has many different options for all types of LOs, look at these beauties!
 
by LO Artist, Shannon Trombley:
 
by LO Artist, Jody West:

by LO Artist, Valerie Tuffrey:


Here is another collection perfect for scrapping those hot summer nights!!


Eye candy! :)


And if you have any homecoming celebrations, Memorial Day or 4th of July projects to do, here is a collection perfect for you!


More eye candy!
 

Hope your summer is going well, so far! I know it's flying by here, so I hope you are taking time to enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Thursday, May 23, 2013

NEW: Over The Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true.

Do you love rainbows, poppies, emeralds and bluebirds, but hate flying monkeys and bad witches? Then this collection is for you! Inspired by the song made famous by Judy Garland, Over The Rainbow is perfect for spring and summer projects, and layouts featuring babies, kids, weddings and anniversaries.


Paper samples:
 
 
Eye candy:
 
 
 
 
 
Layout by new Scrap Girls Layout Artist, Monica Lebsack:
 

Thanks for looking!!! :)



Monday, April 8, 2013

Going Buggy AND Doing Good! :)

So, it seems like it's finally Spring here in Penn's Woods, which brings BUGS of all shapes, sizes and creepiness. My kids LOVE to collect all kinds of creepy crawlies, so I created this collection for bug-lovers of all ages:
 
 
 
 
 

 
AND, did you know that twice a year Scrap Girls creates a gorgeous collaboration kit for sale and donates every penny of its sale to a charity? Well, it's true!!! And the newest collection is ridiculously gorgeous and all proceeds are going to the charity, Food for the Poor.
 
The collection is called Simpler Times:
 

A layout using Simpler Times by April Martell:
 
 
You can read about Food for the Poor and check out the blog post on Blog for the Poor about our charity collection!
 
Thanks for stopping by! :)

Friday, March 22, 2013

Think Spring with Tree Of Life!

Even though it is still FREEZING here in the northeast, my mind is on Spring. Spring makes me think of trees and all of the things trees represent: family, life, growth, strength and renewal.

 
It also comes with a coordinating solid paper pack:
 
 
With these two items, you can make tons of different layouts:
 
 
 
 
 
 
And while you're at it, you might want to check out the entire SPRING category over at Scrap Girls digital scrapbooking.
 
Think Spring and Happy Scrapping! :)


Friday, February 22, 2013

Love a bargain? Better hurry!!!!

It's 50¢ Friday at Scrap Girls!!! These two specials are available for only 50¢ each!! AND there's a special 50-% off deal for two related collections. HURRY, because these deals are only good for TODAY ONLY!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 AND there's a 40%-off sale on all Value Packs at Scrap Girls!


Happy scrapping!