Time For A New…

March 8th, 2010

Guess what? We’re bringing back the Flip-Flop challenge! It’s been a while since our last one, but its back, and here to stay!

For March, we’re lifting one of our long-time team members – Janie. Her gallery is amazing. She is one of those scrappers who can go back and forth between heavy layered pages to simple and clean. And she makes it look effortless. And she is super sweet too!

Here are some of my favorite pages from her GALLERY:

For those of you unfamiliar with this challenge – it’s simple! Pick a layout in Janie’s gallery, and flip-flop it. Lift it any way that inspires you – but you must rotate it or mirror it in some way. When you are finished, please post a comment with a link. You never know – you just might win something :).

This is a month long challenge, so you have until Wednesday, March 31 to get your layout complete and linked back here! Have fun!

~ Jaedyn ~

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Running Late…

March 3rd, 2010

Hi all! I am so sorry this is a couple days late. Better late than never though, right? Here is this months desktop – made by for you by Kat (ktanker), using Oopsy Daisy and Itty Bitty Fishy – both collabs with Meghan Mullens.

And as promised, we have a winner from our last challenge. With only 2 entries, I used random.org to flip a coin. Heads for #1, tails for #2. Here’s the result:

flip a coin Tails!! Congrats to Christie! Please contact Amanda for your prize!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

~ Jaedyn ~

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Fresh Fruit

February 26th, 2010

Happy Friday digi-land! I’m so happy that this week is coming to an end, how about you? And with it being Friday you all know what that means… Its Fresh Fruit and Amanda has some great new products for you. Shine On is for all you alphabet lovers – isn’t it just grand?!?

Great, right?!? And my favorite- a template pack!!
I love using templates and see myself always grabbing one! Layout Builders is just for you!

Another great Fresh Fruit Friday, right?
Hope you all enjoy your day and weekend - and don’t forget to make a little time for scrapping!
~Melissa~

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An Easy Hybrid Card

February 24th, 2010

Do you love the look of hybrid crafts, but think its too intimidating? Too hard? Too complicated or time consuming? If you are, then I’m here to prove all those notions aren’t true! Making hybrid stuff is so much fun! It’s not really that hard if you know how to scrap and you know how to use scissors and glue! Today I have an easy tutorial for you to follow, and even a little freebie to make it that much quicker!

I recently made this gift set for a friend of mine who just suffered a miscarriage. We’re going to be making the card today.

Step 1: Download and open the card template I’ve made for you:

Step 2: Use as you would any other template, and use your papers & embellishments of choice. Feel free to add to it any way you like! Here’s what mine looked like:

ahd-hybrid-card

Step 3: Now, you can choose whether you want to add shadows and then flatten the layers, and print it like that, OR you can drag the layers (unshadowed) into a new 8.5×11 document and print it, like I did:
ahd-hybrid-card-step2

When I made my card, I chose not to print the red papers, instead I used a brick red cardstock I already had in my stash to make my card base and mat under the journalling block. Feel free to do that if you would like!

Step 4: Cut your card base out of cardstock. This card is 5×5 when finished, so you need to cut your card base at 10×5. Score (you can use a bone folder, a stylus, a pen that has no ink, even a spoon or butter knife – just don’t press too hard & rip your paper) at 5″ and fold in half, and you are ready to add your papers. Glue on your card front (if you’ve flattened it), or cut out all your pieces and assemble your card, gluing them down as you go.

Step 5: If you have any traditional supplies stashed away, pull them out and play. I used Prima flowers, a button and a rhinestone to complete my card. If you don’t have any of those things, you can always print a flower or embellie, cut it out & add it to the card.

Step 6: Sit back, have a cup of coffee & congratulate yourself! You’ve finished a card, and it wasn’t that difficult at all!

~ Jaedyn ~

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Super Spotlight!

February 21st, 2010

Hi there everyone, Happy Monday to you all! Can you believe that it is already the last week in February? I don’t know about the rest of you, but spring is getting so close I can almost taste it. I have been browsing the market and galleries for springy kits and layouts because I am so looking forward to it! And this week Amanda paired up with Meg Mulllens of Wild Dandelion Designs to make 2 super fresh kits that feel like spring to me.

: Oopsy Daisy

: Itty Bitty Fishy

And here are some amazing pages that I found in the gallery that were using these two new kits. Aren’t they gorgeous!

by sczos911

by downhome

by Marnel

and from KyRainbow this really cool hybrid milk container.

We would love to see what you come up with from these two kits, link us up and let us leave you some love!

Until next time,

~Lori~

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Fresh Fruit!

February 19th, 2010

Woohoo! It’s Friday – which means the end of the work week, the start of the weekend (much deserved by everyone I’m sure!) and Amanda has new product in the store! Can today be ANY better?? Just wait till you see what she and Meg Mullens (of Wild Dandelion Designs) have created!

First up we have Oopsy Daisy, with its great color scheme – doesn’t it just scream spring & sunshine?? It includes 18 papers, a full alpha & number set, as well as over 30 elements, and I know it will be one of those kits that you scrap with time and again.

The CT loved this kit & look at what they made with it:

Next up, they created a second kit following a close color scheme, and we have Itty Bitty Fishy! So adorable! I’m seriously in love with the fish border! This one has 19 papers, a full alpha & number set, and a whole bunch of elements – you won’t be disappointed!

And some pages to get your mojo working :) -

These kits are on sale for 20% off right now, so make sure to get them soon! If you love them both, make sure to click “Buy Together And Save” and get them as a bundle for an incredible price! What could be better than that?

~ Jaedyn ~

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An Easy Sepia Tutorial…

February 17th, 2010

You know what I love most about digital? The easy ability we have to play with our photos and the UNDO button, lol!! I personally love the look of sepia toned photos and used a filter to do it for me before I realized how easy it was to do myself. So today I have a quick tutorial on how to do it! I have 2 different ways, you can play with both if you like and see which one gives you the results you are looking for!

So here we go! Please note that I am using Photoshop Elements 6, but these steps are quite similar in other programs as well. And I know that the images are a little hard to read because they are pretty small, so go ahead and click them for a close-up.

Step 1: Open a photo of your choice and convert it to black and white. An easy way is to go to Enhance –> Adjust Color –> Remove Color.

Step 2: Now that your color is black & white, go back up to Enhance –> Adjust Color –> Color Variations.

Step 3: Click Increase Red once, and Decrease Blue once. If you want, click the lighten button once if your photo is too dark.

And you’re done!

You’ll notice that this photo is REALLY brown. Sometimes it looks okay, sometimes not so much. Personally I don’t like this photo being this brown, I’d prefer a more subtle effect. So here is a second tutorial, this one has a bit more playing room, but is also extremely easy!

Step 1: Open your photo, and then click your adjustment layer button above your layers palette & choose Gradient Map:

Step 2: Choose the option that is black in one corner and white in the other corner (3rd option in on my screen). This will turn your photo b&w:

Step 3: Merge your layers (CTRL+SHIFT+E). Click the adjustment layer button again, this time choose Hue/Saturation. Click the “Colorize” check box, and type in a number between 30 & 35 into the hue box or use the slider. This will give you a gorgeous brown color for your photo:

Step 4: Now you can choose if you would like to leave your photo this way (which a lot of the times is perfect), but play around with the opacity. You can always undo it :). In the photo I used, I used an opacity of 75% which just looked “right” to me:

So there you have it! I hope this tutorial helped you guys! As always, feel free to link us up to show off your layouts or photos using this tutorial! I would love to see them!!

~ Jaedyn ~

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Psssstttt…

February 16th, 2010

We are playing TAG again on Facebook and Twitter! Follow along for some great free templates!

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A Challenge & A Winner

February 15th, 2010

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that everyone had a nice weekend, and happy Family Day to my fellow Canadians :)! I’m not planning on doing anything but scrap and shop today, so it’s going to be a great day for me!

Speaking of scrapping, we have a whole new challenge for you today! Each month we’re going to have a journalling challenge, whether it be a prompt or using a journal spot, journalling on a path, etc.

This month I thought I would do a “Love at First Sight” prompt.

I want to see layouts that feature something you loved from the moment you saw it. This could be ANYTHING – it doesn’t have to be a person (because hey – not everybody loved their SO the first time they saw them, haha). I’m thinking ultrasound pics, maybe your spouse (if it really was love at first sight), perhaps a new puppy/kitten/pet, or maybe your new camera, Nook/Kindle, a killer pair of heels, your KitchenAid stand mixer… lol! There is no wrong thing to scrap!

Here is some inspiration from the team:

Laura used Momma’s Boy to make this page about her laptop love…

Sherly scrapped about a favorite gift (using Magical Vacation):

Janie made hers about a project that she adores (also using Momma’s Boy):

And Rebecca scrapped her love of iced coffee (using Penelope):

So there you go! You have until February 28th to upload your layout (in whichever gallery you choose). Please leave us a comment with a link to your layout. On March 1, we will announce a winner (who will win a solo kit of their choice). Have fun!!

And now for our winner of our template challenge! I loved all the layouts submitted, and am glad that I use a random number generator so I don’t have to choose one myself! Here is the result:

random winner