And Bryan and the boys playing football in the snow in our front yard while I photograph from safely inside my warm dining room!
We LOVE it here! The snow is great and I love the cold. The kids especially are really enjoying it! :)
Our new home is 133 years old and so full of character. So many people have done so many AWFUL things to it while "decorating" ack! but we are here to rescue it!!!
The frame is from another Scrapbook Company -- Picture It! Page Frames www.scrapbookframe.com
Other items used: Maya Road Chipboard Swirls, Glitter, KI Letter Stickers.
I love that they have 12x12 acrylic frames to be able to hang up your layouts as well!
Did you know that you could use Rubons on a Mirror? They stay on when you clean the glass but, can be removed with a razor blade or even scotch tape when you want to change out a look. You could also do that technique on window!!!
Happy Creating!
Have you checked out our font forum? Each week at least one new font is presented! Check out some of the newest ideas in lettering. And best of all- they are free! There are so many options that open up with fonts. You have one more outlet to expressing yourself! Why be limited to the same old rubons? Or chipboard that is only one size? Or maybe you don't have all the letters that you need? that's when fonts come in! Plus, we have dingbats to meet your cutting needs as well! So swing by-Here are some basic rules that I've follow with regards to using colours.
1) Different colours convey different moods. Hence before I select my colours, I will look at my photo to determine what sort of mood I want to convey. Certain colours can evoke certain emotions e.g warm colours such as red or orange convey excitement and intensity. Cool colours such as blue or green suggest calmness or serenity.
2) Deciding on a colour scheme. I've found that using a colour wheel has helped me greatly in determining the right colours to be used on a page. There are several approaches to colour schemes but here are some of the most common ones:
a) Monochromatic: various hues of the same colour
b) Analogous: adjacent colours on a colour wheel e.g. purple and blue or yellow and green
c) Complimentary: colours that are exactly opposite of each other on the wheel e.g. blue and orange
d) Triadic: any 3 colours that form a triangle on the wheel e.g. red, yellow and blue.
3) Measuring colours used. I found that by varying the amounts of hues on my page, this will make the colour scheme more effective. I follow the "Quart-Pint-Ounce Approach", using a quart as the main colour, a pint for the support colour and just a smattering ounce as accents.
4) Making colours pop. I've found that when I indulge in 2 or more colours in my layout, I either use a black or white cardstock as the base. Black tends to intensify the colours and give them dimension whereas white tend to soften the colours.
Here are some tips that I've found useful when playing with colours.
- If you are uncertain about experimenting with colours, then stick within a particular paper range/collection. These papers are usually design to colour coordinate with each other and apply the "quart-pint-ounce" approach.
- Take inspiration from catalogues, advertisements etc. These usually have brilliant colour combination to attract the customers. Take guidance from home decor magazines too. These usually showcase the latest colour designs.
- If you have a colour scheme you would like to follow but the colours clash with the photo, then simply convert the photo into black and white using a photo imaging software.
In creating this layout 'Bros In Arms', I noticed that green appeared to be the dominant colour in the photo. Looking at the colour wheel, I decided to go for a contrasting colour, orange then playing with the wheel, I realised I could add a smattering of red as an accent colour. Hence, I made use of the triadic colour scheme i.e orange, red and green, the colours that form a triangle on the colour wheel. I applied the "quart-pint-ounce" approach, using orange as the dominant colour, followed by green as a supporting colour and finally touching up with some red accents. The reds helped to convey the boys' defiant attitude while the other colours convey the playful mood I wanted to achieve.
Hence, don't be afraid to play with colours. If in doubt, consult the colour wheel to help choose colours combination that will give you a sense of balance in your page. Look for inspiration when you shop and jot down colour combinations that you see. But most of all have fun experimenting!
As for the photograph, I selected the photo I wanted to use for the card and decided I wanted to do something special with it. I referred to a tutorial on masking layers in Jessica Sprague's old blog. It's under Photoshop Friday Issue #3 and so is the grunge mask/frame that I used. You can download it for free. Here's what my photo looked like after following her tutorial:
After using some Rhonna Farrer brushes from Two Peas In A Bucket , I dragged my background paper layer and then my photo onto my blank canvas and adjusted it to get this:
Then it was time to add my text. I put a holiday greeting and signature in a font called Porcelain. I played around with Drop Shadows and Bevels to try to get the text to stand out and even tried changing the opacity of the background, but didn't have much luck. Then I realized the text stands out just fine when I view the card at 100% instead of small like you see here. So, this was my final flattened version of a basic card (I added the black border just so it didn't fade into the background of the blog, but the black is not actually part of the card):
For more about digi scrapping and some great digital tutorials, I would recommend Two Peas In A Bucket and Jessica Sprague's blog. There are many other resources out there, but those two are my favorites and I would recommend them to anyone!
So are you getting ideas at odd times like I do?? :) Just grab a piece of scratch paper or your journaling notebook and quickly sketch them out and they will be safely tucked away safe and sound!!
A couple of Christmas tree cards. The first was cut using my Craft Robo- though if you have the patience you could probably print the design in reverse on the back of the card and cut it with an Xacto knife. The second card I used leftover scraps! I took a larger piece of scraps and cut it into a triangle and then cut one inch strips. You could even use coordinating papers as well to make your tree! Happy Holidays!
This year I thought I would play with the large box of transparencies I had sitting in the cabinet from last years stint with transparencies on layouts! It's not a difficult process at all- just takes a little bit of planning. The first thing you need to do is cut your transparency to size and fold in half. Find those old college text books or phone books and stack them on top to flatten the fold. Then decide on your image. I cut this tree with my craft robo though it wouldn't be hard to hand cut. The tree is attached with herma dots on the back as well as the brads spaced throughout. The white ribbon knots are glued on with diamond glaze. I took a second tree and placed it underneath the original tree and used white acrylic paint to create a shadow on the inside page. That is where I will add my message! Add a transparency envelope and voila! You have a lovely Christmas card!
Finally, pop all of your cute little ribbon spools into a big glass jar, or even back into the box that you had them in before. They not only look cute, but it is also easier to find a particular ribbon, and it really doesn’t take up that much more space than the ribbon explosion that I had before.
The secret of an enjoyable birthday
can be found in acheiving balance...
cake, ice cream, cake, ice ceam , cake...
Happy Birthday!
