Love Scrapbooking

Musings on life, scrapbooking, photography and digitial design

Feb
01

Dino card Silhouette quick tips…

Posted by DeAnna

Kyle recently went to a birthday party of a friend from preschool.  The theme was dinosaurs, so I made a dinosaur card using a dinosaur silhouette cut out on my Silhouette (haha).

To make sure all my elements would fit on my card I started with a standard 8.5 x 11 inch document.  I drew a rectangle the size of my card, in this case a 5.5 x 4.25 inch card.  I chose the dinosaur silhouette I wanted to use, and scaled it down to fit inside the rectangle.  Then I used the type tool and typed out the word DINO-mite and scaled that to fit as well.

Once I had everything laid out the way I wanted it, I started a new document and moved my dinosaur to the second document because I wanted my text and the dinosaur silhouette to be on different coloured paper.  On the first document I also deleted the rectangle I drew since I was only using it as a reference.  I then sent both documents to output and voila, I had everything I needed for my card cut out and ready to put together.

I don’t have a picture of it yet, but I will get one soon.  I was really happy with the way the card turned out, especially since I’m a bit of a novice card maker.  I’ve really only made our christmas cards and a few birthday cards for friends.

On a side note – I’ve reached 100 downloads of my templates and kits!  Woohoo!  I’ll be back later today or tomorrow with a freebie that I’ve been working on.

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General Scrapbooking, card making
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Jan
17

Have you ever felt like…

Posted by DeAnna

you have too many things on the go?  I’ve started a post a couple of times but haven’t been able to complete any of them.  It’s been an interesting few weeks.  Between our van breaking down on the highway on our way to Kamloops ON New Years Eve, finding out it had a blown head gasket, buying a new van, trying to get back into our routines after the Christmas holidays, and Kyle and I getting some kind of stomach bug, there’s been way too much going on.  To top it off, just as I was starting to feel better from the stomach bug, I ended up with a kidney infection or possibly kidney stones.  I’ve pretty much been down for the count for the last week.

I’ll have a post in the next few days about a birthday card I made recently which includes a few Silhouette tips.

I’m also working on a project for Kyle using my Silhouette which I’ll probably release as a template.  Just a hint:  it’s educational.  Kyle’s memory has been amazing me lately, so I’m trying to work on things that will help him learn new things, and help him keep a more structured routine at home.  We’ve been working on more positive discipline and rewarding good behaviour rather than focusing on the negative, and it seems to be helping us keep a more sane household.  If we don’t, it’s complete chaos and constant meltdowns.  Kyle is very hyper, and extremely opinionated and strong willed, which are not an easy combination!  I’ve been trying to react less quickly when he’s opposing me, and try to find a solution that works without forcing him to comply.  I think I had an epiphany – I don’t want him to be obedient, I want him to make his own decisions but teach him how to make the RIGHT decisions.   It’s still a work in progress though ;D

Basically, I haven’t fallen off the map – yet!  :D

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Dec
26

MCP Actions free texture applicator action…

Posted by DeAnna

MCP Actions has a great new FREE action on their website that makes it easy to add a texture to your photos.  I love tiny newborn baby feet, and this photo of Matthew’s feet (he was about 24 hours old in this shot) is one of my favourites.  I used the new action to add a texture from the Soft Translucent Tones pack I downloaded from ShadowHouse Creations.  I changed the blending mode to Hard Light because I liked the edge burn it gave, and the warm tone to the center of the image, highlighting Matthew’s baby feet.  If you haven’t checked out MCP Actions or ShadowHouse Creations, definitely go and browse your way through some awesome stuff!

Here’s the straight-out-of-the-camera shot:

dsc_0742

And here is the edited photo:

matthew_baby_feet

I love the difference! Go check them out now!!

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Dec
18

Two New Freebies…

Posted by DeAnna

Wow, there’s so much to catch up on!!  These last few weeks have gone by sooo fast, it’s crazy.  We’ve:   made a gingerbread house (which I’ve never, ever done before); had our family photos done; written to Santa; and picked out our tree at a U-cut tree farm, decorated it, and then had to put the tree back up after it fell over!!!  I made ginger molasses cookies for a cookie exchange, which was a lot of fun, and something else I’ve never done before.  I’ll post pics of some of those in another post.

Kyle is 3 now, and this is actually the first year we’ve talked about writing to Santa.  He really wanted to make a list for Santa, so we decided we would write him a letter.  However, I didn’t want his first letter to Santa to be on plain old paper.  So I whipped these up:

all-i-want-for-christmas-writing-paper all-i-want-for-christmas-kids-version-writing-paper

You can download both papers here.  I used brushes from Obsidian Dawn to create these papers (Thanks!!).

Then I wanted to create a template to make recipe cards for the Ginger Molasses Crinkle Cookies I made for the cookie exchange (which were really good!  Click on the link to go to Canadian Living for the recipe).  I used one of my favourite papers from my Overcome Kit (which you can find here) for the background of the recipe card, and then typed the ingredients on one side and the instructions on the other.  I printed them on cardstock and cut them out by hand, but it was a bit messier than I was hoping for.  I was in a rush, otherwise I would have figured out how to use my Silhouette to print and cut – which I did today!  Yay!!  I was so happy when it worked :D   I’ll do a tutorial on that soon, I promise!  For now, though, you can download the template I created.  Here’s a look at the template:

recipe-card-template

This is what my document looked like when I printed it out:

recipe-card-ginger-molasses-cookies

I haven’t had a lot of time to work on my christmas kit, but I am working on a project that will hopefully allow me more free time to do the things I want to do ;D

Whew!  That was  alot, but hopefully it was worth it!  Enjoy.

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Dec
01

Free Christmas Card Template

Posted by DeAnna

I thought I would whip up a quick christmas card template.  I can’t believe today is December 1, and that there are only 24 days of shopping left!!  We got most of our shopping done Saturday, thankfully!  I took some photos of the kids today while we were watching The Santa Clause, and I’m working on completing my first page of my Holidays In Hand album.

Here’s a sample card I made using a kit called Sugar Plum Dreams from Marie Stones at Free Digital Scrapbooking (www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com).

card-sample

Here’s the template:

card-template-1

You can download it here.

Happy Holidays!

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Nov
21

A quick Silhouette tutorial!!

Posted by DeAnna

I am loving Holidays In Hand so far.  One of the downloads Jessica Sprague has included is some word dates to go with our albums that match the daily prompts.  I love them, but I’m going to be doing a hybrid of digital and paper for my album.  I wanted to make some of them into paper but I didn’t want to print it out and then take the time to cut some intricate stuff.  So, instead, I’m going to use my Silhouette!  Yes, you can do that!!!  Oh, and then I can use whatever colour I want too!  ;D

It’s pretty easy actually – I know you’re like huh?? Easy??

Basically you can take any image (.jpg, .png, .pdf, .psd, etc.) and save it as a bitmap image (.bmp) using Photoshop or whatever program you use.  A vector shape from Illustrator, or a .png would probably work the best as they are usually cleaner and higher quality, with smoother edges.  The better the quality of the image you want to convert to your Silhouette, the better the results will be.

When you open a document in your Silhouette, you will have a large green square on the top menu bar on the far right of your window.  You will want to open a blank document (this image was taken after I had converted my words to be cut out – oops!)

HIH-numbers-Silhouette copy

If you click on that icon, it opens TWAIN, which will allow you to open an image that you have saved as a bitmap (File, Load Image, then navigate to the folder where you saved your .bmp image), and then click on the Convert to Outline button.

TWAIN-window-Silhouette

Once you’ve converted to outline this is what you will see:

TWAIN-convert_to_outline-Silhouette

You can then edit or choose the Paste then Exit button and it inserts your image onto your blank Silhouette document ready to be cut out as usual!  What did I tell you – EASY!!!  Now I just need to figure out how to do my own print and cut ;-p

Go try it.  Now.  Yes, you – go!!

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Nov
16

Another Template Freebie…

Posted by DeAnna

Well, it’s been a week!  Yikes :(   While I was pregnant with Matthew I ended up with a blocked gland in my left eyelid.  It never really bothered me – until last Sunday.  My whole eyelid swelled up and I could barely open my eye.  I went to the doctor who gave me some eye drops, but it still took a few days to fix itself.  And, of course, I had dropped my new glasses off to get the prescription changed, so I could barely see at all!

Well, it’s finally better and I have my glasses back!  Yay.  So, I created a new template to say sorry for not posting!

template-5

You can download the template here.

I haven’t had time to do a sample layout using the template, but I’m working on it.  I’d love to see what you do with the template, so please link up in the comments so I can take a look :D

Holidays In Hand starts today over at JessicaSprague.com.  Registration is open until midnight tonight, eastern time!  I am so looking forward to it!!

I’ve decided my goals for this holiday season are: to cherish the quiet moments with my sons; try to do more things as a family; and continue some of the traditions my husband and I started with our kids, like going to the tree farm together to cut down our tree, trying to go snowshoeing, going to Bright Lights at Stanley Park, and of course, celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary.  We got married in December to avoid baseball season (there’s no way I would make my husband miss umpiring so we could get married), and so Rob could see some winter ball in the Dominican Republic where we spent our honeymoon.  That was an adventure and a half, but I’ll save that story for another time!

Anyway, why don’t you join in the fun and register for Holidays In Hand if you haven’t already!!  See you there…

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Nov
09

And the winner is…

Posted by DeAnna

Francine!  Her comment was “My favourite is B because I love the two green colours.”  Francine, you will receive your gift certificate by email shortly.

I think I’ve decided to go with this colour scheme (A):

Colour-Scheme-A

Look for my Christmas kit coming soon!

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Nov
07

Digital Scrapbooking Day FREEBIE!!

Posted by DeAnna

Well, since it is digital scrapbooking day, I thought I would share another template with you. AND, there are two bonus elements in the template ;-P Check it out:

template_04

The plastic dots and the bones masks are included!  Here’s a quick layout I did using the template.  The beauty of a template is it is just a jumping off point.  I changed the template up a bit by moving the dots and including one of the tags from my Overcome Kit.  I recoloured the inside stroke on the tag to match the green in the Halloween Kit, and voila, it fits perfectly!

halloween-layout

You can download the template here.  If you would like a tutorial on how to use a template, go here.

Enjoy ;-D

Also, last chance to vote for your favourite Christmas colour scheme – you can win a $5 gift certificate to Little Dreamer Designs by posting a comment and telling me which one is your favourite!  Go here to post your comment.  The contest closes tomorrow at noon, pacific time.  I’ll announce the winner Monday morning.

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Nov
05

Remember to vote to win…

Posted by DeAnna

I will hold the contest for the $5 gift certificate open until Sunday at noon, pacific time.  I’ll announce the winner on Monday morning.  Little Dreamer Designs has some fantastic stuff so make sure you comment here to win the $5 gift certificate!

Also, Ali Edwards is offering a spot for one person and a friend of their choice into Shimelle Laine’s Journal Your Christmas.

So, head on over and make a comment on Ali’s blog and you may win!

I’m really excited for Holidays In Hand to start.  I was contemplating doing a December Daily album similar to Ali Edwards’ but I was unsure where to start and how much I wanted to do in advance.  I think Holidays in Hand will help with that, and get the ball rolling for me.  At least this year I’m not pregnant and in a major mental block!  I had a hard time focusing on Stories in Hand because of it ;-(

I’ve had a massive cold the last few days, but I’m starting to feel better.  I downloaded my halloween and pumpkin patch photos last night, so I’ll have a layout and a new template soon.

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