OOOPS...I did it again!

So sorry I forgot about posting my favorite friday freebie yesterday...so much going on. I had a scrappy night at my house, so I was cleaning and cooking and organizing all day long and I just simply forgot. So here's and extra special freebie to make up for it....Jessica Sprague's website is celebratin their second birthday...yeaaaa! And not only will there be daily freebies and challenges, but you can also register for her FREE Photo Editing Class, to beingon July 6th. Go to www.jessicasprague.com and join in all of the fun!

Scrappy Night Prep

In preparations for my Crop Night Friday, I made this magnetic board for my son! He's totally in love with magnets right now they just blow his mind! I found these stove mats (whatever those are for) at the dollar store. They are tin and perfect for magnetic message boards, etc and cost under 5.00 to make! I applied the paper to the board using decoupage then decorated it with the flourish and petals of a silk flower, added the alpha stickers. I colored the puzzle pieces using markers and applied round magnets to the backs. I punched holes through the tin using a crop-a-dile and ran the ribbon thru to hang it. I have purchased several to make gifts and for each of the girls attending my crop to make their own. This would also work with a pizza tin or other magnetic surface. My tip is to cruise the dollar stores and dollar section of craft stores for supplies...you'd be surprised what you can find...if you keep an open mind. I used The Animal Cracker Paper Stack, an Unfinished Wooden Puzzle from Michael's, Ribbon from Cosmo Cricket's Lil Man line, Wooden Flourish from Kaiser Crafts, Thickers Alpha, .75 Round Magnets and the Tin Stove Mat from Honks Dollar store. This magnet board cost:

Ribbon $0.25

Paper $0.40

Flourish $0.80

Board $1.00

Puzzle Pieces $1.00

Magnets $.60

Flower $ Free

Alphabet $0.20

TOTAL $4.25

Happy Father's Day

After being holed up in my scrappy room all day yesterday trying to finish my grandfather's gift for father's day( I know... Procrastination is the worst!), I didn;t think I would want to see that room for at least a month! But I couldn't resist putting together this frame for my father. I think it turned out okay for my first frame! I kinda want to keep it(I won;t though)...is that bad?!

It's Friday Again!!!

HAPPY GO LUCKY by Shabby Princess

This weeks Favorite Friday Freebie is from one of my absolute favorite digital designers...Shabby Princess. When you go to get this one...you won't be able to resist downloading more of her wonderful freebies, as well as spending hours browsing her awesome Shabby Shoppe. The site offers some very good free tutorials, blogwear and even craft templates and mini albums! Sign up for their newsletter and you'll be among the first to receive each of her freebies in your email! Visit http://www.shabbyprincess.com/ today!

In Transit!

Yeaaaaa! The 12x12 canvas I won from the Get It Scrapped chat with Katrina Kennedy is already on its way and I can't wait to see it! I decided to give it as a father's day gift...I took some awesome pictures at the Crandall Mine Memorial and made a collage for my father-in-law. When I receive the canvas I will update this post with a photo...but for now here's the JPEG I sent to Pixel2Canvas. Check them out...they have an Artist program that allows for great customization of your canvases. Great Customer Service, and very fast order processing, I placed my order on Monday and will receive it Friday! They have a great customer gallery, where you can read real testimonials and see a variety of photographer's finished products.

Taking it Slow

When I first tried on hybrid scrapbooking for size, I found that taking it slow, was definitely the way to go! Sometimes when you just jump right into it without a clear objective...hybrid scrapbooking can sometimes look like a clash of the titans! If more of your heart belongs to digi, then start by creating a digital layout, printing it off, and adding a few tactile elements to give it some depth. Like I've done here with this bragbook that I'm making for my niece (pardon my horrible webcam photo!). I used Sweet Shoppe Design's April Showers Bragbook templates and then created my own album front and back using PSE 7. I then added ribbons, flowers, and beads to make this mini album really pop! If you're more of a paper girl, then start with a paper layout and then raid your digi stash for alphas, journaling spots and brushes, that will bring everything together! If you approach hybrid scrapping slowly, you can start to get a good feel for melding the two genres. I think that the key is to bring these two methods together by allowing one to accent the other.

Unexpected!

So I am working on another class...yes another one...a girl can never learn too much! But I wasn't going to be able to take any this month because we were so short on moneys. But I popped in at Paula's Inspiration Station Chat at Get It Scrapped (finally after dealing with a very ornery baby!) only to catch the end...bummer right!?...wrong, I one a free class from GIS! How cool is that! So now I'm taking Oodles of Doodles with Michelle Houghton, which is exciting not only because I am doodle impaired, but also because its given me a reason to pull out the old graphic tablet and give it another shot...besides I promised Paula I would report back to her on how it went. Here is the warm up lesson...which I DID NOT complete with my wacom, because I got entirely too frustrated with it....now there's a class I could really use...How to use you extremely frustrating, yet expensive graphic tablet!

Amy WHO?

So I promised you a who's who in scrapbooking this week, and while I hope to have someone better lined up for next week, I thought I might as well get the ball rolling with myself. My name is Amy Kingsford and I am from Northern Utah, and lived here almost my whole life (8 months I lived in Central Utah...I know culture shock right... it was oddly enough). That could have a huge impact on why I became a scrapbooker. Scrapbooking is huge here! Its also the only thing I feel like I'm really good at. I work part-time and am a full-time mommy, but am working towards being a SAHM by the time we have our next child! When I first started scrapping I was 17 and all scrapbooking really consisted of was white paper, with patterned mats, brief explanations of each photo oh and decorative scissors were the coolest! Now I think to myself if these pages didn;t have valuable family pictures on them I would crumple them up and practice my hook shot with them...but I have come to realize that it is fun to see how scrapbooking has changed over time...and it will continue to change, so I have learned to appreciate my earlier pages. Now that you know who I am let's find out what kind of Scrapper I am!

Q: How long have you been scrapbooking?

A: 10 years (paper scrapping); 6 mos. (digi)

Q: What style of scrapbooker would you classify yourself as?

A: Anything Goes! I often just take cues from my photos...whatever feel I get from them...thats the feel I try to convey in my layout...Besides I enjoy scraplifting way to much to stick to one style!

Q: What scrappy must-haves would we find in your arsenal?

A: My Provo Craft Silent Setter, My EK Success Anywhere Stapler, Thickers Alphabets, and spools and spools of ribbon!

Q: What is your favorite new product or trend of 2009?

A: I love the Project 365 kits...unfortunately I wasn't able to get a hold of Becky Higgins kit...so I just sorda started my own without the use of kit...but now I see the kits are everywhere! I love the idea behind the 365s, not only is a perfect year in review but you brush up on your photo skills and you only have to do a two page layout every week!

Q: Who or What do you scrapbook the most and why?

A: My son Caleb...he's in that stage where he's learning so many things all at once and everything is does is just soooo cute...I don;t want to miss a thing!

Q: Whats on your Scrappy Wishlist?

A: A Nikon Coolpix with a 12x Optical Zoom, The Now We're Rockin and Deep in Digi Classes by Jessica Sprague, Maya Road's entire Spray Mist Collection, Some Tim Holtz and Hiedi Swapp Masks, a Canon 12x12 printer, and a Zig Marker Set.

Q: What are your biggest influences...how do you receive inspiration for your work?

A: Definitely my fellow scrappers at Designer Digitals, Get It Scrapped, Creating Keepsakes Magazine and Memory Makers. I learn so much from seeing others work...and I feel inspired to create something equally as beautiful!

Q: How often do you scrapbook?

A: I try to scrap at least an hour a day...but at least 6 hours a week, but my husband will tell you its usually quite a bit more than that!

Q: Where do you scrapbook?

A: We just bought a new house and for the first time ever I have my very own scrap room, that doubles as a guest room, music room, office, and whatever else we can think of doing in there! But its nice to have part of my own area!

Q: Whats one scrap technique you'd like to learn or try, but haven't yet?

A: I'd like to try more art mediums, watercolors, paints, doodles, decopauges, etc. GIS has some classes I may take, once I finish all the other projects I've started!

Q: What piece of scrappy advice would you offer to your fellow scrappers?

A: Never be afraid to try new things...life's too short to stick to one style or one way. The more you learn from others and try new techniques, the more you'll grow as a scrapbooker...doesn't mean you can't have favorites though!

Q: Share with us your favorite layout and why you are so proud of it.

A: I am most proud of this layout because Its one of my favorite pictures of my son...I tried a lot of new techniques on this page that I think worked out well for first tries...I love the colors and most of all I love what this lo is about!

Adding Drop Shadows in PSE7

In Photoshop Elements 7 the ability to give your layout a realistic look is made simple with several different options for drop shadows and the ability to tweak within each option. Now the Drop Shadow actions are available in your effect pallette on the right side of your screen under the Layer Styles Icon. Scroll down to Drop Shadows in the pull down menu and select it. I personally like to use the "Low" Drop Shadow, I feel that it is the most realistic. Anyway, select the drop shadow that you want to use, and have the item you wish to add the shadow to, selected in your layers pallette, and then click apply. You will see that a large shadow is added to your element on your document. Probably too large...though you may not notice it as much in Elements, once the image is transferred to Jpeg for posting on the web or for printing...that shadow will be magnified quite a bit and we want the page to look realistic right?! So you can either right click on the element and select edit layer style or double click on the FX icon that is now present on the element's layer banner in the layer pallette. Both will take you to the same popup called Style Settings. The angle will not need to be change for a basic drop shadow, however the size, distance and opacity may. I usually keep the size and distance the same as each other, but I never separate them by more than two. Make sure the preview box at the top of the popup is checked, because this will show you in your document what changes you are making to the shadow. For elements like paper, stickers, journaling spots that are glued or stapled/stitched or otherwise attached securely I like to use a 1 on both the size and distance and then I just sorda play with the opacity until it looks the way I want. For things like flowers or cardboard or elements that are only secured at one angle or side using paper clips and such I use anywhere from a 2 to a 5 and sometimes vary the size and distance by two, so I may set the distance at 2 and the size at 4. It all depends on your preference and how you want it to look, so play around with it and find the perfect drop shadow recipe for you?! Any Questions leave them in the comments and I will get back to you...Happy Scrapping!

New Look...

So I'm trying out a new look on my blog...so pardon my dust and all that good stuff, while I figure out what the heck I'm doing with all this editing of HTML! I got a great blogwear set at Sweet Shoppe designs by Zoe P. Whatchya think so far? Well much more to come, I just didn;t realize how time consuming this is... (Or how time consuming I'm making it is probably more accurate). If your looking to spiff up your scrappy blog check out blogwear sets at Shabby Princess or Sweet Shoppe Designs...they are too cute!