By the Light of My Laptop

My goodness where has the time gone?  I really don't like how fast time seems to be moving lately!  But some good news...there's still time to enter my Negative Space Sketch Challenge over at Soul Scrappers.  Entries need to be posted by 7pm ET on Monday, December 10th.

This LO captures part of my daily life....my laptop.  Technology is part of our everyday lives from smart phones, tablets and computers to our MP3 players.  So why not document it?

I'm still playing with blending modes in PSE7, trying different lighting effects.  I did finally buy PSE11 when Costco had it on sale.  It was necessary if I wanted to continue to take classes and I do love to take classes! I've loaded it onto my laptop, but haven't  had a chance yet to play.

For this challenge I used digi elements from Captivated Visions and from One Story Down Collab called Being Me.

I hope you'll join in the challenge.  Until next time...Happy Craftin'! 

NSC Challenge Time Again

It's time for Negative Space Sketch Challenge #15 over at Soul Scrappers. 
All you need to do is make a project based on this sketch.  The challenge is open to all crafters: paper scrappers, digital scrappers, card makers, and anyone else out there that'd like to join in the fun.  Complete details can be found here. 

For my sample LO I used digi elements from Studio Tangie's Mtreehouse kit and some stitching from Studio Rosey Posey's Stitches kit.


Thanks for visiting and Happy Scrappin'!


You're Orginal-A Song Lyric Challenge

Studio Tangie: Splattergrafitti Rhapsody,

AJC12 Parcel 37-Misty Overlays

Jenn Lindsay Template Freebie

Designs by Helly-Ephermal Soul

It's time for a song lyric challenge over at Soul Scrappers. This time it's a Katie Perry song.  You can find all the details here.  As I was reading the lyrics I was struck by the lines "You don't have to feel like a wasted space. You're original, cannot be replaced".  How many of us forget that while dealing with the everyday stuff?  It was a  great reminder to appreciate yourself for who you are, or in the words of Mr. Darcy in Bridget Jone's Diary "I like you just the way you are".  So like yourself today and if you feel like it why not scrap a page about things you like about yourself. Have a great weekend and Happy Scrappin'! 


Resilience Recipe Challenge

Studio Tangie-Librarian, Ink Corporated 33,

 AJF Impossible Things Bold

Studio VivaArtistry-Snaps & Scraps

Anna Aspnes-For Humanity 12x12 Overlay

To celebrate feeling better I tried a new challenge for me over at Soul Scrappers called the Recipe Challenge.  You are provided a list of ingredients that must be in the LO.  This month the recipe calls for 1 photo, wood grain, ribbon, ink splots and negative space.  And this is what I came up with.  You can find all the details here CUCC7 Challenge.  I hope you can join us for some fun challenges this month.

New NSC Challenge for July is Up

It's time for my Negative Sketch Challenge over at Soul Scrappers.  You can find all the details here, along with a .psd template if desired.

I hope you'll join in on the fun.

Until next time - Happy Scrappin'!

Circus ATC Revealed and it's a Hybrid!

ViVa Artistry-Le Reve

Eenas Creations-Circus Adventures

Every couple of months over at Soul Scrappers there is an ATC Swap.  For those not in the know, an ATC Swap is when a group of people (up to 10 in our case) sign up to make an Artist Trading Card based on a particular theme.  You make a card (about the size of a baseball card) for each participant and they do the same and then you....swap!  So if 10 people signed up then you made 10 cards and at the end of it you have 9 original ATCs besides your own that you can use in a project or keep for inspiration.

Our most recent theme was "The Circus".  Being mostly a digi scrapper my paper supplies are a little thin, so some creative thinking was needed.  I have these cute little figures from a ViVa Artistry kit and paired them with a circus background from Eenas Creations.  I brought the images into PSE and duplicated them 6 times (we only had 7 sign up).  I printed them on some heavy card stock and then cut them out.  I sponged all the edges to add some depth and then placed all the pieces onto the background.  This is when a Xyron Sticker maker comes in real handy!  I used some gold stickles on the popcorn to add some dimension and "Circus Love" was created.

I'm really enjoying making ATCs.  The canvas is small so it's not so intimidating.  And of course having a theme helps get that creativity going.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to creat today!

Another Song Lyric Challenge

Studio Tangie: AJC12-Parcel 23, Art Stomp,

Creative (Collab w/Ju Kneipp)

Jen Labre-Doodle Frames

Beth Rimmer-Grungy Overlays

It time for another song lyric challenge over at Soul Scrappers.  This month it's a Kid Rock Song Lyric Challenge.  Click on the link to see the details.

I've been doing alot of hard thinking in Ali Edward's 31 Things class so I decided to take a break from all that and just have some fun with paint and doodles (digitally speaking, of course).The flowers came pre-shadowed, a little heavier than I like, but I think that works on this page.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrappin'!

New NSC Challenge for June is Up

It's time for June's Negative Space Sketch Challenge over at Soul Scrappers.  Below is the sketch and my sample LO.  You have 3 weeks to get a LO done.  If there are at least 8 participants a scrappin' goodie is sent out to a randomly chosen winner!  Hope you will join in this month. 

Have a great day and Happy Scrappin'!

The Fun Doesn't Stop nor Do the Challenges!

Credits: Paula Kesselring/ViVa Artistry collab-Child Play
Studio Tangie: AJF Oysters, Dream Spilling
Anna Aspnes: Torn Edges-Curled Paper

It's time for the Word Challenge  over at Soul Scrappers. There's also a giveaway this month, click on this link to find out more: May Prize Pack.
And don't forget I have a Negative Space Sketch Challenge going on until May 28th.
For the Word challenge (can you tell the word if Fun?)  I chose this picture of my son in a ball pit.  I mean,really, what could be more fun than that?!

And speaking of fun, I hope you'll join in all the fun we're having over at Soul Scrapper.

Happy Scrappin'!

Think Postive about the Negative

Space Sketch Challenge that is :-)

Yes, it's time for May's Negative Space Sketch Challenge over at Soul Scrappers . Here's the sketch.  And here's the link to the challenge info NSC10 Challenge Info . It's a very versatile sketch and if you are a digi scrapper there's a .psd file available when you go to the challenge link.

Hope you can join in the fun.  Until next time....
Happy Scrappin'!

and the Party Rocks On!

Credits: Creashens-Krafternoon Delight

Studio Tangie: Dost Love Life, AJF-Momeraths

Baers Garten-Fridays

Fun is still going on, in fact the iSD challenges are going until May 13th!

Challenge #5 is to use non-tradtional colors on a boy/girl LO.  So for this picture of my son I used pinks and oranges.  I even added a flower <gasp!>.

Here's the link to all the challenges: iSD Challenges at Soul Scrappers . Let the Party Rock On!

Happy Scrappin'!

Happy May!

Digi Credits: Jennifer Labre-Wicked Cool, Just Chillin

And what's better than starting the month off with a scrap challenge? This LO was done for the Cooking Up Creations challenge over at Soul Scrappers.  Details for the challenge can be found here Cooking Up Creations Challenge.

You know I'm usually all about the journaling, but this photo seemed to speak for it self so I let it :-)


Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrappin'!

Love Today at Soul Scrappers

Suzy Q Scraps-Beep Beep Boop Beep Kit

It's time for a Song Challenge.  This time its "Love Today" by Mika.  Details for the challenge can be found here Soul Scrappers. I chose the words "shock me" from the lyrics.

I wasn't sure where to start so I found a template by Jenn Lindsey and began creating the LO.  If you're new to digi scrapping templates are a great way to learn how to layer and get a feel for embellishment clusters.  Although I have a long way to go for clusters!

Why not bop over to Soul Scrappers and join the challenge.  C'mon, I know you want to!  :-)
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrappin'!

My First Challenge at Soul Scrappers

Please join me over at Soul Scrappers for my first Negative Space Challenge! Since this is my first challenge I thought I’d share a little personality trait, kind of a get to know me better topic for my LO.
I’d love it if you would do the same as part of this challenge.  Check out the challenge post here NSC9 for the sketch template and all the details.

Digi Credits: Studio Tangie @scrapbookgraphics.com, VivaArtistry @ Digichik.

Exciting News!

I am honored to announce that I have joined the Soul Team over at Soul Scrappers http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/.   This is a wonderful community of creative people.  There are scrapbookers, card makers, mixed media and hybrid artists.

They have challenges to help inspire as well as tutorials and specialty classes.  I've taken Stampbooking which shows you creative ways to include stamping on your scrapbook pages and a journaling course.  One of the current challenges is a quote challenge.  I decided to do an art journal page in place of a regular LO.

I had the hardest time creating the background.  I started with a real pretty blue, but as the page developed there was too much pretty blue.  I tried several other pages and just wasn't happy with the color.  So I went back to the original paper and then blended in several different gesso backgrounds.  This helped to balance the background without losing too much of the color.

There are way to many digi credits to caption under the photo so here they are:
Studio Tangie@scrapbookgraphics.com- Mad Hatter Font, Momerath Font, Journal Anthology 7, Quickity Split Borders, Being Me collab with Rosey Posey, Art Journal Carvan 2012 Parcel#5; Rosey Posey@scrapbookgraphics.com-Synopsis;   Jacque Larson @The Lily Pad-Here to There collab with Emily Merrit.  Whew!  I think that's everyone!

All I can say is thank goodness for ACDSee or I'd never find my digi elements!  LOL.

I hope you can stop by and visit us over at Soul Scrappers.  I'll have my first Negative Sketch Challenge go live on April 9, 2012.. Woohoo!  Hope to see you there!  Until then Happy Craftin'!

Why Do Challenges?

Credits-Apologies to the designers, I lost the file

A lot of us get into scrapbooking initially because we want to document special events or family history.  But that can be done with a regular photo album and some note cards. What is that hook that gets us scrapbooking?  I believe it's because we want to add our own touch of creativity, whether through journaling or decorating the page with embellishments.

Challenges are a great way to spark your creativity or encourage yourself to try something new/different.  These two LOs I made while doing challenges over at my favorite place, Soul Scrappers.

"Going for the Score!" was a color challenge to use black, white and blue.

"The Big Game" was a negative space sketch challenge.

Neither of these LOs would have been created without the inspiration of the challenges.
And the best part is most everyone shares their LOs for even more inspiration.  I love looking at other  LOs to see different interpretations of the challenges.  The galleries are a great source for inspiration.

So how about?  Are you up for a challenge? Head on over to http://soul-scrappers.ning.com/ and check it out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Clouds + Song Lyric Challenge = Joy!

Digi Credits: My Little Scraps- Another Graphy Alpha

Anna Aspnes-Old Film No1

You know I love Clouds and you know I love the Song Lyric Challenges over at Souls Scrappers.  Well this month the SLC is "Blue Skies" by Willie Nelson.  Pure Joy!  I mean really, could it get any better?  I sing that song all the time, probably has something to do with the appreciation I have for clouds.                                         

Friday, I was stopped at a red light waiting to get onto the Interstate.  There were some interesting clouds over to the East and since I was stopped I grabbed my camera. :-)  While I was waiting for it to complete it's start up process I heard loud engines.  I looked up and there these guys were. <CLICK> .   I was jazzed when I got home and saw that I had captured the biplanes.

I used the photo as the background and then duplicated it to created the beveled photo in the center.  I kept it real simple because I wanted this page to be all about the biplanes.

Have you ever had one of ther serendipitous moments?

When You Change Up Your Journaling

Souls Scrappers had this interesting sketch challenge-design by Karen Findlay.  When I saw the line of punched shapes I thought of a tree branch which led me to scrap about Scott's terrarium.

At first I journaled the who, what, where:
Scott's new hobby is making terrariums.  He collected materials from our yard and the lake front.  When he was done he showed Jacob. Scott plans to create several more terrariums this spring.  We will have our own Father Nature in residence.

Digi Elements:
Natural History Museum Collab
by Dawn Inskip, MLE Card

Then I paused and thought about why I took those pictures.  I took those pictures because I loved seeing Scott and Jacob spending time together. Scott sharing what he was doing and Jacob paying attention (that's asking a lot of a teenager!)

So I changed the journaling to read:
Scott and Jacob sharing some time together.  Scott showed Jacob his latest passion: Terrariums.  It was wonderful seeing them spend time together. We all look forward to seeing what grows from this project.





Changing the journaling made the LO more meaningful, more personal.  I'm glad I did it.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a Happy Craft Day!

Shiny Happy People

Credits: Tangie Baxter Designs,
Lori Davison of Scrapbookgraphics.com

Soul Scrappers is having another song lyic challenge.  I really enjoy those.  This time around it was R.E.M.'s Shiny Happy People.  When I watched the video everyone was dancing and the backgrounds had bright colors.  I immediatley thought about this picture I have of my boys doing a happy dance on their way to the shooting range.  We had to use lyrics or the title on our page so I chose "Take It To Town" which is part of the lyrics.  Jacob helped me come up with our own song.  A collaborative effort!  And I'm still playing around with drop shadows.

It was great fun working on this since I normally don't use such bright colors.  If you haven't been over to Souls Scrappers in a while you should check it out.  They have lots of challenges going on that cover all kinds of subjects and projects, not just scrapbooking pages.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

A Day of Duh Huhs

Wendyzine Scraps, Tangie Baxter,
Chelle's Creations, LivEDesigns, MelCrea

This LO is for the Quote Challenge over at Soul Scrappers.  When I read the quote about the mud I knew I wanted to scrap about the day my son was playingin the mud puddles.  One problem...I had no pictures, only video.  What to do, what to do...well I pulled out the manual for my video camera and found out that the CD that came with my camera has a video editing program!  Can I get a Duh Huh?!  It's definitely going to take some practice, but not too bad for first efforts.  Okay, second Duh Huh of the day was when I finally made the connection that I could write on my digital LO.  Go ahead, you can say it, I did...Duh Huh!  All I had to do was creat a new layer and select the pen tool and move my mouse like a pen, Bah Da Bing, Bah Da Boom!  I recommend the square pen tip, it look's a little better.  And this is another thing that will take some practice, but will be so worth it.

Well there it is, my day of Duh Huhs.  I learned so much working on this LO and had fun, too.  I hope you have a chance to have some fun today.  Thanks for stopping by.