food and family traditions

Today I am posting over on HeidiSwapp's blog and am sharing our family's traditional fare of Pumpkin Scones we share on Thanksgiving morning. Hope you will hop over and check out all those details.

But today let's get a little digi with it and talk about creating with digital elements. Digital papers and frames and elements add so much versatility to our creative endeavors. From making cards, to hybrid projects to even the traditional layout. I do not 'scrap' digitally, but I am always creating in some way digitally and am a bit addicted. As I made a little layout for my post over at Heidi's, I wanted to show you how it came together. All elements are from Heidi's Digital Shop.  My current software of choice is PhotoshopElements. Brushes can be used in pse, as well as layering. So that is what we are going to do today.

1. Open up a new canvas in your photo software and size it to 6x5 inches. Now open a digital background paper and drop it on top of the 6x5 canvas. (I am using a digital paper that is no longer available in Heidi's shop, but you can use any background you desire.)
This is what you should have so far::

2.Open up your image of choice. Then open up a frame from the Vintage Insta Frames. I used frame number 4.  Drag the photo on top of the Insta Frame. Using the move tool, situate the photo so it fits in the frame. Then in your layers palette, move the frame so that it sits on top of the photo.
This is what it will look like in layers::

And this is what your framed photo should look like::

3. Open the SugarChicNoteCards and click on the Remember Card. Drag this on top of the first 6x5 canvas::

4. Now it's time to pretend that it is a flat piece of traditional patterned paper and start playing.
Click on the framed photo and command+shift+e. This will flatten the photo and the frame. Drag and drop photo to the top of above canvas. Use move tool to resize, tilt, and place on top of the canvas::

5. Open the 'little' and the 'heaven' from the Gratitude Brush kit. Change the color by choosing Edit>Fill Layer>and choose which Color preferred. Use the Move tool to drag and drop the words where desired on the canvas. By clicking the square corners that surround the word, you can change the size to what you prefer::

6. Still with me???...

Now click on the text tool. Choose your text. ( I used TravelingTypewriter...on of my favorites.) Click down on the canvas. Add your extra words. Use the Move tool to place them where needed::

7. Lastly drag a LabelSticker and a sentiment/rubon from the ColorfulInstaframes and drag and drop them in place::

 8. And that is basically a simple little digital layout ala HeidSwapp Digital products.

One last touch I like to add to my digital projects is a bit of a white vignette on the edges. Flatten the image in Layers first. Click on the Rectangle Marquee tool. Draw a frame just inside the parameters of the canvas. 

Click on Select>Feather. Mine is set to 50, click OK. Click Select>Inverse. Then go to Edit>Fill Layer> and select white. Then just click outside the canvas and the image will be deselected. This will add just a touch of soft white around the edges if you wish::

 If you have any questions, please let me know. I am mostly self taught here, but I will be happy to help you.

And have a Happy Thanksgiving.

lucky home decor

creating with more RhonnaDESIGNS.
getting the most out of the Lucky kits.
had a comment recently from Audrey saying how she has no st patty's day decor...
i reply with "me too!"
until i used these kits for some simple, easy and doable decorating.

this little word art was EASY!
because Rhonna already had it designed in her Lucky Brush kit.
all i had to do was download it.
'stamp' it on a piece of digi ledger paper.
and add it to a frame that i 're-used' from this valentines piece. (scroll down to view)
did i say easy?
(RhonnaDESIGNS;How Do You Do That > Digital Brushes)

these small canvases are a mix of the lucky brush kit, the spring circus tatoos, the number tag kit, and the ever so useful mini textures brush kit. (seriously...that is a must have tool kit...use it all.the.time.)
i stuck them in one of my vintage floral frogs, and they sit below the burlap word art frame. love.

oh...and i still adore this everytime i walk by it...

the subway art was posted yesterday.
had a question from barbara asking what the canvas was? how did i mount it?
the background is an 8x10 piece of foam core.
i adhered vintage book paper vertically to that piece.
the subway art piece measures 5x7 and it too is mounted to a piece of foam core.
that piece of foam core is than attached to the 8x10 piece.
it simply sits in a table top easel.
use what you have::
chipboard
cardboard
cereal boxes
recycled frames

and have fun while you create.

kiss me collection~shadow box

valentines is definitely for all things soft, pink, and feminine.
so when i saw the kiss me collection, i knew right away, i was going to transform this shadow box i had up with our christmas photo, and alter it for valentines.



the collage paper from the background papers is my fav pattern.
it made for a perfect mat to house the goodies i wanted to add to this frame.
once the background paper was in place, i basically treated the rest of the project like a traditional scrapbook page. added photo on a bull clip, attached the bull clip to the background.

i cut out the 'be mine' heart from one of the valentines. the edges were distressed and inked up a bit. some bling emphasized the sentiment. then it was popped up with dimensional tape.
one of my fav. fav. parts of this kit is the printables and most specifically the flags n tags page. i play with those pieces all the time. the 'yours truly' sentiment was trimmed and added to a vintage pearl topped pin. i make my own flags all the time with pearl tops. you can find fun corsage pins in the wedding floral department at your craft  store. so fun.
and book paper...do you know i have a current affair with book paper...book paper rolled roses with tiny pearls in the center. just an excuse to get in touch with my feminine side.

junque bows. thank you so much, sweet margie, for encouraging my love for junque. &bows. i use them every.where. grabbed a bit of masking paper, tim holtz tissue, tulle, pearls on string, and seam binding...add any thing you want...always a perfect little touch.

rhonna has been an amazing valentines day inspiration this past week with her 14 valentine ideas...hope you have been able to catch her posts with all things for valentines decor and gifts. amazing creativity she is sharing. amazing!

also, new digital art kits are on their way this week....
are you receiving the newsletter?
do.
click on the 'newsletter' icon under the hot air balloon on the home page of the shop.

tomorrow project life 2012 will resume.

a friendly lift

Hello friends...My friend Alexandra had this lovely take on urban-vintage posted over on her blog the other day. I appreciated the delicate versus grunge take she captured that complimented the photos of her and her beautiful daughter.
I took her basic sketch and came up with a clean and graphic look to display this little mr. taking his bath. how sweet is that?

I love the large pocket and the tags poking out. Perfect for some hidden journaling. Perfect just to play with those tags that I love so much.
If you happen to be inspired by her layout, please link me up. I would enjoy seeing what you did.
Supplies are from February's Work In Progress kit. The die cut at the bottom is the inside of a Starbuck's cozy. And the typed words are from House of 3.

Enjoy your Monday!
~j

and finally...

wanted to share one other element to my memory keeping and story telling of the little mr.
it's project365 the sawyer edition::

again with the ali edwards design. sorry, but i'm a bit of a groupy about her digital elements.

and especially for keeping track of a years worth of photos of this new life.

now don't get me wrong, i have already dropped a few days here and there...

i hate it when that happens...

but life just gets so busy that it happens. and it's part of the story.

(yeah i know...it's from august....but frankly...all of september is still in the camera. let me know if you wanna see that too!...whenever i get it caught up.)

thanks for letting me share.

thanks for visiting.

digitally simple

As I tell the story of the little mr.'s first day of life, I knew I wanted to tell it via photos. Many photos. Few words. With the help of Kate Teague's Just the Photos3 , I simply told the story of today with her easy layered template. Once those were in place I added my own date text, as well as some Ali Edwards digital elements.

One of the first digital stamps I purchased from Ali Edwards was The Story Word Art. It has become another one of those go to tools for me. Especially when I want the story simply stated. The stamps that are included in this kit are timeless, and always seem to add the right touch.

On the second page of the digital layout is a stamp called Capturing the Moments of Life. It was a freebie element she gave away, but I cannot find the link to it right now. If I do, I will post the link.

I kept the background of this layout white and clean. After adding photos, and digital stamps, I uploaded the jpg to Persnickety Prints.

This company is fast becoming my new favorite resource for printing enlargements. I have an epson I use at home for printing photos, but when it comes to enlargements, and even 12x12 digital layouts, I think I am going to stick with them for fantastic print quality.

When the prints arrived in the post, I simply placed them in my 12x12 3-ring binder album, and had what I think is an awesome look at the beautiful day when number five came to be in my arms.

Thanks for stopping by today...tomorrow the baby story continues.

~j

hello sweet baby.

 actually getting a few projects done around here. ah! it is so great to open my album of this little mr. and see a few pages peeking at me.
above is what i consider a very simple baby announcement. i took the shot. formatted it in a 6x4 canvas. added simple font and announcement information, added an ali e digital stamp, and smiled. the photo alone makes me smile every time. happy with this.

 it then became the title page to his baby album that will be my album to keep. eventually i will start his, as i have with the other kiddos. but for now i need to tell his story back to me. make sense? time is flying by so fast. i just don't want to forget his littleness and his pure innocence. did i say i was in love with him?

cardstock. embossed cardstock. typed and sewed cardstock. done. i am falling in love again with simplicity.

more peeks at his album later this week.

thanks for stopping by!
~j

teacher appreciation month

Even though we homeschool, there are lots of end of the year occasions for teacher appreciation. My kids are in plays, enrichment classes, and clubs with all the end of the year ceremony that goes along with that. And since it is indeed teacher appreciation month, I want to share this week some of the gifts we give.
I HAVE to make the gift, or at least part of the gift. Just the way I’m built. Sometimes that gets a little crazy, but it’s the way I like it. One really simple idea to help with all the cookie bringing to different occasions is to make up several batches of snickerdoodles ahead of time and stick them in the freezer. So now I just grab a dozen or two, tuck them into a disposable bread tin, wrap them up, and we are good to go.

This simple gift was inspired by a digital kit over at House of 3. Using the House Warming List kit, I printed up the 'shop' list, used this notebook adhesive and glued the top to make a pad. (A small tutorial on the subject). Super easy, super fun. Found the take out box at Hobby Lobby, modified it a bit. Filled with basket filler, chocolate kisses, wrapped pad in tulle, and off we go. There are more than just the 'shop' list, so you could make more than one pad.
Fun gifts to give and thank those hard working teachers.
More tomorrow...