It is that time again to announce December's LOTM, and can you believe it is almost a new year as well? Time sure does fly. I was browsing through Funky Playground Designs Gallery and there were so many LO's to choose from but the one that really stuck out and I thought was just so awesome was a LO by our own CTM Adriana. It is titled Free As a Bird and I just love how she has her daughter in several different poses in the same scene. I just thought it was so unique. Here it is:
Here are a few questions to get to know Adriana (drica) a little bit:
Please tell us where you are located in the world. What is your favorite thing about where you live? I'm living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil since October. I love the Brazilian hospitality and all the beaches.
What is a 'must have' item you put on your pages? I'm in a splatter face. I can always use some glitter too!
What program do you create with? How long have you been using that program? I use Photoshop CS5, since August.
Adriana used Misty's kit "Tweet, Tweet" for her lo.
So please go and browse Adriana's awesome LO gallery at Funky Playground Designs.
Challenge Time!
Wonderful Wednesday Freebie
Ciao girls!
Another freebie to share with you all, Wendy here to bring you some word art for this holidays, I used the so cute kit and alpha of Misty O'Brien"Let It SnowFlake" available at the FPD store.
Download HERE
I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas wherever you are, and wish you an amazing new year! Buon Natale e Buon 2011, Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo 2011
2 Freebies, One Mallow Idea...and a partridge in a pear tree.
Christmas is just a few days away, and I'm scrambling to get everything ready. It doesn't help that it is 83 degrees outside (no, I'm not kidding)- but I'm pretending like it's cold and making homemade hot chocolate and dipped marshmallows as gifts for all my friends. Speaking of gifts..... :-) I have one for you! Actually, I have 2! Bren has made 2 beautiful quick pages for you using Misty's "Everyday Happenings" kit. I've included an example of one of them below. If you click on my layout, it will take you to the download link for the quick pages!
There- that's actually THREE freebies for you! I'm sure you want to show your appreciation, so leave a comment with a 'must download' Christmas music idea for the rest of us! (namely me....)
Hugs!
Kate Read more...
Introducing: Kimmy
2. How often do you edit your pics you use to scrap with and do you think it's important? I edit almost all my pictures in some way, whether a simple color boost or just cropping. I'm not a great photographer and I find that editing the photos can make them appear better then they actually are.
3. Do you use templates? YES YES YES!! I love templates. I think they are great when you are trying to get something done in a hurry, or if you have trouble with clustering, templates can be a great help.
4. What other things you do besides digiscrapping? Other then digi-scrapping, I read alot. My favorite authors are Kristin Hannah, Jodi Picoult, & Nicholas Sparks. I also spend a lot of time with my family playing games or watching TV and movies!
5. How do you think you've improved since you started digiscrapping? I've improved on my journaling capabilities for sure. It used to frighten me to have to journal and now I love it, whether it is a few sentences to a few paragraphs. I still have a long way to go though!
6. What is one part of digiscrapping that you would like to improve on? I would love to improve my clustering. I love layouts that have a lot of clustering and white space but I have to work really hard to achieve that look and I still struggle with it.
7. What is the first LO you've ever made?
Template: Survivor Templates by Pretty in Green
Scrap ON! QP Freebie
Color Challenge & Freebie!
We're going to do a COLOR challenge! My favorite color is
(click on preview to be taken to the FunkyPlayground Store) Here's my LO
- Upload it a gallery or your blog.
- Link back to it here in the comments before Sunday, December 19th at Midnight Pacific Time.
Good Luck & Happy Scrapping! :)
~Amie
It's Freebie Time!
Sorry I am late posting today. it's been a crazy day at work!
I had a hard time choosing what your freebie would be for today, so I decided to give more than one since we are getting so close to Christmas! Lucky you!
Here are THREE QuickPages for you...I hope you enjoy them!
http://www.box.net/shared/cagt9f3mp0
http://www.box.net/shared/7ego393rb2
http://www.box.net/shared/aen5hv8vr3
Please let me know if you have any problems grabbing them, and don't share the links or pages-send them here to Misty's blog ♥ Read more...
Challenge Time!
Glynis here with a fun challenge for you this week. Does your family have a fun activity that they love to do this time of the year? Where I live the weather is cold and my family enjoys playing the snow. Maybe you live somewhere 'down under' and you're ready to head to the beach. Do you like to stay inside and bake Christmas cookies or snuggle up by the fire and listen to Christmas music?
Whatever it is, we'd love to see a layout about it. So create your beautiful page, link back to it here in the comments and we'll enter you in a drawing for a $5 gift certificate to Misty's store. And as an added bonus, if you use Misty's products in your layout, we'll add your name TWICE! And just for participating, you'll receive a fun quickpage, too. Don't forget to leave an email address so we can contact you, or check back here next Monday (December 13) to see who the winner is!
Bottom line:
- Create a layout about your favorite winter/holiday/Christmas activity and upload it a gallery or your blog.
- Link back to it here in the comments before Sunday, December 12 at Midnight Easter Time.
- Get your name entered in a drawing for a gift cert. and a participation prize.
Easy as pie!! I have a layout here if you need more inspiration. Click on the image for the full list of credits. And happy scrapping!
Read more...
Throwback Thursday
Hi Everyone! Leilanie here to bring you Throwback Thursday. Today is also Thanksgiving and I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of our US readers! On to the kit, today I chose to showcase Behind the Lens.
This kit is collab with Girl Boy Girl designs. It is such a beautiful kit, I loved working with it! Here is my page, I used the kit to create the title page for my scrap journal. I also used Misty's "L" template for this page.
Hope you enjoyed today's post! Happy Thanksgiving!
-Leilanie Read more...
LO Highlights
I was browsing through some galleries and came across some gorgous LO's using Misty's kits. I thought it would be a great time to go ahead and highlight some of these LO's and of course each one will be linked so you can all go leave some love.
The first layout I have to show you was created by AmieN1 using Beautiful Dreamer which is a collab between Misty O'Brien Designs and Scrappin' Serenity. She also used Misty's Border Up Commercial Use Borders.
Next up I have a LO created by kimmyscraps using Misty's kit Lola.
Last but not least I have this fabulous LO created by scrappinbella using Misty's newest kit Scrap On.
So there you have it, and of course I could go on and on and on, there are just so many beautiful creations in all of the galleries around digi-land. Please remember to go and leave these girls some LO love, they would greatly appreciate it. Also, if you haven't already done so, go ahead and sign up for Misty's newsletter so you don't miss out on any sneak peeks, coupons, freebies or anything else Misty may have up her sleeve. You can also "like" her on Facebook as well.
Realistic Shadows!
The one thing I notice on layouts that catch my eye, is shadows! There are so many ways to do them and so many different looks that there is no right way to do them but what feels right to you. I am going to show you how I do mine. Because that is the one thing about my LO’s that is consistent, is that I do my shadows the same way every time. They might not look like it, but because I have this technique down it goes a lot faster than you would think. This tutorial is for Photoshop. I work in PS cs5 and I am not sure how this would translate to PSE or PSP.
This LO of mine using Misty's Everyday Happenings, has several shadows that are created using this technique that I am going to show you.
Having consistent shadows on a LO makes it look like a cohesive piece and makes it that much more polished. When I start I make sure the lighting is all the same direction. So the first thing I would do is to get my shadow the way that I want it on the 1st layer and then copy and paste the layer effects to get the shadows consistent with all the layers that I need shadows on. I usually start with this:
- · Bend mode: Linear Burn (I think this gives a more realistic color to the shadow)
- · Opacity: 75%
- · Distance: ~8 px
- · Spread : 0 px
- · Size: ~10 px (sometimes more if I want the quality of light to look more muted)
Then once I determine which layers I want more depth to, I right click the layer effects/create layer. That then puts the shadow on its own layer. Once it is on its own layer I click on that layer and kit CTRL-T to free transform then I right click/warp to actually warp the shadow to make it look as though the element above it is not laying flat on the page.
I then take the corners and slightly pull them opposite the light source. If it is coming from the upper left as it is in this lo, I pulled the upper right and lower right corner points away from the element. On this Layout the shadows are warped on the frame, the ribbon and the heart in the upper right corner.
As you can see once the shadows have been warped, the element looks as though it is “lifted off the page”. I then change the opacity of the lay until it looks right. Usually anywhere between 50-75%.
Read more...
Featured Layout!
Yum challenge! :-)
I don't know about where you live, but in Texas we have exactly 4 seasons and they are....Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer, and Christmas. Right now it's actually 60 degrees outside- but it's kind of impossible to get excited about the holidays when it feels like I should be in flip flops and a super cute tankini. I'm just saying. :-P So I turn on my Christmas mix and bake pumpkin bread and drink peppermint mochas and pretend like it's about to snow. I'm sure you're wondering what my point is with this rant---I need some holiday inspiration.
I'm going to share my absolute favorite holiday recipe with you- and you share yours with me Scrapbook style! In exchange for even participating you will receive a quick page designed by the FABULOUS Brenian Designs and your name will be entered in a drawing for a $5 coupon to Misty's store. Now, you use one of Misty's kits, your name will be entered TWICE. I've even found an awesome template for you to use if you, like me, are short on inspiration. In the Funky Playground Designs forum they have this template and if you use it and then post to FPD you'll be entered for one of their drawings. It's like...win win win win all around for you!
Soooo...here's mine! It's a recipe for Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodles and I used Misty's "Let it Snowflake" kit.
I like bullet lists, they keep things simple. Here's your challenge:
- Scrap your favorite holiday recipe!
- Post your layout to any of your favorite galleries, and share the link as a comment here by Wednesday, November 24 at 11:59 p.m.
- Participate & receive a FREE QP and be entered to win a $5 coupon. Use one of Misty's kits and be entered TWICE.
~ Kate! Read more...
Happy Birthday!
Did you know that FPD is turning four? They are and all month long they have special things planned. There's a speed scrap coming up this Wednesday, a store wide sale of 40% off until Wednesday and you still have a couple of days to snag these great deals! Find all of the details here!
Contest Winner Announcement!
Thank you so much for everyone that shared a "thankful" comment on the blog this week. I loved reading all your responses and I'm happy to announce that Tamara is our winner!
Comment here, or PM Misty over at Funky Playground to get your $5 GC! Congratulations and happy scrapping to everyone!
Scrap On freebie!
Let me introduce to you
1 Who are you ? Amie
2 What is a 'must have' item you put on your pages? Photos! I cannot scrap a page without photos! 2nd favorite would be flowers- I LOVE flowers!3 How long have you been on a CT, and who do you CT for? I'm a guest for misty for November. I have only been a guest prior for Amanda Carlson's Designs for the month of August. I have only been digi-scrapping for about a year maybe.4 What other things you do besides digiscrapping? I do a lot of paper crafting- cardmaking, paper scrapbooking. I also like to read. I spend most of my free time playing and caring for my daughter and soon to be SON! I'm due to have our baby boy March 2011.5 Please tell us where you are located in the world. What is your favorite thing about where you live? I live in Olympia, WA. I love that it's so pretty and green (even if it means we have to have the rain for that!) Also, we take advantage of how beautiful and close everything is here- Pacific ocean & Olympic & Cascade Mountains are only an hour away!6 What is a favorite technique or style of yours? Not sure what "styles" there are- but I like the look of traditional paper scrapping- even on my digital pages. I am not a big fan of the fantasy pages/kits.
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1 Who are you ? Jacque aka Get 2 Scrappin'2 What is a 'must have' item you put on your pages? I love stitching and frames!3 How long have you been on a CT, and who do you CT for? I joined my first CT about 3 months ago and now I create for HD Creations, Scrap Happens to Me, Designing Divas, AnDi Designs, and the Stuff to Scrap store. I also work on marketing teams for Ginger Scraps and My Life and Scrap.4 What other things you do besides digiscrapping? My only other 'hobby' is watching sports on tv. I love basketball, baseball, football, even wrestling!5 Please tell us where you are located in the world. What is your favorite thing about where you live? I live in a small town in NH, USA. I am originally from a big city in FL. The thing I love the most about NH is the fall when the leaves change. It's beautiful!6 What is a favorite technique or style of yours? I am still learning - I have only been digi-scrapping since April of this year so I don't really have a style yet. I love how white space layouts look - I'm trying to get better at that!
This is my favorite layout !
