April Desktop

I've always wanted to offer computer desktops to my readers, but somehow the months always come and go and I forget. The good news is, Meredith Cardall, who has been making the fabulous weekly quick pages has agreed to make computer desktops for each month. Here is April's. Enjoy and thanks Meredith!

New Stuff on Sale

Lots of new stuff this week and all my items over $2.00 are 25% off through April 5th during SBE's Anniversary Sale.



My latest kit - Little Miss



which was created in honor of my favorite little miss.



There is also a set of grunge overlays - these come as .png grids, but there are also layered .psd files to help you clip photos and papers to fit under the frames.



My latest Style File is a little different. This set adds a pattern overlay on top of your existing paper or background. This item comes with a professional use license for use in digital design and related businesses. I've written introductory tutorials for PSE and PS on using layer styles.



If you missed the Gridworks Alpha when it was available on the blog, it is now available in the store for just $2.00.



My collaboration with Rina Kroes and Stephanie Ogren continues with this quick page album -



and coordinating brag book.



FREE SAMPLE
Here is a free quick page created by Meredith Cardall using the Little Miss Page Set. Enjoy!

Out and About in the DigiWorld

Congratulations to Graziela Mendes and Carola Mondini on the grand opening of The Little Scrap Garden where everything is 25% off through Monday.

Scrapbook-Elements is celebrating their 4th Anniversary now through Saturday, April 5th with a 25% off sale. You can also receive the collaborative collection Spring Medley free with a $20.00 purchase - so if you've been considering purchasing any of my products - now is a good time to stock up.



ScrapArtist is having a March Madness 25% off sale. All those of you who are interested in hybrid may also way to take a peek at the Hybrid Challenge on the ScrapArtist blog, The Hub.

The world of digital scrapping is getting so big, I'm always on the look out for smaller sites that look like good places to learn more about scrapping and perhaps even make some friends on the way. I've written about one such community, Treasures to Scrap, in the past and recently a friend pointed me to Digital Craft Cottage. I haven't spent much time there myself, but a quick tour through the forums and the large number of tutorials on the site show me this is a close knit group serious about helping one another along in this hobby of ours.

Katie Hadfield and Jacque Larsen have teamed up over at the Lilypad to put together a couple of great doodle/illustration sets like Pretty In Pink shown below. Now this set caught my eye because just today a friend of mine gave Jamin a pink toy guitar that her daughter has outgrown. Jamin has been having a wonderful time making 'music' with his new instrument and doesn't care one bit that it is bright pink. I really think I need this to scrap his jam sessions.



For some reason I'm drawn to cutesy this week. In addition to the doodle set above, Puddles of Sunshine by Eva Kipler at Digitals also grabbed my attention. In a more elegant style, check these gorgeous Artisan Blue papers by Thao Cosgrove at ScrapGirls - stunning!

Here are a few layouts that inspired me this week.

As I wrote above, I'm suddenly into cutesy and The Lion Sleeps tonight by nikkiARNGwife is about a adorable as they come.



I love you by laviconi - very neat framing effects!



And here is one Jamin picked, trouble by ezane. He wanted to know if he could drive the truck too.

TrendWatch - Hybrid Albums

I know I say this at least once a week, but I have yet to actually do it - some day I am going to delve into the world of hybrid. I just find hands-on crafting a bit intimidating. When I do give it a try, I think I'm going to start with one of the great hybrid album options that are appearing all over the digital market.

For those who are new the the concept, the idea is to take one of the popular shaped albums such as the Bracket Album by Basic Grey,



then use a digital quick page style album like the Kensington Gardens Bracket Album by ScrapKitchen Designs to create the pages.



You then print the completed pages, affix them to the album pages with Modge Podge, sand the edges and add any extra traditional supplies as desired. One completed example is the Lush Blooms Bracket Album (product by Zoe Pearn) assembled by Robin Carlton. You can see more examples in the Sweet Shoppe Design's Sweet Keepsakes gallery.



Here is a assembled bracket album by mmbstaley using templates from Jill D-Zines at ScrapDish and papers from Weeds and Wildflowers.



You can check your local scrapbook store for the chipboard albums. Several of the digital stores are starting to offer them as well. Three of the Basic Grey albums and 9 of the Maya Road albums are available at the Sweet Shoppe. Many of the Maya Road products as well as several other hybrid supplies are also offered at Funky Playground.

As for digital quick page albums, the Sweet Shoppe has a large variety of album types and themes from this fun, playful banner album by SaraAmarie ...



to this classy flip album from Penny Springmann.



Karen at Catscraps has a nice set of bracket templates.



Anne deJong at Funky Playground has a tag coaster template set out which comes with a few neutral elements already in place.



If you'd prefer to make the albums on your own, French Ruby has the basic template shapes available for the bracket, keyplate, scallop and luggage tag albums at Candy Tree. Wendy Page has a set that contains the scallop, bracket and keyplate templates available at Digitals.

There has been a lot of talk over the past couple of years about merging the paper and digital scrapping worlds and there are more and more scrappers who use both digital and paper techniques, but this is the first time I've seen product development that caters to the seamless blending of the two mediums. I look forward to seeing more of this trend.

Lots of New Stuff and Free Quick Page

Happy Easter everyone. I have a wide-variety of new items this week. My new set, Homespun Love is full of comfortably worn papers and elements.



There is a coordinating set of quick pages created by Kim Wresh.



I had the huge honor of working on a collaborative set with fellow SBE designers Rina Kroes and Stephanie Ogren. Our Whispers of Hope set is overflowering with rich jewel tones with a touch of sparkle.



Modeled by the lovely Miss Mya - Raspberry Kisses Baby Announcement and Keepsake Set. The set contains a birth announcement with coordinating thank-you cards, note card and quick page.



The latest in the Style File line - Paper Trail is devoted to creating paper effects such as lined notepaper, grid paper, handmade paper and more. This set comes with a professional use license for Scrap-4-hire, digital design and related crafting businesses. No credit required.

If this is your first introduction to Photoshop layer styles, I've written introductory tutorials for Photoshop and Photoshop Element.



Mrs. Wresh has put together another gorgeous badge album, this time with my Fields of Fun page set.



If you missed the Natural Wood Alpha a couple of weeks ago, it is now available in the shop.



FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here is a free quick page from my Homespun Love Quick Page created by team member Meredith Cardall. Enjoy!

Out and About in the DigiWorld

Thanks everyone for all the nice comments you left on my last post about me, my son and the layout itself. I really appreciate all the encouragement.

Congratulations to Kristi on her the grand opening of WebDesignz by Kristi. Most items are 25% off through Monday.

Many designers are having Easter weekend sales. Here are just a few of the highlights -
Fotosusu's store at Treasures to Scrap is 40% off which means you can pick up the pretty blooms shown below for $1.20. Dianne Rigdon has joined Scrapbookgraphics and has her latest releases on sale to celebrate. Creative Confusion has marked everything 50% off in her store at Scrapbook-Bytes (discount shown at checkout). Also at SBB, Faith True is celebrating her birthday with a 50% off sale. Anne deJong has put several fabulous element pack on clearance through the end of of March at Funky Playground (last part of page 7 and then pages 8 and 9 of her shop).



There are many wonderful gems of people in the digital scrappbooking world and Thena is one of them. She travels the digigalleries leaving treasured verses in comment sections. I still go back and read the one she left on my Daddy's Shoes page whenever I need a smile (6th comment under the layout). For more inspiring verses, stop by her Poem a Day blog.

For some digisupplies and commercial use Photoshop items off the beaten path of the traditional digiscrap store, check out -dp-'s shop at Renderosity.

Michelle Godin and Amy Wolff have teamed up to create Garden of Whimsy (showen below) available at the Lilypad. The funky flowers in this set remind me of something out of a Dr. Suess book and I can see all sort of fun kid pages with the set.



For the beautiful, clean and classy look in a quick page album check out Paislee Press's Happy as a Lark album at Oscraps. Looking for an Easter kit? Here are a few idea's - Carrot Patch by MaryFran at Nitwit Collections, Alive! by Rina at Scrapbook-Elements and the entire Easter section at ScrapGirls which has a nice mix of religious and secular sets.

Here are some of the wonderful pages that have caught my eye this week.

Empty by crossroadscca - This is one of the most poignant pages I've come across in a long time. The journaling is all about missing her son as he enters a new phase of life and it is so wonderfully scrapped that I find myself missing him as I look at the empty swing.



Bring It On by 1967jodie - What I want to know is how she got this shot. It as if she was able to sneak in on a magical moment of imaginary play. He is even standing in a sunbeam! The simple composition and arrows adding a sense of movement are just the right touches.



Lauren7 by Bask8kace - I like the variety of perspectives in the photographs and the color blocking.



No freebie from me today, but I recommend stopping by the Its a Creative World blog and picking up a cute free set of Easter doodles by Kate Hadfield.

Is NASA Going to Stick Me in a Rocket?

Today Jamin and I had a conversation that was such a sweet combination of his sense of adventure and love for me that I had to scrap it.

The journaling reads,

Jamin picked up a book about astronauts at the library and while I was reading to him about NASA being the agency that picked astronauts, the following conversation ensued.
Jamin: Is NASA going to stick me in a rocket?
Mom: Only if you want to. When you are older you can ask NASA and they might pick you to be an astronaut.
Jamin (thoughtfully): Would you miss me?
Mom: Yes, but I'd also be very proud of you.
Jamin: Would I come back?
Mom: Yes, you would.
Jamin: And then I'd give you a big hug.
Mom: That would be wonderful.
Jamin: I'm big now. I want to go in a rocket.
Mom: Yes, you are big, but you have a lot to do to get ready. You need to keep growing and learning new things. You'll need to go to school for awhile too.
Jamin: Well let's get started.
Mom: You already have. You are learning about space and astronauts by reading this book and watching your Space Shuttle video.
Jamin: OK then keep reading mommy.

Credits: Lost In Space by Tracey Monette, Scrapbook-Elements, Newspaper Swirls by Faith True

FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here is an alpha credit using one of the styles in my latest STYLE FILE - In the Dark and an inked edges action from Atomic Cupcake.

New Releases - Fields of Fun, Alpha, Style File and more

New this week just in time for spring and Easter - Fields of Fun; full of happy colors and flowers. I posted my page with this set earlier in the week here.



There is a set of quick pages too.



Its has been awhile since I've released an Everyday Alpha - this is a set of two black and white alphas.



My new Style File is a set of styles for creating textured black elements. This set comes with a professional use license for Scrap-4-hire, digital design and related crafting businesses. No credit required.

If this is your first introduction to Photoshop layer styles, I've written introductory tutorials for Photoshop and Photoshop Element.



Mrs. Wresh got creative with my Baby Brights set to create this adorable badge album.



Free Sample
No longer available. Here is a quick page created by Meredith Cardall with the Fields of Fun page set.

You can read about Meredith's scrap for others and quick page services here.

Out and About in the DigiWorld

Congratulations to Nick Romer and Barbara Eastwick who took over ownership of RAKscraps this month.

Congratulations to the following sites on their grand openings:
DigiApe Designs by April Staker
Cinnamon and Vanilla

Prima Hybrid has a few free samples available on their site including the Hybrid Helper template shown below. There is a cute little Easter Basket template there too.



The Sweet Shoppe always has a wonderful selection of challenges to jump start your scrapping inspiration. From word challenges, templates (shown below), scrapping the not-so-ideal moments and out-of-the-box ideas, you'll sure to find something to get you scrapping.



My little guy turned 3 last month, but I have yet to scrap his birthday photos. Tracy Ann's new Frippery release Gifted looks like it might be the perfect touch to a special birthday page. Collaborations between designers seem to be the rage these days - Amanda Rockwell and Melissa Bennett made a great team with their collaboration Got Boys? available at ScrapArtist and Melissa Bennett Designs. Those who love preclustered elements might want to check out Kim DeSmet's It's all Jeans line which is full of clustered edges and other accessories.

Here are some of the layouts I've bookmarked this week. Click on the layout to see it in the gallery with credits.

A Family Is by Antje - There are so many wonderful touches in this page; the blended image atop the same frames, the dog poking his head through the bottom square, wonderfont and title work and perfectly placed elements. The theme of family resonants throughout the page.



Protect and Cherish by ~toby~; clean, simple and captivating



Gentle Hearts by Davita - I just love the way she has used the elements to enhance and soft, yet magical moment.



A quick moment from Out and About in the Cato household. Today I stopped at Babies-R-Us to pick up some new nipples for Mya's bottles. They had spring dresses on sale and even though it is still 40 degrees around here, I just couldn't resist. I think Mya likes her new dresses too. Could that smile get any bigger?


Everything from my Fields of Fun coming to SBE this weekend.

TrendWatch - Journal Tabs

My preferred title for this entry is TrendWatch - Journal Strips, but I've learned the hard way that blog entry titles with the world strip in them attract spam comments of the not-so-family-friendly type.

Of course journaling strips are nothing new, but recently I've noticed a resurgence in their use. A common approach being to layer several journaling elements such that they become one of the focal points of the page, as done by A-to-Z in My Cell, shown below. Unless otherwise noted, click on the layout to see it in the gallery with full credits.



Becca Boo uses notepaper-style strips to record positive reminders to herself in A Better Me.



Journaling strips combine effectively with strips of paper and white space in Lexicam's Dream Baby Dream.



Kriscrosby uses a variety of colorful, distressed strips to help frame her boy's face in Using a Fork.



In a more subtle, but very stylish approach, Danielle uses a set of overspray journaler to enter her thoughts in Fall (link goes to the Catscraps store where this layout is a product sample).



Journal Strip Product Picks

Journal-Ons by Helana Jole, Natural Designs in Scrapbooking, are among the most realistic torn paper pieces I have come across.



Journalicious by Ztampf is another expertly crafted set of journal bits.



Katie Pertiet's Journaling Strip Masks, available at Designer Digitals allow you to cut a variety of artfully arranged journal strips from any background paper.



Free Sample
No longer available. Here is a frame and journal strip cluster. It comes with custom shadowing. Enjoy!

Baby Brights or Down and Dirty

A few weeks ago, I dug out some photos of Jamin reading to Mya to scrap them. She was laying in her infant gym as he 'read' her an Elmo book. They were surrounded by such bright, playful colors and were just enjoying being kits. I found that most of my kits were either pastel babyish, or somehow too mature for this childlike moment, so I created Baby Brights. I posted by layout in this post and now the kit is available.



I also put together a quick page album. The album contains a quick page version of the page I did of my kiddos.



Now on a completely different theme - my new Style File is full of dirty woods and metals, some cement and dingy black paper. This set comes with a professional use license for Scrap-4-hire, digital design and related crafting businesses. No credit required.

If this is your first introduction to Photoshop layer styles, I've written introductory tutorials for Photoshop and Photoshop Element.



Free Sample
No longer available. Here is a quick page using Baby Brights created by layout team member Meredith Cardall. Meredith provides Scrap-for-Hire, quick page and related services. You can find out more information on her website.

3 Month Old Mya

Sweet Mya turned 3 months old this week.


Credits: Fields of Fun from Misty Cato coming to SBE 3/16/08

Most of the photos I took on her 3 month birthday didn't turn out very well, but I'm happy with this one. I put her on her tummy on her bobby pillow and took the photo with the camera all the way down on the floor to get below her. I like the way the page turned out too. Every time I look at it I want to reach in, scoop her out of that frame and cuddle her.

Another little tip - I found that using my burn tool on the frame to create a light shadow below her extracted hand and arms was a better approach to shadowing an extraction than a layer style.

Out and About in the DigiWorld

Congratulations to the following stores on their grand openings:
Windgefluesters Boutique - 25-45% off storewide
Digital Dry Goods - Check here for a discount code

Proceeds from the March Songbird Avenue kit (shown below) benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.



The Designer Apprentice contest at Little Dreamer Designs has begun which mean 41 free mini kits are available for download. You'll need to register for the forum for access. You can also enter for a chance to win a gift certificate to the shop by scrapping a page with the apprentice minis and posting to the Apprentice Layout Gallery.

The March Recipe Exchange at Scrapbook-Elements features salad recipes.

Circles are always and eye-catching geometry in layouts and yet I often struggle to incorporate them effectily. AnnMarie at Pickleberrypop is hosting an ad-inspired challenge that is a great jump-start for using circles. She even gives you a free mini kit before you complete the challenge.

Kathryn Wilson has two adorable kits, Love that Boy (shown below) and Love that Woman priced at $1.00 each.



Here are a few layouts I bookmarked for scrapping inspiration. Click on the layouts to see them in the DST gallery with full credits.

Mastering the Game (the early years) by girlflies - The black background makes these photos pop and I am always drawn to pages with angular compositions.



Go Henry by BrandiSutherlin - Galleries are full of pages featuring sweet babies and cute kids, but Go Henry is a delightful depiction of the 'young at heart'. BrandiSutherlin does a great job of creating an energetic page without weighing it down with too much stuff. I love the Y hanging down off the title; wonderful touch!



Messangers of Spring by Garynka - I want this framed and hanging in my kitchen along with three companion pieces for Summer, Winter and Autumn.



a little boy's world by -m-; Throw in a couple of race cars and this is what my little boy's world looks like too. Great job capturing the spirit of imagination in young children.



FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here is a painted acrylic frame element. Enjoy!

Fun with Layer Masks

Here is a quick little trick using layer masks to create overlapping shape effects. You can use this trick with a wide variety of texts and shapes or even photos to create some fun results.


For the sake of illustration, I've chosen a heart shape and a line of text on a path. If you want to learn about text on a path check out the Free Form Text Paths, Text on a Path and Text Fill tutorials.



Click on the move tool and then one of the shapes to move it so the two shapes overlap one another.



Hold down the control key and click on the icon of the lower shape layer in the layers palette. The marching ants should appear around the shape.

Go to Select > Inverse or Shift+Ctrl+I.



Click on the upper shape layer in the layers palette, then click on the mask icon at the base of the layers palette. The mask icon has a small circle on it.



Hold down the control key and click on the icon of the upper shape layer (not the mask icon) in the layers palette. The marching ants should appear around the upper shape.

Go to Select > Inverse or Shift+Ctrl+I.

Click on the lower shape layer in the layers palette, then click on the mask icon at the base of the layers palette. The mask icon has a small circle on it.



Right click on one of the shape layers in the layers palette and select Apply Layer Mask from the drop down menu. Repeat with the second shape layer.



As an optional step, you can use the two shape layers as clipping masks with any paper or photo. Below is a brief description of the process which is identical to using a layered template. For step by step layered template instructions see the Using a Layered Template tutorial.

Drag a paper or photo onto the canvas and place it just above the shape layer. Right click on the paper layer and select 'Create Clipping Mask' from the drop down menu. Repeat with another paper and the second shape layer.

Once Upon a Time

Jamin takes his role as a big brother very seriously. He has become the protector of little Mya. At Mya's last check-up one of the nurses had to hold Jamin back to prevent him from pulling the syringe out of the nurses hand while Mya was getting her shots. Poor kid just kept yelling, "Stop hurting my Mya!"

But I digress. Here is a less traumatic moment birthed out of Jamin's devotion to his sister.

The journaling reads, Once upon a time there was a young prince. The prince was a very kind and gentle boy. He lived with his mom and dad who loved him very much. They showered him with hugs and kisses and read him many special stories. One day, when the prince was almost 3 years old, he received a very special blessing. His baby sister was born. They young prince loved his sister so very much. He showered her with hugs and kisses, played peek-a-book with her, sang her songs and read her many special stories.


Credits: Baby Brights by Misty Cato coming to Scrapbook-Elements 3/9/08

This was a busy week, so there is only one new release. Knock on Wood is the latest in my line of Style Files. This set of Photoshop Layer Styles allow you to create wood effects instantly. These are okay for Scrap-for-Hire and digital design use with no credit or additional licensing required.



Free Sample
No longer available. Here is an alpha I created using one of the styles in the Knock on Wood set.