All posts filed under: DigiScrap Talk

Inspire Me: Grow With Love Creative Team Gallery

Published by Sula H.

This month, I have a new gallery that I want to introduce to you for some inspiration. The Grow With Love Creative Team Gallery (GWL CT Gallery). This is not a gallery of one individual scrapper (as I usually share with you here every first Wednesday of each month), but it’s the gallery where members of the CT of template designers Sarah Gleason & Crystal Livesay post their layouts. Most of you who often stop by my blog probably have realized already that I don’t really have one particular scrapping style, as I love to experiment with my pages and try out different styles and techniques. If I had to narrow my style down to just one favorite, though, I’d probably say, it’s the white-space scrapping style – a somewhat minimalist page design with lots of open space that hasn’t been packed with papers and embellishments. I love white-space pages. And that’s probably why I love the GWL CT Gallery! All the pages are based on the awesome templates of Sarah & Crystal that allow …

Behind the Scenes: It’s On My List

Published by Sula H.

Admitted – I love lists! My desk is strewn with them. Always! At the moment, I have about seven lists of various shapes and sizes cluttering my desk, in addition to all the other little notes and reminders I keep collecting. I have book lists (work/study related), lists with activities/games I’m planning to do with my students at some point, lists for grading, lists with scrapbook titles and page topics; there is even one list of my last sweet rewards purchase at the Sweetshoppe (I think I can discard that one now!), and the “list” goes on and on. Then there is my calender/notebook/timer that is brimming with lists. Now, if you want to know the content of my lists in my notebook, I won’t even go there, because then there’d be no end to this post! Basically, anything from future scrapbook projects (sorted by topic/year/event), to title ideas, to topics for blog posts, to interesting quotes I find, to … you name it. It’s there! Yes, I’m a list lover, and that must reflect …

Monday Highlight: Sweet Escape

Published by Sula H.

One digital scrapbook kit that I’ve seen being used for beautiful layouts in the galleries over and over again is … Sweet Escape by Kristin Cronin-Barrow Sorry, if I keep coming back to Kristin’s products, but I simply can’t help it! She constantly whips up such beautiful kits that it’s nearly impossible for me to resist! Actually, recently it dawned on me that in fact it would be quite worth it for me to try to get on her CT, lol! After all, I really love almost every single one of her kits! Too bad, I don’t have enough time for scrapping, and – more importantly – she doesn’t have a CT call going on! 😉 Ok, back on track here. I chose “Sweet Escape” partly, because I have a layout of a picture that was taken almost exactly one year ago – May 1, to be precise! Being someone who likes all things nature, “Sweet Escape” of course was a must for me. But I love that it is also so very versatile, too! …

Freebie Friday: Leap

Published by Sula H.

Sorry, everyone! Being a day late here. But I got stuck on watching the wedding! Anyways, here it finally is, this week’s new template, based on my layout “Big Leap.” Also, it’s time to announce the happy winner of the contest from last week – (drumroll please! though it’s not a big surprise, lol) – due to the lack of other eligible participants the template collection goes to JenM. (I didn’t even have to use random.org for the drawing, since JenM was the only one who actually participated!) Congrats for winning 12 templates, Jen, and I’ll email you shortly with further specifics. Originally, I had planned to launch another contest (since NSD is coming up), getting you scrapping with one of my templates to win the pack. But it looks like a lot of you already have the templates, which is why there’s no need for another contest. But just out of curiosity, I’d like to ask, whether you’d like me to continue creating these freebies – if in general, there is just little interest in …

Enable Me: Big Pictures Photoshop Actions

Published by Sula H.

This week, I have another special treat for you: A free photoshop action that can be very fun to apply to your photos and papers. Compared to the commercial version, the free version comes with very limited options. Nevertheless, this action is still fun to use and will give your page a fun twist. You can either put a collage together with 25 different images, or you can use one photo/paper that will be divided into 25 smaller images. You can leave the photos flat and orderly, or you can have the edges bent and individual images angled (as if a wind has swept through the whole) – all with one click. Here are some sample pages I did, using this photoshop action. Another more recent one: The photoshop action says it requires a rectangular/landscape image to work with, but when I used the squared background paper in my second layout, it still worked just as good! Simply click on the image above to go to PanosFX.com, scroll down the page a bit, and you …

Behind the Scenes: Principles of Design – Rule of Odds

Published by Sula H.

I have another principle of design that I’d like to discuss with you today, because it is a concept that will be very useful to keep in mind when you are working on a scrapbook page. It’s the Rule of Odds. Basically, this rule says that it is better to work with odd numbers than with even numbers whenever you work on a composition of any kind. Whether you take photos, create a painting, or – like us – design a scrapbook page – knowing about the Rule of Odds can improve your composition significantly. In other words, to ensure that your page turns out more dynamic, work with groups of three, five, or seven, instead of two, four, or six. Naturally, what happens with the human eye or brain is that they try to pair things up or group them together. This may be, because in nature we often find pairs. Even our body is designed in pairs: two eyes, two ears, two legs, two arms and hands, … you get the point! So, …

Monday Highlight: Hippity Hop

Published by Sula H.

The Easter holidays aren’t over yet, (at least in Germany, today is still a full-blown holiday), so of course, I should share an Easter product with you, and since I have a recent favorite, I “must” show it to you: True, there are tons of Easter kits out there, but I’ve got several reasons why I think this kit by Kristin tops all the others: The warm color palette of soft pastels, without being too overtly pink-ish, (therefore making it quite versatile) The beautifully patterned papers, The amount of unique, oh so pretty and fun embellishments, including lots of realia from nature All the fun and colorful pieces of wordart, And the extensive alphas included. Those of you who come to check out my blog regularly, probably have seen the layout I recently created with this kit already. But since I didn’t have the time to work with “Hippity Hop” any further since I got it, that page will have to do. So, here’s an example of what you can do using this beautiful kit:

Treasure Sunday: Happy Easter!

Published by Sula H.

I’m a huge fan of white space layouts, and here is one that I found in the galleries that makes use of the white space just perfectly: Of course, it’s the perfect page for today’s occasion on top of that! I love the soft colors, the photo she chose, the beautiful clustering, and isn’t it just amazing how she arranged the title inside the two clusters? Anyhow, I wish everyone happy Easter holidays!

CT Spotlight (04/23)

Published by Sula H.

They did it again! I have another set of gorgeous new releases for you to take a look at: Gorgeous kit by Libby Pritchett: Ace in the Hole Template by Cindy Schneider: Cindy’s Templates – Halfpack #11 Font by Darcy Baldwin:  Mongo Print Pack 2 Font by Darcy Baldwin:  Mongo Print Pack 2 Template by Nanie’s Designs: Sassy Starters Inspired by Paper Vol. 2 And don’t forget to post about the contest this week for your chance to win my Template Collection No. 1.