where everything relates to scrapbooking
Category : shopping, techniques
I bought Making Memories’ Distressing Kit recently and I’ve been having lots of fun with it. I was using it to antique some pages in a mini-book I was working on and I was very happy with the results. I definitely recommend it, especially if you only do distressing occassionally – but make sure to pick it up when Michael’s has a 50% coupon going!
Making Memories has some great “how-to” videos on YouTube – here’s the one on how to use the kit:
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Category : techniques
from Scrapbook Life Tips
Bubble Wrap for Stamping
You can create beautiful pages for your scrapbooking with all kinds of material. Take bubble wrap for instance – most people use this product for packaging items so they don’t get damaged. Did you know you could use it for scrapbooking?
All you need is an inkpad or two, scrapbooking paper and a piece of bubble wrap (your desired size).
Image via Wikipedia
Load the bubble wrap with ink in the color of your choice and press it firmly onto your cardstock using a twisting motion. You will be left with little circles in various shades.
You can use this for a cute background pattern on baby pages or maybe a “water themed” page. Add variety by using different colors and placing your bubble wrap in various locations on the page.
Bubble wrap stamping is fun, easy and cheap. Once you master this technique yourself it might be something children may enjoy too.
whodathunkit?
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Category : techniques
Here’s a tip from the good people at Scrapbook Life Tips
Scrapbook Matting Techniques: Attaching Photo Corners
Do you have trouble getting photos and memorabilia on straight when you use photo corners? Here is a scrapbooking technique to make the job easier. Using a pencil, lightly draw on your page where you want the photo to go. Place photo mounts in opposite corners on the item, and place it on the page, using the pencil guide. Then apply photo mounts to the two existing corners. Don´t forget – if you are using lick and stick corners, use a sponge not your saliva. Saliva is acidic.
“Saliva is acidic” ….. lol
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Category : digital scrapbooking, freebies, techniques
Today’s freebie is…
15 Things You NEED to Know to Become a GREAT Digital Scrapbooker from Scrap Girls.
This e-book is basically a big advertisement for the Scrap Girls website, but it does have a lot of good information on the advantages to digital scrapbooking and suggestions and links to software, layouts, etc. It’s also got some great tips on keeping all your layouts and embellishments organized on your hard drive!
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Category : freebies, techniques
And this week’s freebie is…
ScribblesOnline.com Transparencies
Print your own transparencies to use in your scrapbook! Never used them before? No problem – the good people at ScribblesOnline have a how-to guide that explains it all.
There’s a good size collection of transparencies organized by theme – baby, Christmas, wedding, etc – and some of them are just great looking. And you can download and use them all for free!
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Category : digital scrapbooking, techniques
The best part of this video is the first 2 minutes or so where the hostess describes how she gets her layouts printed at Costco on 12×18 photo paper sheets. Apparently she uses Photoshop for a lot of her work and then uploads the finished product to Costco’s film developing website and in an hour….voila! Very clever.
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Image via Wikipedia
This article is quite timely for me – my SIL’s father died a few days ago, and she wanted to make a couple of large photo boards of pictures of him and the family to display at the memorial. Being the incredibly efficient scrapbooker she is, virtually all the “good” photos of him had already been put in albums. She ended up rifling through the albums and scanning or removing photos in order to make copies of them to display! Like she didn’t have enough to do and deal with already. 
Watching that process, I think making digital copies of your photos, before you scrapbook them, is a heck of a good idea. Getting all your photos digitized can save you aggravation later and give you the ability to use photos over again in different formats, like dvd slide shows.
The Important Extra Step In Scrapbooking Your Photos
by: Annette YenTen years ago my best friend died of cancer. It all happened very fast and was pretty unbelievable. In a whirlwind her husband was charged with the terrible task of picking out a grave plot, a headstone and planning a funeral. All that on top of caring for two young girls and making sure he didn’t lose his full time job.
About two days after she passed away my husband and I stopped by his house to drop off a meal. He was in the dining room, photographs spread all over the table, sobbing. ” I want the right ones,” he was saying, “I want the ones where people will see her… the real her.” He was intent on getting a video of various photos of his young wife’s life together for the funeral so that everyone would remember what a wonderful woman she was. Back in those days that was no easy task.
Photographs hold powerful memories. That’s why we all have so many of them in boxes in our closets, under our beds and in our basements.
And that’s why the scrapbooking trend continues to grow at an enormous rate. People want to keep their photos for generations. They want those family memories to stay alive for their progeny and beyond.
If you’re like my friend and like me, many of your photos are bent, old and just plain tired looking. It’s estimated that there are billions of photographs stuck in shoe and other boxes all over the world because people want to hang onto them. But shoeboxes are not the best places for your photos. At the very least, you should have your pictures in archival boxes and preferably in archival safe photo albums and scrapbooks.
But did you know that there’s another way now to keep your old print photos safe. With all the digital imaging companies out there and scanners, the best way to insure that those photos are kept for many generations to come is to store them digitally. Several companies on the Internet will convert your print pictures to digital and there are even companies that will store copies of the digital images in vaults for a lifetime. Before you take the time to scrapbook them, you’d be wise to take this additional step in photo archiving.
But don’t just trust your hard drive or CDs. Hard drives can crash and CDs can break or be scratched. Make sure you find a good lifetime storage company so that those memories will be easy to access should something happen with your computer.
Another great benefit to digitizing your old paper prints is that they can be easily shared with others. Once you’ve scanned and uploaded them to an online photo sharing site, you can email those photos to loved ones all over the world. Imagine all the smiles and joy as the memories of days pass are rekindled for friends and family alike. Most of these companies also allow you to make not only prints but products with those pictures as well. And even a DVD like my friend wanted for his wife’s funeral.
Many scrapbook instructors encourage their clients to start scrapbooking from the current pictures and move backward in time, so the task doesn’t seem so overwhelming. I’d like to suggest for a project like this, that you start from the beginning – your oldest paper photos – and move forward. Take a 15-minute time slot one day a month and work through 20, 50 or even 100 pictures, turning them into digital imagines and archiving them. Imagine the joy you’ll have as you remember old times, old friends and fun memories.
Take the time to save your photos. Your children’s great-grandchildren will be glad you did.
Annette Yen is the owner of the website http://www.familymemoriesalive.com where she encourages families to record memories in word and photo.
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This article is pretty basic, but it’s a nice introduction. I highly recommend the website the author is associated with, though – http://www.digitalphotographyguy.com/ . Lots of information on digital photography and much of it aimed at the “point & click” crowd – people like me!
Image via Wikipedia
How To Master Digital Photography Basics
By Connie Fillmore
With the advent of digital cameras, the cost of photography has plummeted considerably, with the result that there has been a surge of interest in the field. Greenhorns in this area however, need not fret. Sharpening up on your digital photography skills is easy, provided you have the basics at the tip of your tongues, or is it, at the tip of your lenses!
Mastering the basics of digital photography, first and foremost involves knowing all about pixels and resolutions. These are the parameters that have a direct bearing, and quite a lion’s share on the quality of the images being generated. The more the pixel count, the better the resolution or clarity of the picture and the better it turns out when enlarged. So it is obvious that the fastidious photographers prefer robust pixel values. However, with the market flooded with digital cameras of various makes, you can hope for a good bargain. Let us discuss a few basics of digital photography.
Zoom And Tele Lenses
Going digital has also meant that you can click away merrily at anything and everything under the sun. This will only help you get well up on the nitty-gritty of the zoom modes. The Optical Zoom of a camera is worth tinkering with. The “Telephoto” mode makes your subject appear larger while the “Wide Angle” mode is all about cramming a lot of a scene into your picture and hence the elements of the picture appear smaller.
Focusing
Toying with the controls of your digital camera is a good way of getting a hang about the different picture modes and hence be able to put them to good use. For instance, instead of relying on the instruction manual, see for yourself that the Portrait Mode actually sharpens your subject and de-focuses the background. For those who are not yet comfortable with the exposure, focus and flash parameters can take the help of the Auto Mode in the awkward initial stages.
Lighting
There is no such thing as a photography gene. Good photographers weave magic with their cameras, but this magic is all about getting the lighting and flash issues straightened in their photographs. Shooting in the early morning light is advisable if you want to avoid the harsh glare of the midday sun and in case of night photography, filming during the twilight hours or just as the moon is rising gives you the best results. You should not shoot with the sun directly in front of the lens.
Using the Flash
The flash is quite a lure for the novice photographer but results are not always satisfactory. This is because improper use of the flash function leads to the marring of good photos. In fact, the flash really leads to underexposure, and thus ungainly shadows in night photography. While you are using this feature, inch closer to your subject and thus make sure that all the areas of the picture are equally lighted up.
Shutter Speed
The shutter speed is one area that many newcomers to digital photography is quite oblivious to. But you will be amazed at the dramatic results that mere varying the speeds can bring about. The rule of thumb: fast shutter speeds “freeze” the action, while slow values will result in a blur. Slow shutter speed also let more light enter into the camera, so this is an option worth considering when you need to shoot in low light conditions.
The basics of digital photography are not hard to master. And being well versed in them will help you capture reality in all its essence.
Connie Fillmore is a successful writer and publisher of photography related issues, for more informative articles go to http://www.digitalphotographyguy.com.
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Category : techniques
I know it’s still a ways away, but if you want to do a scrapbook for Mom, it’s time to get started. This looks like a nice, quick way of telling her how much you love her!
Make A Mother’s Day Scrapbook
Chicago Sun-Times, May 5, 2006 by Sandi Genovese
There was friction between my mom and myself during my high school and college years, but as I grew older she seemed to really value my independence — the very thing that was the source of our friction years before.
Now, in the last few years, my mother has developed some memory problems that have created an entirely new dynamic between us. However, I have discovered a great way to bring back our wonderful memories is with a photograph. She becomes engaged and animated and has no trouble remembering the details that surround the photos.
This Mother’s Day I decided to celebrate our relationship with a special handmade card filled with photos. The photos begin with my mom as a baby and include photos of her mom, of me as a baby and continue to her 50th wedding anniversary and the present. In order to accommodate so many photos and also have room enough to share my thoughts and feelings, I created the miniscrapbook in a card-sized format.
Here’s what I did:
I used a folded sheet of cardstock for the cover. Then I cut a window in the front cover, and decorated it with floral stickers.
I then cut three sheets of paper the length of the front and back cover when opened and laid flat for the interior pages. I fanned the sheets into graduated lengths, and folded them so the layered pages are visible along the right edge. Then the pages were stapled to the front and back cover, aligning their fold lines. (If you don’t have a long-necked stapler available, simply open up the stapler you have and staple the pages to the covers over a cardboard box. Then pull the stapled book away from the box and manually fold the staple prongs down with a kitchen knife.)
Then you can decorate the right edge of each page with floral stickers that overlap the page edge. Attach the mirror image sticker to the back side of each flower, sandwiching the paper in between the matching stickers. Placing the flower stickers on the edge of each page creates the look of a fabulous floral bouquet, yet leaves most of each page intact for photos and journaling.
Sandi Genovese hosts “Scrapbooking” on the DIY Network. For more information visit www.diynet.com.
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Concept driven scrapbooks are creative way to tell family stories
Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 5, 2006
One of the hottest scrapbooking trends right now, says Wendy Smedley, creative editor for Simple Scrapbooks magazine, is the concept-driven mini-album.
A lot of scrapbookers, she says, “are reactive. And there’s nothing wrong with that. They go to the zoo, take pictures to document the trip and put them in an album.”
But, she says, another approach is to “think of the story you want to tell and then go take the pictures. It’s fun to see how different stories can be told with pictures and words.” And they can be done very simply, she says. Here are some of her ideas that can all be done in 6×6-inch or other small albums:
Interview album
Come up with a set of questions to ask your kids: What is your favorite color? What is your favorite thing to do? What do you like best about your mother? Your father? Your sisters or brothers? What is your favorite food? What is your favorite book? What is hard for you do to? What do you like about school? What don’t you like? And so on.
Then, put a picture of each child by a summary of his answers, and you have a fun record of your children’s views and attitudes.
Think of a subject that has two sides. Have each child write their opinions about each subject. Start at the front of the book and put in a picture of each child and his opinion on that subject. Flip the book over and do the same for the other side of the issue.
For example, Smedley has five boys. She asked them each to write the things they like best about having four brothers and the things they like least.
Other topics could include: What I like best/least about winter or summer; What I like about my coach/what I like about my team; What I like about the beach/what I like about the mountains, etc.
Lullaby gift book
This a perfect gift for an expectant mother. Smedley found lyrics for 12 different lullabies. She put the words for one song on a page, and on the opposite page left a space for a picture of the mother and her baby that could be added later, and so on throughout the album. All the mother had to do was add the pictures later.
You could do the same thing with favorite love song lyrics for a wedding or find songs and poems about families or other topics.
One-day bookDocument one day in the life of your baby or child. Take pictures at various times throughout the day, recording the times. Use one page for each picture, with the time and perhaps a simple explanation.
Gratitude album
This is a great activity for Thanksgiving but could be done at any time of year to encourage feelings of gratitude. Make one a year, and over the course of a few years, you’ll see how attitudes change, says Smedley.
Select some pre-made picture frames with patterns and colors you like and have them spiral-bound so you have two frames facing each other with a blank page in between, then more frames, etc. Then have children (or everyone at Thanksgiving dinner) write what they are thankful for on a small card. Snap photos of all who participate. Glue each photo on a left-hand page and that person’s corresponding gratitude card on the right-hand page. Glue frames to the pages, and you have a nice little “thankful” book.
Artwork book
A big challenge for families is saving all the artwork projects kids do in school, says Smedley. She got some divided plastic pages (the kind made for storing baseball cards), went to the copy store and made reduced color copies of the artwork to fit in the page pockets, wrote on the back a little description of what it was and when it was done on each and added ribbon tabs so they could be easily pulled out.
She put the pages in an 8×11 loose-leaf notebook, so more could be added, and mixed in pictures of the kids at the ages they did the work — and now has a record of art projects that is easy to look at and preserves the work in a nice way.
You could also reduce the artwork to fit the pages in a 6×6 or other size album and mix it with pictures.
Accordion-fold book
Buy a pre-folded book or make your own. Decorate each fold with a picture or a pre-printed definition tag or other embellishment around any theme you want. Smedley likes to use some big pictures as well as lots of 1 1/2-inch square pictures for variety. A great gift for grandparents.
Copyright C 2006 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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