Bad ME

I have been working so hard on my college homework that I have not been able to post like I would like to be able to. :( Well, this is my last semester of coursework so things should be smoother sailing by August - hopefully!! Until later.....

Scrapbooking Talents at Work

Our family welcomed a new baby in January. Jessica is the sweetest thing and such a pretty baby (ok I am her cousin so I must brag some). Well, her dad's people are not near us - they are from Michigan and we all live in Georgia - and JEssica's mom, Ashley, wanted to send them pictures. It is great to e-mail pictures but there is something about holding one in your hand that you can put on display in your home that is special. Well, I know that baby announcements are expensive (they run for almost a buck each!) and they usually don't even include a picture of the baby either, so I volunteered to make one. I have to admit that having such an adorable picture to use made it easy to decide what the layout of the announcement would look like. I also decided to make them 4x6 so we could print them cheaply at Willy World on photo paper for about 12 cents or so. I love how the background of the announcement turned out and Ashley liked how I put Jessica's name inside the heart near her picture. I am glad that I was able to put my skills to use to create something beautiful for my cousin so that she could share it with her in-laws.

Inspiration for Layouts

Finding inspiration from different sources for layouts is a must to keep the creativity flowing. On the computer screen is a website called Webkinz that my kids love!! You buy a stuffed animal called a Webkinz which has a code on it that gives you access to their website for a year. I was looking at this screen the other day and noticed the way the layout draws your eye to the title. I also like how the little boxes at the bottom of the screen would be an ideal way to add some journaling to make it look interesting on your page. Sometimes I scrapbook just a picture with a title and date, but usually I love to journal because I want to remember the memories and be able to pass it on. I see magazine ad layouts too and get inspiration from them as well and there are even digital scrapbooking sites that have challenges based on the designs of ads. I think this is a really cool thing to be able to do to keep your work looking fresh and to not allow yourself to get too tangled up in - now how would this picture look best scrapped? Like I said, for me it is saving memories not just cutesy-pie art. So tell me - what types of things give you inspiration?

Using pictures as backgrounds

Star Wars Nuts would aptly describe the men in my life! My husband, son, and younger brother all go crazy for the Star Wars movies and love to watch them. So I guess it wasn't much of a surprise that for my son Rhett's 5th birthday he wanted a Star Wars party. I found the plates, napkins, goody bags, banner, and even gift bag for the occasion (I think the elementary teacher in me craves themes to work around too). My husband even MADE the Darth Vader cake - no kidding. I also lucked up and found some hover discs at the dollar store so party favors didn't break the bank. The guests were all family members - his cousins and sister - and they had a great time! To scrapbook this memory I thought about the colors but decided that the pictures captured exactly what I wanted to remember - this was a Star Wars party by request of my little boy. So I decided to play with using a picture as the backgound and found that the picture of al the little goodies on the table made a great background for other pictures that bring the party to life. I turned the transparency feature on the photo editing software up to about 70% or so and the result is a backgound picture where you can see all the makings of a great Star Wars party. Add some lively kids in play shots and the layout celebrating the memory of this party is complete. Looking at this picture reminds me how blessed I am to have my family and much I enjoy my hobby. So, that leads me to want to ask:
What type of memories do your pictures help preserve (like what events are most popular)? What is it about your family that you want to remember forever?

Read Across America Layout

I wanted to share a page that I made about our Read Across America Celebration at my school last week. I love this week for lots of reasons. I love Dr. Seuss books, I love to have a reason to dress silly, and I enjoy the kids having fun while they learn. The background on this page is very busy but I thought it was a little whimsical, just like Dr. Seuss books and sometimes silly is good. I am not usually real keen on cutting my photos into shapes, but such a fun page needed more than just some square photos. Since it was the 50th celebration of the book The Cat in the Hat, I thought balloons were just the right touch for the layout. The bird/eagle in the photo below is Ernie the Eagle which is our school's mascot in case you are wondering what is that all about??!

Another creation

From Dixie

This QP that I created for a Rakscraps member exchange was a challenge. I knew that I wanted to make a circle as the frame for a photo but I wanted it to look a little different from just putting one in the middle of the page. I kinda liked how this one turned out with the circle in the corner hanging off the page but maybe I should have made a cut-out in the middle of it to put a picture behind. Hmmm.... More things to learn as I grow. I really liked how the snowflakes that I made truned out. I made a cutout of the snowflake design from Picture IT!'s template and used a color gradient from the settings on the software to make the silver metal appearance. I also put a shadow behind each snowflake embellishment to make it look 3D. I also really liked how the title of 2006 turned out with the Dirty Elizabeth font. I had downloaded it to use in a challenge at another scrapbooking site awhile back and was looking for another opportunity to use it again. Well, this seemed to be the perfect opportunity and with some highlighting of the letters, voila! - a title that stands out and looks like messy snow. I have two links added to my blog now for free download AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG. Please let me know what you think of my "work-in-progress" and enjoy!

My First Creation

The first layout of my own design was a QP that I created for a members exchange at RakScraps, a digital scrapbooking community on the web. I really liked how the colors complement each other and a lesson that I learned from making this was that stretching a print will cause it to change and distort in appearance, much like a photo. I know that probably should have been a no-brainer but with practice comes the revelation of such 'duh' concepts. Ha-ha! I am also thinking about offering these creations for free download here to generate some interest from the public to my blog. Nothing brings a crowd like a freebie! That is a strategy we often use at the school system I teach in to bring parents in for academic check-up nights - free popcorn, free spaghetti, well you get the drift. So in future posts look for me to give away some of my digital designs to you to try out and see if you like my work. I hope that as I CONTINUE to grow I will be able to offer even more of a variety to my blog readers. Until next post....

From Dixie

In the beginning...

As I begin my journey into the digital scrapbooking design world I am reminded that every great designer that I admire began somewhere. I am not very good at drawing on paper and I can't paint either, but for some reason when I am clenching the mouse and am working in a software program I feel comfortable with, magic begins. And for me magic is creating beautiful pages to showcase the memories of my beautiful family. Far too many people have very few lasting memories to share when they are older and I don't want that to be the case with my family. I want to remember and enjoy the special times we share and have fun with the hobby of scrapbooking through my computer. The picture below is a 12x12 page that I created in Microsoft Picture IT! with a picture of my daughter Savannah hanging ornaments on the family Christmas tree. I liked how the pink and green colors complement each other and the lesson I learned with making this quick page (or QP as digi scrapbookers refer to them) is how to make a cut-out to insert a picture behind. I hope to grow even more as I learn to design and capture memories of my family.

From Dixie