Scraps Of Mind

AZZA Scrapbooking

Have you heard of AZZA Scrapbooking?

Well I hadn’t until a few months ago when my friend Marla (who isn’t even a scrapbooker) worded me up about it.

Seems AZZA is a European style of scrapbooking. The AZZA heartland seems to be France and Belgium. And its focus is all about the photos and less about the embellishments.

Typically AZZA scrapbook layouts use multiple photos which are cut into shapes that fit into each other neatly. Often special templates are used to create the shapes needed for a pleasing design.

Usually there isn’t any embellishment other than a border which is mostly drawn with a pen or paintbrush. Simplicity is the key and all attention is given to the photos. And the photos themselves become the design of the layout.

It’s an interesting style and makes quite a contrast from the American style of scrapbooking which most of us practice. And I do confess that whilst I’m not a heavy collage scrapbooker, I do like my embellishments and accents.

But I was intrigued by the AZZA scrapbooking style and thought I’d like to give it a try. I wasn’t all that keen on all the photo cutting (I knew from the outset that that way there be dragons). And I wasn’t keen on the expense of buying the special templates.

So the obvious choice was . . .

Digital AZZA Scrapbooking!

One of the joys of digital for me is that you can replicate pretty much anything that you can create in paper scrapbooking at little or no cost. And mistakes are fixed by just a click of the reverse button.

So I decided to give digital AZZA a try and use it to create my album for the trip I took last November, cruising across Europe by river.

Click on the layout to download the PSD template

I made some digital templates in Photoshop Elements and dragged my photos on, positioned and resized them and then used the clipping mask layer to crop them to the size of the template.

I made the borders by choosing a shape from the cookie cutter and then Ctrl-Click to select the layer and doing Edit>Stroke Outline on a new layer. Simply delete the original shape layer and you’re left with the outline border which you can resize and manipulate however you want.

The templates were quite easy to make using the Cookie Cutter shapes and the Marquee Tool for the more geometric shapes. And the spaces between were created using the same Edit>Stroke Outline technique around the photos, Selecting the border layer  and pressing the Delete key on the relevant layers to create the space.

I then just added a small shadow to the photos so they look like they’re stuck on the page; a low key title, some journaling and we’re done.

I quite like how they’re turning out. And best of all, it cost me nothing!

So I think I’ll be doing more of this Digital AZZA Scrapbooking, although I can’t see me becoming a total convert. I couldn’t bear to give up my flowers and brads… both digital and real.

How about you? Have you tried AZZA Scrapbooking before using traditional paper techniques? How do you like it?

And what do you think of digital AZZA scrapbooking? Is it something you ‘d like to try?

You can download the template I made for the layout above by clicking on the layout above. The template is in PSD format.

Let me know how you go.

Cuttlebugs and Creativity

Well Summer is in full swing here in Oz. And I’ll be honest with you; I haven’t done much in the scrapbooking line for a few months.

But I haven’t shut up shop entirely. My Tuesday night craft group ensures that I still keep projects on the go.

Last year I introduced Marla to the concept of  Artist Trading Cards and I’ve never seen someone embrace anything with as much enthusiasm as she has with ATCs. She’s joined several swap groups and in a few short months she’s built up a huge collection, filling two binders already. She makes beautiful ATCs as you can see here.

At the moment she’s got a couple of swaps which she’s organising herself, so in a fit of buddy support I’ve volunteered to contribute to them. Here’s one of my efforts on the theme of ‘birds and feathers’. It’s called Soar.

Like many of my ATCs it’s a hybrid of digital and paper/scissors techniques. I find this approach especially useful when I have to make 7 cards all the same. I can design the backgound, duplicate it and print out 7 identical versions. Then add the cut outs and three dimensional stuff. In many cases I’ll print out digital elements, cut them out and mount them with foam tape, mixed in with ‘real life’ embellishments, as I’ve done here.

Cuttlebug Crafting

The group has recently clubbed together and purchased a communal Cuttlebug. I wasn’t that excited until I gave it a try myself.

What a bunch of fun it was! Quite ordinary looking card or paper embossed a gorgeous patterned texture which looks fabulous in card or scrapbooking projects. Or you can create embossed embellishments using card or papers that coordinate with your scrapbook layouts. Here are a couple of cards I made for my niece’s  birthdays and one for another niece’s engagement. I just love the effect.

If you are a user of one of these babies and have some cool ideas for ways to use it, I’d love it if you could share them in the comments below. Often something that seems quite straightforward to one person can sound like a revelation to another. We’re all still pretty new to the world of Cuttlebugs so we’d welcome any suggestions that help to get the most value from it.

What is your favourite scrapbooking tool?

And whilst on the subject of scrapbooking equipment…do you have a favourite piece of equipment that you just love?

Even though I’m in love with the Cuttlebug at the moment, I think I would have to say that my fine cutting scissors are really my favourite piece of scrapbooking equipment.

I love my little embroidery scissors but I recently bought a funny looking pair that have now taken first place on my scrapbooking ‘must have’ tools list. They have no normal handles and you work them by squeezing the single handle which works a spring which works the blades. They really take the effort out of cutting and there’s no more red indentations on my thumb and fingers when I have to do a lot of cutting. And best of all, they make doing really fine and detailed cutting so easy.

Well as you can see, I seem to be drifting back to the more tactile side of papercrafting, after spending the last 18 months immersed in the world of digital scrapbooking. I still like to combine the two wherever possible. Most of my cards and ATCs are hybrid creations. And I think that I’ll always prefer the freedom that digital gives me when creating scrapbook layouts. But I’m really enjoying getting back into the ‘glue and paper’ stuff again.

Other Related Articles:

Artist Trading Card Swaps

Christmas Card Making in July

Worldwide Christmas Scrapbooking Freebies

Yes folks it’s on again!

Antoinette from  Sparky’s Scratches has organised another huge roundup of scrapbooking freebies for your crafting pleasure.

Just click on the logo below to get to the special blog she has set up with all the links to a Wonderful World of Christmas Scrapbooking and Cardmaking items

I didn’t have anything to do with the organising of this year’s event being otherwise occupied cruising up the Danube and down the Rhine, but I’ve come home in time to do my part in providing some Christmas Word Art Freebies for you.

Just click on the sample graphic and you will open a .PNG file. Save this file to your computer and you should be able to use it with any of the mainstream graphics editing programs (eg. Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paintshop Pro).  You can resize the image to fit your scrapbook layout or card.

Enjoy.

(This looks better in the PNG format. the O doesn’t look so good in this sample)

Make sure you visit the other contributors to the Worldwide Christmas Scrapbooking Freebies.

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Swaps

You might remember me writing about a Christmas Card Making in July event I went to that was a whole bucket load of fun. Well following on from that, Marla invited me over to a regular Tuesday night craft session that she and a few friends hold each week.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I tend to be a solitary scrapper as I don’t have any like minded friends nearby. My sister does card making but she doesn’t live so handily as to catch up for regular card making sessions. So you can imagine how pleased I was to be included in this group.

So now Tuesday night is a craft catch up night and I really look forward to it. There’s usually yummy treats and lots of chat.

I’ve just bought myself a little mini notebook computer so I can also do some digital stuff whilst I’m there.

So as the Newbie to the group, I brought along some of the stuff I had done. The others are stamping card makers and fabric crafters but not scrapbookers. Anyway one of the things I brought along was my ATC (Artist Trading Card) album. Marla was intrigued. And in next to no time she became a total addict and had joined several on line ATC Swapping Groups.

She’s pulled me along in her wake and I’ve started making ATCs for some of the swaps myself. Mind you, Marla has gone from 0-60 in an instant. She’s completely by-passed the learning stage and jumped straight to advanced. Her ATCs are absolutely gorgeous (check some of them out here). So the pressure is on!

One of the swaps I joined was for the theme of Orange and the second was a Mystery Image swap where the image was mailed out by the coordinator and you had to design your ATCs using it.

Because you need to make a run of the same ATC for each swap (a limited edition run) I like to use digital techniques as the basis for my design. That way it’s easy to repeat the design. I like to print out some of the design elements separately and cut them out, mounting them on the card using foam tape to add some extra dimension.

And of course there’s usually a brad or two somewhere in there.

I enjoyed making the cards for the ATC swaps but I can’t see myself becoming as involved as Marla. One of the attractions of ATCs for me is that I can make individual projects on a whim when the fancy takes me. And I don’t need to make several of the same thing. I don’t mind doing the occasional limited edition but I don’t want it to become the norm.

But it’s definitely a fun thing to do whilst in the company of like minded friends.

PS. Only two more sleeps before Purple and I are on the  big silver bird to Budapest. Oohh I’m starting to get excited.

Other Related Articles:

Me Time with ATCs

Artist Trading Cards

My New Baby

Congratulations Mum, it’s a Dell Mini Notebook

This is my new little baby.

Isn’t she cute?

She’s really dinky. Almost too small to have been taken from her mother.

And she’s purple!

I didn’t want to get anything that looked remotely like it was a work tool. This is all about play and portability.

Having lugged my work laptop across the central business district of Melbourne it does not meet my definition of  ‘portable’.

I wanted something that I could grab and tuck under my arm when I go to my Tuesday craft catch up with the girls.

I wanted instant portability without lots of cables.

I wanted a power pack that doesn’t weigh as much as the machine itself.

I wanted something lightweight enough that I won’t get fed up carrying it about when I go to Europe next week.

My baby comes with a Bluetooth wireless mouse because I hate those touchpad thingys. As with all babies there was a little teething trouble in the beginning but I found a little pacifier to stick in a USB port and the teething problems went away.

I’ve bought a cute little purple outfit for her to keep her warm when she’s having a sleep.

Just think of the digital scrapbook layouts and ATCs we can make together.

Did I mention that she’s purple?

Everyone say, “Aaahhhh!”