Scrapbooking Techniques & Tips | Scraps Of Mind

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Posted by karooch on

August 16, 2008

Saturday Scrapbook Ideas

Welcome to Scraps of Mind. I'm delighted to see you. Why not check out the site, you'll find a bunch of great scrapbooking and blogging articles, tips and tutorials on the Articles Page. And if you enjoy this or any other articles on Scraps of Mind, I'd really appreciate you giving them a thumbs up on StumbleUpon to share them with other Scrapbookers. Thanks for visiting and I look forward to seeing more of you.

Saturday Scrapbooking Ideas #19

Your scrapbook layout design with usually look a lot better if all the elements are visually linked.

Try overlapping elements or visually link them together by adding a ribbon or a border behind them, linking them to your main focal point.

Learn digital scrapbooking now!

And take your scrapbooking to the next level.

Learn how at Step by Step Digital Scrapbook

Top 10 Scrapbook Ideas to rekindle your Inspiration

Posted by karooch on

August 9, 2008

Saturday Scrapbook Ideas

Saturday Scrapbooking Ideas #18

If you use an embossed paper on your scrapbook layouts, try sanding back the top a little to really make the pattern stand out.

Learn digital scrapbooking now!

And take your scrapbooking to the next level.

Learn how at Step by Step Digital Scrapbook

Top 10 Scrapbook Ideas to rekindle your Inspiration

Posted by karooch on

August 2, 2008

Saturday Scrapbooking Ideas

Saturday Scrapbooking Ideas #17

When you want a monochrome photo don’t just choose black and white. If you have a photo editing software program you can choose from a range of monochrome tints that will give you photo a funky look that fits in will with your scrapbook layout design.

An added bonus is that you can help to disguise a lot of photo imperfections by tinting them rather than by leaving them in color.

Pump up the contrast levels to give your photos extra punch.

Learn digital scrapbooking now!

And take your scrapbooking to the next level.

Learn how at Step by Step Digital Scrapbook

Top 10 Scrapbook Ideas to rekindle your Inspiration

Posted by karooch on

July 24, 2008

Scrap Those Body Parts

No, I’m not suggesting you chop bits off and chuck them in the garbage.

We usually focus on the face of our subject when we take our photos. But have you ever tried taking photos of other parts of the body and using them in your scrapbook layouts?

Try photographing a focal part of your subject’s body, such as a baby’s foot or ear or hand, and building your scrapbook layout design around it.

A photo of a baby’s tiny feet or their hand makes an excellent focal point for a scrapbook layout where you journal your feelings on welcoming a tiny new human being into your family. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by karooch on

July 22, 2008

Texture Tuesday with Wildheart

Wildheart of Wildheart’s Works brings you Texture Tuesday. Wildheart is a Paintshop Pro expert, but I know you’ll enjoy the tips and tricks even if you’re not a PaintShop Pro user. And you’ll find plenty of ideas to help you work with textures in your own program. In fact in this week’s segment she actually converts a Photoshop tutorial to Paint Shop Pro.

This week I wanted to utilize what is promising to be a very useful Web 2.0 application called FriendFeed to search for some sites that offer quality free textures for either commercial or personal use.

One site that I have actually bought software is listed below as well. The name of the site is The Plug In Site. I bought Harry’s Abstract and Mutation software from there at a reasonable price of less than $20 and the customer service they offer is pretty decent. When I placed an order with them it had been from a previous residence and once I got moved in here I emailed them to let them know of the address change and Harold Heim personaly emailed me telling me that my address changed had been noted and my product was being shipped to the new address.

I hope you enjoy this list of links all of which offer very unique textures. I downloaded two texture packs from Designers-Reovlution. I can say that they are very nice vintage textures which can be used for scrapbook pages you want to create to convey a vintage feel.

http://www.designers-revolution.com/2008/07/300-vintage-style-textures-and.html

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/pspaddons.htm

http://www.designertoday.com/Tutorials/Paint.Shop.Pro/4150/Ruster.Texture.Paint.Shop.Pro.Tutorial.aspx

http://thepluginsite.com/

http://www.lostandtaken.com/

http://www.creativecloseup.com/30-great-free-paper-backgrounds-and-textures

http://wefunction.com/2008/07/function-brushes-subtle-grunge-textures/

http://www.textureking.com/

http://oneodddude.net/FreeTextures.php

http://www.cgtextures.com/

Scrapbook Journaling with Your Handwriting

Last week I wrote about the importance of including journaling on your scrapbook layouts.

Well how about this for a scrapbook idea…

Increase the heritage and nostalgia value of your scrapbook layout by including your own handwriting in your journaling!

Now I can hear all the paper scrapbookers saying ” No no no! My handwriting is terrible. I don’t want to ruin my scrapbook layouts by scrawling all over them. And what if I make a mistake? I’ll be ruining my supplies trying to get my writing to look good.”

Meanwhile all the digital scrapbookers are sitting back smugly saying, ” Well I scrap digitally so I can’t use my handwriting (phew, thank heavens for that). The most I can do is use a handwriting font on my computer.”

Well I have the perfect solution for you, whether you’re a digital scrapbooker or a traditional one. Read on.

Why bother with journaling in your own handwriting?

First of all let’s think about why it’s important to journal in your own handwriting anyway.

If you are seeking to leave a legacy for your children in your scrapbook layouts then examples of your handwriting is an important part of that legacy. Unlike with previous generations, we are no longer a society that does very much letter writing. Especially handwritten letters. When we do write a letter we usually do it on the computer, or more likely we’ll just send an email.

But your handwriting is very much a part of who you are. And your children will cherish the few examples they have of it in years to come.

My Mother passed away nine years ago. I still miss her. She wrote herself a short affirmation on a scrap of notepaper which she kept stuck on the fridge.

As you can see it’s a scrappy piece of paper, the writing is fading fast and they’re not even words that she made up herself. But you know what? It’s one of my most treasured possessions.

And that’s how your kids will view examples of your handwriting, which will probably end up being rarities in their own right.

So here’s a fail-safe method for incorporating your handwriting into your scrapbook layouts.

Scan your journaling

You may remember June’s article on scanning objects to use in your digital and hybrid scrapbook layouts. Well the same thing can apply to your journaling.

And the big advantage to doing this is that you can practice writing what you want to say as many times as you like until you’re satisfied with the look of it.

Just write on a sheet of plain white paper (Tip: If you’re worried about keeping your writing straight, put your

paper on top of a sheet of lined paper so you can see the lines through it. You might need to rule over the lines to make them darker.) Write what you want to say and then scan it into your computer.

For those without photo editing software such as Photoshop Elements, you can import the JPG graphic into your Word program (or equivalent wordprocessor) as a picture and resize it to fit your journal tag then print it out. Cut it to size and glue it in place.

If you have a graphics editing program it’s even better. Scan your handwritten journaling into your software and then remove the background using the Magic Wand tool (or whichever is the equivalent in your own software). You now have your handwritten journaling with a transparent background.

You can layer it on a journal tag and resize it to fit the tag as I’ve done here in my You’re the Best layout of my daughter. Or you can put it straight on your scrapbook layout background.

Whichever method you choose, I hope you’ll give some serious consideration to including some examples of your handwriting in your scrapbook layouts. It adds and extra level of personality to them and I believe that it will increase their value to your kids enormously.

What do you think? Do you include you own handwriting in your scrapbook layouts or do you avoid it because you don’t like the way it looks?

If you don’t like your own handwriting, I think this scrapbook idea is well worth giving a try?

Let us know in the comments below how you go about your own journaling, or even whether you do it or not.

Credits for the elements used in my Your’s the Best go to Cheryl Barber’s Etcetera Kit from Scrap Girls.

Texture Tuesday with Wildheart

Wildheart of Wildheart’s Works brings you Texture Tuesday. Wildheart is a Paintshop Pro expert, but I know you’ll enjoy the tips and tricks even if you’re not a PaintShop Pro user. And you’ll find plenty of ideas to help you work with textures in your own program. In fact in this week’s segment she actually converts a Photoshop tutorial to Paint Shop Pro.

Sometimes the best laid plans invariably go wrong.

As I was preparing for this week’s installment, my cat decided to waylay my plans. So today I am going to offer a ‘best of’ block of textures for you that I am extremely proud of.

I had managed to get two real life textures snapped with my new camera until my cat decided she wanted to play with the nice gray string used for carrying on the wrist and my camera took a nose dive and now the digital readout is all messed up. Now I have to wait until August 2nd to get it replaced if I want Kodak to replace it for free. Long story. I spent all day on the phone today explaining what happened and they said they can’t do anything until the service plan I purchased kicks in.

So without further ado I am showcasing what I think are my best textures I have done so far this year.

This is one I did in honor of The Fourth of July here in the United States

I used a board pattern and a darker gray on this one to give it a board texture instead.

These bricks were made using a mask and a gray background.

Some of you may recognize this one from a previous Texture Tuesday.

I tried to mimic a painted wall that has some texture to it.

This one was done using a mask and a white background.

This one has gotten well over 1,200 views over on Flickr

You are free to snag these I would be interested in seeing what you make out of them. As always if you have any tips or tricks that you want me to investigate and present please email me at joecheray@gmail.com