The fruits of a busy, busy week!

For some reason, I decided that all my deadlines and obligations needed to be met by yesterday. It was a gorgeous week spent at my computer, and I also planned it so when I was done I would have to build an ark. (rain, rain, and more weekend rain)....

There's a new Real Life in Pockets out today. It's perfect for those of us who have kids who are anti-mamarazi. On this page, I'm talking about exactly that. My kid rarely lets me get photos of him, except the obligatory holiday and birthday photos. I'm forever having to sneak photos (no flash, camera on silent). Another blocked design, which I'm loving lately. It's great for layering.

I'm also loving that that Jaimee and other designers are producing the square pocket stuffers. Rectangles are great and all, but after awhile, you crave another shape.

There's also another amazing collab Jaimee did with Amber from Stolen Moments Design called Lightbulb Moments. I used a criss cross design here because I wanted to show off the gorgeous background paper! I didn't use all the things I wanted to on the page, so I plan on scrapping more with the kit over the weekend. I really, really want to use the alpha!!

And here's the kit preview... The alpha is included, but I'm still showing you here because it's awesome!

Allison Pennington is the featured sponsor over on My Scrapbook Art. I was able to work with some of her product (yay!). I just love her bold colors and funky style. If you wanna see my page, hop on over there. While your at it, grab the free kit Allison is offering to MSA's readers:

Yesterday, I made my first post on the Gallery Standouts blog. It's always hard to pick standouts, but it's a huge honor to be a guest for the site. I'm actually thinking that some of the page I loved, but didn't select may end up on the Sunday Standouts over at MSA. I'll have to a post one of these as to what I look for in a GSO because I've developed a formula.

I'm ending with a reminder that I'll be critiquing pages next Friday at Masterful Scrapbook Design's Office Hours. If you haven't signed up, I highly recommend it. It's fun and you learn so much! The critiques so helpful and we are really super nice- it's not negative at all- for those that fear critique. If don't have a membership, grab one HERE.


Go have scrappin' fun! I'm taking the rest of the day through Saturday off. I have a date with my Playstation tonight! 

Until next time... 

May Storyteller & a template freebie for you

I hope everyone is enjoying their iNSD! I sure am. Remember, you can always join me at the live GIS crop. Just register and follow the instructions to get into the meeting room.

I say every month that I this month's Storyteller Collection is my favorite, but I'm saying it again. This month is my favorite ever! Don't forget to checkout the idea magazine as well. It's gorgeous to look at and it has a ton of tips and tricks from Jaimee's Creative Team.

Here's the page I created with the kit:

For this page, I used:

• Elements
• Paper Pack
• Extra Papers
• Digital Stamps
• Layer Styles
• Flair
• Washi Tape
• Square Cards
• Word Art
• Tags

It has to be one of my favorite pages, ever. Not just because it's one of the perfect, happy day pages, but because the colors work together to create an amazing golden light. If you haven't noticed, I love ampersands at the moment. Combined with my love of black and white (or high contrast), the background paper makes my heart sing. That heart cutout comes 3 ways: pre-filled (used here), plain, and in template form so you can clip your own papers to the inside of the hearts and the cut out itself.

Because I LOVE this page, I've made it into a template... and I'm sharing.

Click on the image to download

Contents:

• .TFF 
• .PSD
• .PSP
• Individual .PNGs
• Shadows on separate layers for customization

Yipee!!

Did you see that Jaimee also has this sale going on? Hurry because it won't last long!!!

The Fine Print: Please do not select collabs, collaborations, collections + product bundles. You may choose kits, commercial use items, elements, paper packs etc.. You may also not combine with any other offers such as subscriber bundled deals!

Why are you still here? Go grab this kit now!

We need that in digi...

Emily Pitts shared a page in her Masterful Scrapbook Design interview that we all went ga-ga over. It had this great shelf of gold sequins in a transparent bag that the paper scrappers in the group that were raring to lift. I said I was going to ask Jaimee if she could make something similar for digi.

I did ask Jaimee, who said she'd take a stab at it. Well, her stab turned out to be amazing. She created three different versions of sequins in a bag and I love them all. I quickly created a page with one:



I can't wait to use the others!! I need to grab more of the May BYOC so I can play.

May: Mark your calendars!

I am getting pretty excited about all that's going on in May:

iNSD: 

The fun really started today over at The (dash) Lilypad. You can head over to their official iNSD forum to join in. There will be lots of releases, including the Build Your Own Collab (aka the BYOC) and a 30% off store wide sale on older releases.

Saturday, May 3rd, Get It Scrapped is having a live crop from 8am to 11pm. It's free, it's fun, and you can register for it HERE.

And because I love iNSD, I have a post up on My Scrapbook Art today to get you in the mood to celebrate what we do.


I'll be giving away some goodies Saturday and Sunday as well, so check in here!


The Challenge:

We're doing a page a day in May over at Get It Scrapped. There's no prize except the satisfaction of getting pages done with a supportive group of scrappers. We always have a great time, so feel free to jump on in. We welcome everyone! Failing the challenge is also perfectly acceptable. :)

I'm using the challenge to finish my 2013 Month in Review album and work on the series of photos I took earlier this month driving home from dinner. I created this page to get an early start:




Masterful Scrapbook Design Process Play:

I'm completely excited to be a guest teacher for this issue of MSD, which goes live May 7th. The assignments really made me pay attention to how I approach pages, what order I put a page together, and what tools and techniques I use over and over again for each page. You can sign up HERE for a membership, which includes:

• Immediate 6 month access to 48 classes:  36 Masterful Scrapbook Design classes  and 12 Scrapbook Coach classes (smart device friendly) 
• A new class each month  
• Weekly live webinar events (that are recorded and available to stream or download)
• Sketch and template library – search by # and type, link to class content and to full downloads
• Everything is downloadable for you to keep

You can try the free classes to get a sampling of Debbie's teaching style, which is both fun, easy to understand and comprehensive. The membership is such a great value for any level of scrapbooker, paper or digi. 

The Products:

This weekend there will a new Storyteller. I say it every month, but I LOVE this new one. I think I've created one of my favorite pages ever with it. Lots of goodies for hybrid scrappers as well and great layer styles. Plus the handy dandy magazine! 

Jenni Bowlin is releasing some great new digital product and reminding us of some tried and true must haves.

Did I get everything? Let me know if you have anything fun going on this month. I'll add it to my list. :)

I ♥ the 80s & more

Do you love the 1980s? Or do do you at least remember the 1980s? I was a kid during that decade. A very neon and pastel loving, awkward, chubby kid. I had the Mary Lou Retton crop meets Charlie's Angels feathered hair. I hated that my mom didn't allow me to grow my hair out. Granted, I did refuse to wash it most of the time, but as a kid, you don't think like that.

This photo is from a summer trip to Denmark, my mother's native land. I'm with my Morfar (grandfather) and cousin at Legoland. While I could have focused on a lot of stories, I went with my first reaction to the photo: I can't believe that's me. I wish I could tell her how rockin' her style was on the second trip to Denmark.

The page's title in Danish. Translated "stil" is "style". The words on the paper strip say it's my cousin and mother's father at Legoland. It's a way for me to record my Danish heritage is a part of me even if it's not the page subject. Sometimes I ask my mom how to say something and sometimes I use Google Translate and what I know of the language.

Despite my awkwardness, I love the colors of this kit. The rubber-ish and plastic elements remind me of the trendy toys and baubles I love as a kid. The kit makes me nostalgic. I wanted the page to channel 10 year old me. I used handwriting fonts and too many colors. I grounded and organized the page with the black elements while controlling the flow with the rainbow lined paper and pocket squares on a "T" composition.

Did I mention that the kit is newest installment of Just Jaimee & Mommyish's Real Life in Pockets series? That's kinda important to know.


Just Jaimee & Mommyish Designs: Real Life in Pockets- Old School; Fonts: Too Much Paper!, Pea Sunshine, DJB MOUSEKATEER KIM, DJB Truly Creative

You're going to notice eventually that I've been using a lot of Fonts for Peas. Stephanie Semple turned me back onto them after seeing it on one of her pages.

Also new today is Jenni Bowlin's Bright Travels paper pack created by the talented Lisa Dickinson. I love the happy colors! Last week, I took a photos on the way home from our dinner. It's a whole series from the car (as a passenger of course) documenting the route we travel regularly. You take those sights for granted in the moment, but as a kid, I remember the route from my house to D.C. fondly for some odd reason. Or the route to the grocery store.  I even remember the first time I took to back roads to our first home in Delaware. Those routes changed and morph over time.

But I didn't scrap that yet. I had intended to, but the story of the ritual my husband has of stopping for drinks before going home emerge in the midst of scrapping this page and wouldn't let go. That's normal for my process. I start with an idea for a story and it takes me somewhere unexpected, but perhaps more important.



Jenni Bowlin Studio: Bright Travels Paper Pack, Mini Deck Great Words, Vintage Bling, Die Cut & Perforated Paper Collection, Flags & Stars, School Days Alpha; Fonts: Serial Sue, Albertsthal Typewriter

You'll probably be seeing more photos from the series on pages.

Speaking of process, I'm thrilled to tell you that I'm a guest teacher for next month's Masterful Scrapbook Design: Process Play. It will be live May 7, 2014 and I'm super excited about it!!

Also, interNational Scrapbooking Day is quickly approaching. I have a treat planned for my readers. Get It Scrapped is having a live crop with sponsors and prizes. Get the details on the blog and in the forum. I'm not sure what's in the works for the stores, but I'm sure it will be awesome and prize filled, too!

I'm an ice cream snob

My dad raised me as sort of ice cream connoisseur.  I grew up across the street from the family that owned Hovermale's Taste Best, whose frozen custard is probably the best in the country and very close to the Danish version based on my extensive sampling.

Vanilla is my absolute favorite flavor. I can tell real vanilla from artificial vanilla, cream from milk, frozen dairy product from ice cream. My palette has skills that drive my husband, the ice cream purchaser in our house, absolutely bonkers. His only safe bet, other than ice cream from our local dairy, is Ben and Jerry's.

If it's not a decent ice cream, I pass, unless there is cake involved.

I made this page about my vanilla love. I almost titled it "Vanilla Isn't Vanilla", but that title didn't go well with this composition. The kit is Just Jaimee's contribution to this month's BYOC at The (dash) Lilypad. It consists of elements and two paper packs- regular and painted.


I've been trying to incorporate more pattern papers into my layouts, so I digitally cut hearts out of the painted papers so I could use them. The burst background makes it easy to decide where the compositions lives because all the lines lead to center.

The hearts gave me the option of breaking out of the center enough to be visually interesting while remaining connected to the burst pattern. They also helped the circular embellishments make more sense with all the hard lines. The polka do paper adds a bit of grown up-ness to the page,  creates a shelf for the the cluster and gave the journaling a place to live.

And here's a bonus page. I just did some free scrapping. It's not my favorite, but at least the memory is recorded. Good new! You don't have to love every page you do.



Can you tell I like that font? Pea Miley Mix it's called... not too far from my own handwriting, which I plan on making into a font, but haven't gotten around to it.

Oops! I lied! That font is Pea Stitchasaurus Rex, available free HERE.

April Storyteller & Colds

It's almost April and there's still snow on the ground, my allergies are in full swing- I can literally feel the pollen coating my body- and we're all getting over a nasty cold. My hubby brought home germs from the hospital. He has bronchitis and I suspect my kid's lingering cough may be a mild case of it, too. I got off easy with non-chest cold. This is not the best way to start spring. It also might be my personal hell.

James the cat doesn't like any of this. Snow and muddy ground ruin walks. Sick moms nursing her family back to health while doing chores and creating pages don't have time for play. He pretty much hates me until I get out the cat treats. Yet, he does love my kid.



The Page: I made this page with the April Storyteller by Just Jaimee. This month departs a little from Jaimee's normal color story- it's warm, analogous color mixed with cork, black and whites. It's color expertly constrained with Jaimee's signature graphic, playful style. I played the color scheme by using a warm, golden processed photo.

I'd originally intended to use three photos on this page- a series. I decided it against it when I realized each photo made me think of a different story. This one is cozy and comforting... it's really about the bond these two share. I created a feeling of cozy warmth by using a bracket foundation, clustering, color, and a lot soft and smooth textures.

The Story: James was a godsend at the peak of my kiddo's cold. The last time my kid was sick, there was shrill, terrible, tear inducing screams of agony that made high tail it to ER at 11pm. (thanks, Autism)  Right before the screaming started (because we can see it coming from a mile away), this happened. James comforted him in a way that was acceptable to the kiddo's sensory system. James, who is not a lap cat at all, knew what his boy needed.

James is a special cat and he was rewarded.


Back to the kit... I love it. I've made a few more pages with it that I can't share yet. As much as PSE speed and limitations drive me crazy, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of Jaimee's styles. This month includes a vellum style- YIPEE!! I adore the alphas and am happy that there is both a serif and sans serif. There's so much good stuff that you should probably just pick up the whole collection. If you subscribe to her newsletter (scroll the bottom of the main page), you can pick it up for a sweet price.

Jaimee created a FREE magazine full of inspiration, tips and tricks to go along with April Storyteller!

All about him and kinda about me

Since last Saturday, things have been scary and wonderful and hectic. If you're just here for eye candy, might I suggest scrolling down now? I ramble.

The hubby ended up in the hospital last week with severe pacreatitis. They weren't able to find a cause for the pancreatitis, which means there wasn't much in the form of treatment. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when your pancreas is the size of a pumpkin and you can't fix what is causing, most of the time you die.

While my hubby waited for a room in the surgical unit to open up, Grandmommy took my kid for a haircut and some beyblades while Daddy was in the ER. Grandaddy went to Verizon and got me a cell phone. In the Arick family, you deal with a crisis by doing something. It doesn't have to be relevant to the crisis. You just get busy being busy because once a Marine always a Marine.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped. He just got better. His bad numbers started getting better. It takes most people who survive an attack like this weeks to get to stage where the pancreatitis recovery can continue at home. For my hubby it was 4 days. When he sets his mind to something, it gets done. I believe the word "miraculous" was thrown around by the doctor and nurses. I think I used the word "stubborn".

And my kid. He really stepped up and pitched in. He was amazing. It was one the few times he was open to hugs and snuggles. And he got to sleep in our bed. Of course, now that the crisis is over he is able to express that built up anxiety freely.

In the middle of all this, it snowed 6 inches. Normally my hubby would take care of storm prep and shoveling. I was on my own. Thankfully when the snow stopped, some kids came by offering to shovel for a few bucks. As a bonus, they cleaned to snow off my car.

Because all this, my meticulously planned month that was all ready busy, went to hell. All I have to say is thank goodness for my Cozi calendar. I've still managed to do the important stuff... including not letting the house go completely to pot and making sure everyone has clean underwear... and squeeze in some time to decompress. The calendar has a journaling section, which I used keep track of our adventure with pacreatitis for later scrapping.

I managed to knock out the journaling challenge at MSA after my hubby came home. You should check it out. This will give you an idea of the topic:



Another page I made this week with photos after getting his hair haircut, taken when he returned to the ER to see daddy. The page is not about any of that, but rather his personality summed up with a quote:



I LOVE the paper. When I painted, I used to create backgrounds like this on canvas simply because I loved the feel of a wide, loaded brush making sweeping strokes. The look was always awesome, too. This kit is the newest collab with Just Jaimee and Studio Basic. You can pick it up HERE.

That's enough outta me for now.

I heart watercolors & lots more

Yes. It's true. I love them. In the physical world back when I painted, no medium frustrated me more than watercolor. I just couldn't get the stuff to do what I wanted it to do. Oil and acrylic yes. Watercolor no. (I did love watercolor paper because I loved the texture)

In the digital world I absolutely love watercolor and this week I worked with digital watercolor almost exclusively. It made me happy! Plus, Jaimee included a piece of actual watercolor paper with her brushes. Heaven.

When I created this page, it was snowing outside... a lot. In March. (and we STILL have snow on the ground) I think I wished too hard for a snowy winter. This is what it looked like outside.

I went the complete opposite direction with my layout, opting for sunshine and warmth.

I masked the photo, then used a water color brush set on white brush in the parts of the photo. The great thing about a mask is that you can just brush in black to fix mistakes. It doesn't hurt the original photo at all. You can also slip an already colored brush between your photo layers and the actual mask layer for some fun effects. I did that in the bottom portion of this page to add a touch of color to the foliage without having to increase the opacity of that portion of the mask.

To enhance the watercolor feel, I used the layer blend properties to pull the underlying layer (in this case the paper) into the photo.

I also did a page for My Scrapbook Art's Featured Designer, Jacque Larsen. Jacque does a lot of watercolor in her work meaning there was no technical savvy needed to create this page.



I love that this documents pre-iPad life. And it's hard to believe my kid was ever that small. Also, Spongebob PJs!! Super cute!!

In other news, I am completely losing at Calvinball. It's still lots of fun and my only regret is that real life keeps getting in the way of me enjoying it more. This is my life currently:

The great thing about being on Creative Teams is that I can justify scrapping when life gets incredibly busy. It's these times when I need the outlet the most. That's exactly why I'm thrilled to be losing at Calvinball: Because it means I'm playing.

Smashing & Marching

It's been a very rough week, but there have definitely been highlights. One highlight was getting to play with the new March Storyteller, which I truly love. The other was the what I scrapped with it.



This is my kid working on his Smash Book. Being that he has a lot of fine motor skill issues, this sorta journal works well for him. He writes if he wants to, but he can also glue the heck out of anything, cut with wacky scallop scissors, use up all the washi tape, use stickers and whatever he feels like to his heart's content. It's more like an art therapy for him.

His life at the moment is so much about learning rules. Social rules. Grammar rules. Math rules. Science rules. Rules for his growing, changing body. At almost 13, there's so much that is new and foreign and so much to get wrong. But in his Smash Book? There's no wrong. There are no rules. It's a space where he can be him. It's blissful.

Being me, I decided to pick up my own Smash Book and some fun stuff for us to use. I also picked up some plain card stock for printing. Jaimee has great printables with her Storyteller Collections, so I'm excited to try it. I did some playing today because I needed a break from my guys:

I think this weekend I'll test out the printables in the March Storyteller for the live crop at Get It Scrapped all day Saturday (which you're welcome to join).

Anti-awesome... scrapped

Just Jaimee and Mommyish have teamed up to create a (pocket style) kit called Real Life in Pockets- Candid that stresses life is rarely perfect. I've talked about this pressure to create a life-is-always-wonderful-here portfolio. You see it on layouts, you see it on social media, you see it in advertising. It's inescapable and it's depressing.

My life is messy, crazy, difficult and hardly ever perfect. I have more "Life is Awesome" word art than I could ever use. I was so grateful to see two of my favorite designers not just acknowledge life is never perfect, but embrace it with a little humor, a dash of snark and a whole lot of honesty.

This page is about the cure for my back strain being worse than the actual pain. The doctor prescribed me Valium of all things. I'm think he prescribed it because he knows our family pretty well. Turns out the med doesn't agree with me at all.



It's a huge kit and currently on sale. I highly recommend it, not just because I'm on her CT, but because everyone can relate to life being woefully imperfect. Scrapping about it is always therapeutic and revealing.

Stencil tutorial for Paint Shop Pro using Dance Your Dance

It's BYOC time and February is my favorite month to pick up scrap supplies. It's all the pinks, I think. Jaimee has a fun kit called Dance Your Dance. (get the paper HERE, alpha HERE and elements HERE)

I fell in love with the graphic papers and the arrow cut out paper, which I decided to use as a stencil. We've been talking about stencils over at Get It Scrapped during Office Hours and our live crops lately (see the forums for live crop info). There's also a great article on the subject of using full page stencils on the GIS blog.

I'm going to preface this by telling you I started with a new 12" x 12" file at 300dpi. This tutorial works for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements similarly.

This is the arrow cut out paper:

I used the magic wand to select all those arrows (marching ants- not shown cause screen capture hates me).

 I created a new raster layer to put my digital 'paint' on.

I selected an off-white color and created a gradient in the materials palette- right click on the foreground color to bring up menu and the click the 'other button'  (most programs have a white gradient included as a preset). If you want to use a color other than white, select the 'fading foreground' option.

I flood filled the arrows with my new layer highlighted in the layers.

I deleted the arrow paper layer and used ctrl+d to deselect (get rid of marching ants).

Then the real magic happens. With my new, awesome stenciled arrow layer highlighted in the layers palette, I right clicked to bring up the layer properties menu.

Here's what that menu looks like in Paint Shop Pro (and it's similar in Photoshop):

Use the Underlying Layer sliders to bring the texture of your paper into your stencil. For light papers, start with the sliders on the right. For dark papers, use the sliders on the left.

In Photoshop Elements, use the blending modes and opacity slider to achieve a similar effect.

This will make your stencil looks more realistic. Yay!!

Tada!!



(I used the Storyteller February 2014 Chipboard Alpha for my title, which I'm kinda in love with)