Digital Challenge - Word Art Frames

It's Thursday and time for another Digital Challenge for FCTSC. I am doing these every other week right now and you can see links to past challenges in the side column.

The digital freebies at the Creative Memories site today are frames with word art - if you'd like to check them out here is a LINK to the page. These remind me of the frames I did when I was first getting started with the Design Studio software and we couldn't weld inside a frame - you had to build the frame from pieces to put a word inside.



These date back to early in 2008 - in the first month of my blog - I've learned a lot since then!



So, for this week's digital challenge, try making a word art frame of your own - it can say anything you want and be for any occasion. Here are a few that I did - they are lots of fun. I incorporated my word art inside the frame for some of these - all of the frames were grouped with the word art to make resizing simple.



I use the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus software - if you'd like more information about this software here is a LINK. I have given the information about the elements I used for each of these frames below.

Top left frame filled with paper from the "Delight" digital power palette and word art from "Wishes and Dreams" digital kit.
Top right frame filled with paper from "Holiday Traditional" free predesigned pages and word art from "Delight"' digital power palette.
Lower left frame filled with paper from "Recipe Book" digital kit, word art also from "Recipe Book" digital kit.
Lower right frame filled with paper from the "Primary" digital power pallette, word art from "Mod" digital power pallette.

Remember, if you want to participate in the FCTSC digi challenge, you will need to join FCTSC in order to be able to post your project in the digital challenge section of the gallery.

Have some fun experimenting with putting frames and words together and be sure to post what you make in the gallery at FCTSC.

Digital Challenge #8 - Get Creative with Color and Texture

Yesterday was Thursday but I was caught up in a lot of projects and didn't have time to put together another Digital Challenge for FCTSC. So here is the Thursday Challenge on Friday!

For this challenge, I tried to use many different techniques to create a new piece of "art" from one of my photos.

I used my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus software to do this challenge. I am sure that you can do many of these things with other programs but I find this software so simple to use - it allows me to be creative without getting bogged down in the process of figuring out how to do it!

I will explain all of the steps I went through to get from my photograph to the piece of "pop art" I made for a fictional Garden Tour invitation.

Remember, if you want to participate in the FCTSC digi challenge, you will need to join FCTSC in order to be able to post your project in the digital challenge section of the gallery.



Here is the photo I started with - I took this photo in our back yard earlier this Spring.



I used my digital cropping tools to eliminate all of the background, carefully trimming around the petals and the stem. I saved this image as a PNG file so I can use it for many projects.



I resized the image to 4.25 inches wide by 5.5 inches tall and copied and pasted the image to put four copies on an 8 1/2 x 11 page.



I added color behind the tulip images - starting off with green.



Then I alternated colors in each quadrant adding two aqua rectangles. Once I had this basic framework - a sort of Andy Warhol look - I could really start to have some fun with color and textures.



I used the "hue" slider bar and other options under the "enhance" tab to change the colors of the four tulips. I also placed the background colors in the quadrants using the color of the tulip from one section for the background of the next section, working in a counterclockwise direction.



Once I had changed all the colors, I added some texture to the background rectangles.



I then applied the "oil painting" effect to the entire page (you may be able to see this more clearly if you click on the picture above to enlarge it).



I decided I didn't like the way the stems looked so I unlocked the aspect ratio and stretched the tulip images to fill each quadrant.



I started to experiment with adding my "Garden Tour" invitation language by adding text in a white rectangle centered on the page with the opacity reduced to 50%.



I also experimented with adding "Gaussian Noise" to the page (this gives a grainy effect).



Here is the "invitation" over the "noised" version of the page.



Finally, I reduced the opacity of the entire page for a softer image.



Here is the third version of the "invitation" with the softened effect of reduced opacity on both the background and the invitation language.



I decided that I like this version of the image best.

The font I used here is called "Fontdinerdotcom Sparkly" - I got it from dafont.com - here is a LINK to the font.

So have some fun trying out lots of different effects and post your creation on the FCTSC site when you get it done. If you have any questions or want more specifics about how I did this, don't hesitate to email me or leave a comment on this post with your contact information.

Digital Challenge #7 - add words to a photo

It's Thursday and time for another Digital Challenge for FCTSC. It is a crazy busy week for me so this one is very simple.

Sometimes you have a lovely photo that would make a nice card front. The photo in my example was actually taken by my brother-in-law who is an amazing photographer. I set up my custom size for a 4 x 6 photo which will work nicely on a 5 x 7 card with a border - it will probably be one I cut with my Cricut.

I simply found some word art in my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus software and added it to the photo. I matched the color to the seed pods. Super simple and fun to do.

In a few days I will post the card I make with this altered photo. Short and sweet for the challenge today - I will be busy posting more projects and reviews from the new Cricut cartridges for the next few days, but I wanted to be sure to get the digital challenge posted for any of you who have been following these challenges each week.

Remember, if you want to participate in the FCTSC digi challenge, you will need to join FCTSC in order to be able to post your project in the digital challenge section of the gallery.

Digital Challenge #6 - Make your own element

It's Thursday again, so here is the digital challenge for FCTSC this week.

I have been experimenting with creating my own elements using the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus program (you can click the link to find out more about this program). You can try to do this using whatever program you work with - some may have more basic elements and effects than others. I will explain what I did using the CM program.

The CM program has an assortment of shapes available to work with - some are the same as actual punches that CM sells for traditional scrapbooking and some are only available in the software. You can combine these various shapes to create new objects (just as you can design new shapes in the Cricut Design Studio program).



I started with this flower shape. I created the shape and filled it with a gradient of two shades of purple. I copied and pasted it and then rotated the second flower shape to overlap the first one and fill the gaps between petals. I applied a heavy shadow to the shapes and then grouped the two together.



Next, I added this shape on top of the two grouped flowers. I filled it with a dark pink. Finally, I added a circle for the center, filled it with a dark pink and peach gradient radiating from the center and applied a heavy shadow to each layer.



Once I had the additional shapes placed, I grouped the entire unit and started to try different textures and effects. I used the "rough" texture to add some interest.



Finally, I applied the "oil painting" effect to the flower - this closer view may help you see the effect more clearly...



This was fun to do and I'd love to create an entire garden of "new" flowers using these techniques. Maybe I will have time to do that...eventually.



Remember, if you want to participate in the FCTSC digi challenge, you will need to join FCTSC in order to be able to post your project in the digital challenge section of the gallery.


(Our house is quiet again - both sons are in New York. I drove them into Boston to catch the bus this afternoon. I miss them already, but I will have a bit more time for working on projects and teaching classes - between doctor appointments...

***Here is another hint about the exciting thing that happened yesterday - I am waiting for a mystery package to arrive - I hope it gets here soon so I can share what is inside with you!).

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend - our weather here in the Boston area was just perfect today! Sunny and a bit on the cool side - ideal for a cook out.

We had most of the local extended family members over for the afternoon. It was fun to have all the kids here - including the triplets! It was a very busy day, but, after everyone left, I did have a chance to sit down and do my page for this week's digital challenge at FCTSC.

I used nine photos from our family vacation in February, 2008. The boys had so much fun playing at the beach at Sanibel Island - these are just a few of the many photos I took during the week.

I set up photo spots in three sizes and dropped in various beach photos, zooming them to fit the spaces neatly. I used a bright yellow background paper and added the title in red to match the Red Sox hats the boys were wearing. The font is called "Katie."



I added the "bubble" edge to the three largest photos on the diagonal, matted the four smallest in the same color as the font and added a heavy shadow. Then I added a blur edge to the top left and bottom right photos with a light shadow.



This was the first version of the page that I saved but I decided to go back to my original concept of putting one word in each of the "gaps" betwen the photo groupings. I may change my mind again - which is one of the great features of digital - nothing is final until you decide it is ready to print!

Digital Challenge #5 - Create a page using 8 or more photos

It's Thursday, so that means it is time for another Digital Challenge for From C to Shining C. If you want to participate in this challenge you will need to join the forum site (click the link above) in order to be able to post your project in the gallery.

I work with the Creative Memories StoryBook Plus program for my projects, but the challenges can be done in any digital scrapping program.

One of the advantages of digital scrapping is that you can crop and resize your photos quickly and easily and experiment with various sizes and degrees of zoom on the cropping - without the expense of having multiple copies of your photos printed. When you finally have the page completed you just print it once which can save you money, particularly if you are using a lot of photos on each page.

This week the challenge is to create a page with lots of photos - at least 8 and the sky is the limit. I have posted a few that I did a while ago as examples and I will create a new page for the challenge and post it in the FCTSC challenge gallery (here is a LINK to the digital challenge section of the gallery).

The example at the top of this post is a simple collage of photographs. Many programs have templates you can start from to speed the process of creating the page. This page was created using one of the free downloadable templates for the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus Program in the 12 x 12 "Basic Black" theme. Here is a LINK to the page on my Creative Memories personal website showing the themes available. I used the template and simply dragged and dropped the photos, adjusting the sizes to focus on the parts of the photos I wanted to highlight.



The second example started from a predesigned template in the "Everyday" theme, but I altered it to suit my photos and added various elements and journaling. It is a real time saver to start with a template and adjust it to suit your needs.

Have fun with this project - there are lots of occasions that produce multiple photos and I find it easier to incorporate a large number of photos on a digital page as compared to a traditional paper scrapbook page.

(For those who have been asking about additional times for the Design Studio classes - we are taking a brief break next week, but we will be posting some new sessions for the "Getting Started" class and adding some more advanced classes very soon).

Digital Challenge #4 - Use a photo for your background "paper"

Just a quick post today. It's Thursday, so that means it is time for another Digital Challenge for From C to Shining C. If you want to participate in this challenge you will need to join the forum site (click the link above) in order to be able to post your project in the gallery.

I work with the Creative Memories StoryBook Plus program for my projects, but the challenges can be done in any digital scrapping program.

The challenge this week is to create a digital page using a photo for your background "paper." I made this quick 8 x 8 page with photos from our older son's college graduation. I was lucky enough to snap the photo I used for the background just before he went up to receive his diploma - I thought it captured a great expression showing his feelings on this important day.

I added the photo to the page, enlarged it to fill the space and then adjusted the opacity to 66 percent. Then I added the photos of him with his diploma and our family together after the ceremony - keeping them at 100 percent, but softening the edges to blend with the background better.

I used a "formal" looking font for the title (Felix Titling) and sampled the red color from the banner, darkened it a bit and added a shadow.

It is hard to believe that this is almost two years ago - the time goes so fast (and it seems faster the older we get!). He now lives in San Francisco, but is coming home for a visit next week and we are all looking forward to that.

(The retirement party was great, Kathy loved the book and a friend took a lot of photos at the party so next week we will add them into the album on some of the photo mats that are already placed in the book. I am in New Jersey - again! - and will be bringing our younger son home after he sings at his college's graduation this weekend. My internet access and time will be limited so I will try to catch up with emails and comments as soon as possible but may not be very available for a few days).

What happened to the Garden Gnome?

On Thursday, I posted the digital challenge for FCTSC and I promised that I would show you my finished project - so here it is!



I started with this photo of a garden gnome in the little garden beside my son's college housing.



By outlining the gnome with the digital cropping tool, and adjusting the points to create a tidy cutting line, I was able to eliminate the background and save my cropped gnome as a PNG file.



Once I imported this new "embellishment" into my Creative Memories StoryBook Plus program, I copied and pasted and then grouped a row of eight miniature gnomes to use as a border. I saved the border as another PNG file and imported it into my embellishment library. Then I copied and pasted the border row so I had four rows of gnomes. I added a green background color with a two tone gradation radiating from the center of the page.



I grouped my four rows of gnomes and adjusted the size of the grouping to allow room for adding a border. I used a pretty floral motif in each corner and the added words "Garden Gnomes" in the Chocolate Box font. Then I made the corners and the words white and added a heavy shadow.



Finally, I added the grassy texture to the background. The finished project is 4 x 6 and I can print it and use it for the front of a 5 x 7 card with a nice border.

All because some college kids decided to make a garden!


JenC and I are very excited with the responses to the new teaching blog "Let me Show you How to Do that" and the first two classes are filling up quickly. We both have some family things going on this weekend (Happy Mother's Day!) but we are doing our best to keep up with the emails and questions. Thanks again for your support.

Digital Challenge #3 - Make your own digital element from a photograph

As you know by now, I have taken on the role of Digital Challenge Coordinator at a new crafting (and more) website called From C to Shining C. If you want to participate in this challenge you will need to join the forum site (linked above) in order to be able to post your project in the gallery.

I work with the Creative Memories StoryBook Plus program for my projects, but the challenges can be done in any digital scrapping program.

I am a bit late in getting this posted today - so I hope no one has been waiting too eagerly! I had an early medical appointment and then a never ending stream of calls and appointments!

Today's challenge is to take a photograph and turn an object in the photo into a "digital sticker" or element that you can use for your projects. You will be saving the item as a PNG file.

I will be doing this with my garden gnome photo that I took while visiting our son at college last week.



Here is a LINK to some directions on how to do this if you are using the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus software. I will try to find a tutorial link for Photoshop (if someone has one please leave a comment and I will add it to this post).

Once you have made your "sticker" you can use it in any digital project - a scrapbook page, card, desktop design - whatever you want to make! Please post your project in the FCTSC gallery as usual.

At the top of this post, there is an example of a recipe layout I did for a challenge. I took photos of the Gingersnap cookies I made and then layered and grouped them to make "photo corners." It is a lot of fun to have completely personalized elements to work with in your digital projects so I hope you enjoy taking on this challenge!

Here is a closer view of the digital part of this page.



Have fun with this one. If you have any questions, please comment here or on the FCTSC thread (here is a LINK). I will post my garden gnome project there when it is finished.

FCTSC Digital Challenge #2 - Make Your Own Background Paper

As I posted last week, I have taken on the role of Digital Challenge Coordinator at a new crafting (and more) website called From C to Shining C. I decided to do this because I really enjoy digital scrapping and I want to do more of it. I will be posting a digital challenge every Thursday morning. Some weeks I will make another Cricut related post on the same day - it will depend on how busy my day gets!

If you want to participate in this challenge you will need to join the forum site (linked above) in order to be able to post your project in the gallery.

I work with the Creative Memories StoryBook Plus program for my projects, but the challenges will be general enough to be done in any digital scrapping program.

I have always wanted to try making my own background papers even though I was not sure where to start - but I finally have made some because of this challenge"(!)

***The Digital Challenge for this week is to try to make your own 12 x 12 background paper - if you have time you can use it your newly created paper for the background of a digital layout.



I started with a plain piece of digital paper and added this 12 x 12 square in lilac applying a two tone gradient.



I added this digital overlay and made it white so at the next stage my paper looked like this...



so far, so good...



Next I added this texture overlay and turned it white as well.



Above is the paper after the first two overlay layers were added.



Next I added a leafy overlay frame and changed the color to a pale purple - below is the purple shaded overlay...



And here you can see the paper after these three layers had been added.



I then chose the overlay design below and repeated it four times, rotating each motif 90 degrees. I changed the color to a lighter, bright purple.



Here is how the new overlay looked when I was finished.



When I added this to the page I also used a light shadow to lend definition to the design.



Here is my final background paper - this was fun to make and I have saved it as a PNG file so I can use it for future projects.



Finally here is a very quick page I did using my new paper - I used the hue control to change the coloration to work with this old family photo.

If you want to try this challenge and are not yet a member of FCTSC, be sure to register as a new member and then submit you project on this FSTSC thread and post your paper and layout in the gallery with the tag "digi2." Thanks for joining in!