Page Designed with Silhouette Software

The Silhouette Studio software is easy to learn and I have really enjoyed working with it.  While it is primarily intended for controlling the cutting of your designs, you can also make a digital page to print for your scrapbook.  I prefer using the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator 4.0 program because it gives you so many more options, but if you are in a pinch and want to put something together quickly, the Silhouette program will let you make a simple page.  The basic program is free and can be downloaded from the Silhouette site.

You just need to open the file where you have digital content (papers and embellishments) saved and then drag the item to the work area in the Silhouette Studio program.  You would add any photos in the same way - open the file and drag them onto the work area.  Then you can adjust the size, rotate, group items and put together a page that you will be able to print on your home printer directly from the Silhouette program.  There is not an option to save the result as a jpeg for printing elsewhere.

The papers and elements I used for this quick page are from the Cosmo Cricket "Hello Sunshine" collection.  The version above has the background paper reduced to 25% transparency.  I decided that it needed a little more green to coordinate with the green in the photos so I added another border strip from the collection.

I think it definitely looks more balanced with the green along the bottom.  One of my favorite things about working digitally is that you have the chance to try lots of variations.  You don't waste your "good" paper by cutting it and then changing the plan for your page.

This was just an experiment to see if I could make a page.  A few of the things that I missed from my StoryBook Creator 4.0 software are the drop shadows and the ability to apply effects to the edges of the photos.  It was fun to try this experiment and, if nothing else, you could use this just as a way to plan out a layout.  It is especially helpful if you have the digital versions of the paper but you can also approximate the colors to get an idea how your page would look.

I just found out about a talent search contest that JessicaSprague.com and Echo Park are conducting.  If you have ever thought about trying to design your own papers and embellishments, this could be a great opportunity.  The winner will receive $1000, an Epson Picturemate photo printer and will have their mini theme printed and distributed by Echo Park.  You can get more details HERE.

I hope you have a wonderful crafty day!

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Simple Pages and lots of Photos

About a year ago, I posted some scrapbook pages that I was making with a friend who was doing a single album for each of her grown children.  The pages are full of photos and there are just a few accents and embellishments - mostly titles.  That post can be found HERE.  This style of scrapbooking does not seem to be in fashion, most of the layouts you see in magazines have only one or two photos and lots of embellishments.

When I asked last year, a lot of you said you also liked to scrapbook with lots of photos on the pages.  I think of it as "paving the page" with the photos and letting them tell the story, with a bit of journaling to jog the memory!

I was looking for some photos that I took almost four years ago in New York City.  I was there with some friends for the weekend and all of the tulips were in bloom (I have more photos of the tulips to share another day - I got a bit off track in my idea about what I'd post today). 

I couldn't quite remember the date of our trip and, as I looked for those photos, I came across photos of some layouts I did for a "fast scrap" challenge.  The goal was to complete 10 pages in a day - in as few hours as possible.  These pages were done within a few months after I started my blog and I posted them only on the old cricut messageboard.   I wanted to add them to the blog - even though they are four years late!

When we were living in England, we took a trip over to the Netherlands to see the tulips.  My husband's parents came along on the trip.  I worked with the actual printed photos and did not scan and adjust them to exact sizes - I had to crop my way through the pile!

It took a little courage to post these - I am not sure that I would do everything just the same - but I thought you might like to see them.

I remember welding the "windmill" title and thinking about it as "windblown" but now I'll probably go back and make it more legible!

 The photo of our younger son smelling the red and yellow tulips in his green rain slicker is a favorite - I love the bright colors and the way he is leaning into the flowers.

The photos of the layouts are a little off center - I have learned a lot about taking photos of my work since these were done.  I could pull out the pages and take new photos but I think you can see the basic idea of simple and story/photo focused.

One of the most amusing things I remember from the trip was the gigantic wooden shoes at every tourist attraction.  We had a lot of fun taking "shoe pictures?" 

I don't think I ever went back and added the journaling - so I'll have to do that soon.  I did plan to get more scrapbooking done this year, unfortunately, I haven't been able to set aside the time.  I got involved with die cutting machines to help me do scrapbooks and I seem to do everything but work on the books!

Are any of you in the same boat?  Is anyone interested in taking on a "get it scrapped" challenge?  I know that I have a hard time deciding between traditional and digital.  I enjoy the digital process, but I also like to get paper in my hands!

I'll think about a way to set this up over the weekend - please leave a comment if you have any ideas for the structure or just to tell me that you'd like to get some of your older photos on pages and in albums!

I have to keep reminding myself - "finished is better than perfect!"

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A Digital Page or two...

Earlier this month, I took some photos of my little neighbors in our back yard.  They were running down the hill and smelling the flowers and generally having a lot of fun.  It is difficult to capture good photos of small children in action, but I had my camera with me and so I gave it a try!

This was one of the photos I took - she has a cute expression but there is a day lily stem on top of her head and the lighting is not very well balanced.  Thank goodness for digital photography and photo editing software!

 I use the Creative Memories Memory Manager 3.0 program to do most of my photo editing and the StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 program for my digital pages.  Both of these programs are relatively inexpensive and easy to use but they are capable of producing fairly sophisticated results.  As you can see above, I was able to crop and fix the lighting and other problems to produce a very sweet image (of course - she is adorable so that helps!).

Once I completed my editing and corrections in Memory Manager, I brought the photo into the StoryBook Creator program and applied various effects.  The one I like the most was this "oil painting" effect.  It is amazing what a few clicks of the mouse can produce!

I made the photo as large as possible and layered it on some summery background paper.   One simple word is all it takes to title this page.  I think it would be great on a calendar.

While I was at it, I decided to try a few more pages.  This one started off as a pre-designed page but I eliminated some of the elements and rotated others to get this result.  The items I used are from the Cottage Garden digital collection.  The swirls and butterflies add a feeling of motion that remind me of the children running up and down our small hill.

Here is another page with the same phrase but different papers and another photo that was taken at nearly the same time.  These are papers from the Reminisce spring digital addition.  Both pages have just one photo and the same sentiment but the style is definitely different.

An easy way to work on a layout is to start with a predesigned page from one of the books.  You can then click and fill the various shapes and "tweak" the page to suit your photo and story.  You can also use these digital page designs as inspiration for your paper pages.

This is the page I made using the book blank page as a resource.  The colors are more subdued so the photos really pop out.  I particularly liked this quote.

I hope you are having a nice weekend.  We'll be doing more painting today - we are on the fourth (!) color choice for our bedroom walls - I hope this one works out...  I also need to clear away all of the kitchen counters before the floor sanders come - now that's a job!

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Scrapbook Pages

Every so often I have readers ask about my scrapbooks.  I am sorry to say that I haven't been doing nearly as much personal scrapbooking as I intended to when I bought my Cricut.  The reason I wanted the Cricut was to make my scrapbooking easier and now I mostly make cards and other projects and run out of time to do pages.  One of my goals this year is to get back to completing some scrapbooks.

I have been working with a friend and Creative Memories customer who is making a scrapbook for each of her three grown children.  We have finished two and now are working on the last book - for the oldest child.  I thought I'd share (with her permission) a few of the pages we have done recently.  We are working with older photos and using the originals (gasp!).  Occasionally I scan or photograph one of her photos to do some digital editing, particularly if a photo has some damage or is drastically different in tone than then others to be used on the same spread.

In sharp contrast to the current popularity of pages with one or two photos and lots and lots of embellishments, our pages are filled up with photos with some sort of title and a little bit of journaling space.  When we are feeling adventurous we add borders or strips of colorful paper.  I think of what we are doing as "paving the pages" with photos since we usually work out a grid and even have "grout lines" between the photos.  There are usually (but not always) some Cricut cuts - often as the title.

Sometimes we just let the photos completely fill the pages.  It takes a lot of calculating and creative cropping to get a nice even grid with older photos.  If you are working from digital photos you can make a grid and size your photos to suit when you print them.  I enjoy the challenge of working out the page designs.  I try to keep a strong vertical or horizontal line for the eye to follow.

As we work, we might leave some gaps for photos that may still turn up.  In some cases we use mats to even up the photo sizes to make a grid layout work.

 While this style may not be for everyone, I think it is a good solution for situations when you want to included lots and lots of photos and still keep the album to a manageable size.  You can still be creative and add bits and pieces that personalize the book without overloading it with "stuff."

You can even have a photo serve as your title - as it does here for photos of the house they lived in for many years.  There is room for some journaling in the green textured box and you can also write a few details along the "grout lines" between the photos.

You can add more than just photos - these were bits and pieces (stamps, a card, images printed from websites) that represent some of her son's favorite things.  A page like this is not one that will win awards but it accomplishes the purpose of preserving childhood memories.

 I wonder if you can spot all of the Cricut cartridges we used.  I find that with so many cartridges available now, there is usually something that will add a nice finishing touch to a page - either as a title or an additional decorative element.  We started to notice a trend for the page titles to also be song titles so we have built on that idea as a theme throughout the book.

What do you think of this style of page?  Is it something you would do or do you prefer less photos and more decoration?  The wonderful thing about scrapbooking is that there isn't really a right way or a wrong way to do it.  If  your photos are properly adhered and the memories are safely recorded in journaling  and you are happy with the results - that is all that really matters.


I had a chance to go to IKEA with a friend today - I saw something that gave me an idea for a big improvement to my scraproom so I am working on a plan for another small building project for my very handy husband!   I'll have more details soon if we decide to go ahead with the plan...

One more thing - Happy Birthday Margie!


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Fall Pumpkins with Cheerful Seasons

A couple of days ago I posted a layout using Accent Essentials.  There was a ring of circles and also some interior shapes leftover.  Here is the layout I made using these leftovers.  All of the rest of the elements are from the Creative Memories Cheerful Seasons cartridge.

The photo is one of my all time favorites of my husband and older son when he was about three years old.  I don't usually do one photo layouts but this just seemed to work.

I used Design Studio to determine the size to print the photo which I had edited to a square format.  I just added a square and stretched it to about the right size and then rounded up to 7 1/2 inches.

I printed the photo on 8 1/2 x 11 photo paper using the custom size option in my Creative Memories Memory Manager software.

I placed the ring over the photo to check the size - so far so good!

I added some tape to every other circle to hold the ring over the photo.

Then I simply cut away all of the excess making sure that nothing would show at the indentations between circles.

I double checked the back to be sure that I had cut enough away - it looks messy but that doesn't matter since it is all hidden.  I also had saved all of the yellow cutouts and added those back to the ring of circles.I briefly considered putting faces on some of the circles as if they were pumpkins but I decided it would be too much.

I made the pumpkin cut from the Cheerful Seasons cartridge at four inches.  The cartridge has images for spring in the first row, summer in the second row, fall in the third row and winter in the fourth row.  All but two of these images have four layers using the shift and layer keys.

Here is one helpful tip for cutting the shapes.  When you use Design Studio to cut you can adjust the placement of the images and potentially save a bit of paper.  Here I rotated the pumpkin base cut about 24 degrees and then was able to use a four inch strip of paper to make the cut.  It isn't always important or a significant difference but at times when you have just a bit of a favorite paper left to use this trick will help you make the most of it.

By counting the squares on the mat (just look at the rulers on the sides) you can figure out what size pieces of paper you need.  You can even use a scrap from another cut as I did for the stem.  One more tip - sometimes I am asked about the numbers on the mat when someone sees a screen shot on my blog.  If you don't have these showing on your screen, go to the "View" menu and check "Show Ruler."

Once you have optimized the amount of paper needed you can cut all of the layers at once.

Here are all of the pieces of the pumpkin.  I had intended to make the brighter orange the base and the textured Core'dinations cardstock the top layer but I goofed!

This turned out to be a happy accident.  I actually like the darker shade in the background and I used the Cuttlebug Mesh embossing folder to add a heavier texture to the pumpkin.  The stem was cut from a white core cardstock so I inked the edges - I don't like the white to show.

I cut the word "fall" from the Cheerful Seasons cartridge - there are a lot of seasonal words and phrases, some are bold like the one I chose and some are in script fonts.

I wanted some sort of flourish for the top left and I chose this leaf, also in the fall row.

Most of the papers I used are from the K and Company Halloween Whimsy (Jen Yanok) paper stack.  All of the paper is double-sided.  I was planning to use the striped side when I made the cut.

I thought it was too busy and the stripes were blending in to the brown speckled background so I flipped the cut and made it start on the left side of the page.

A few of the flocked black spider bits show but I think that the overall contrast is better this way.

I also originally considered using a solid black background but I found it boring!  The stripes do show up better against the black.

I normally make very flat layouts - I don't like albums to bulge - but I am branching out a little and using some three dimensional embellishments like the vintage frames and chipboard I used on the layout a few days ago.  Here I just popped up the pumpkin a bit with foam squares.

Just that little bit of dimension give the layout more interest.

I may even get up the nerve to go back and add Stickles to the pumpkin tendrils!

While I originally thought the Reminisce Accents cartridge was my favorite of the two cartridges I am finding that Cheerful Seasons has a lot to offer.  The style of the artwork is not too cutesy or stylized and will work for many projects.

As I mentioned yesterday,  Joy and Melanie are featuring the Creative Memories cartridges this week on their blogs and invited me to join in a mini blog hop.  Here are the links:

Joy - Obsessed with Scrapbooking

Melanie - Courtney Lane Designs

If you would like to see some of my projects with these cartridges that I have posted already here are two more links for you  - Reminisce Accents and Cheerful Seasons. 

If you are interested in purchasing these cartridges you need to purchase them through a Creative Memories consultant.  I am a consultant  and I would be happy to help you if you don't have a consultant already.  You can order the cartridges through my Creative Memories personal website day or night from anywhere in the country.  If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Here are the links

Reminisce Accents

Cheerful Seasons

These cartridges have coordinating papers that are also exclusive to Creative Memories.  You can find these in the various categories under Scrapbooking Paper on my site.

There are also digital versions of most of the papers which can be found HERE.
 
I have a goal to sell at least 40 cartridges this month so I can be included in a contest to win a spot on the Cricut Cruise.  I'd love to go along with some of my lucky friends who have already been invited so I appreciate your purchases to help in getting me one step closer.  Thanks!

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