This one
Or this?
Showing posts with label digital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digital. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A recent scrapbook page
I am particularly happy with this one, in fact I really like just the patterned paper with the picture of Noodles on it's own too.. I think the extracting of the picture and leaving some partly merged grasses from the background worked really well with the detailed paper.. Which do you like best?
This one
Or this?
This one
Or this?
Saturday, July 18, 2009
GIMP Tutorial
I have talked to a couple of people recently about using GIMP for scrapbooking and similar so thought I would cover it a little bit more here. GIMP is a great package which does pretty much anything Photoshop does at least for us mortals. The great thing about GIMP is that it is open source which means it if free and constantly undated by a wonderful bunch of people who write new bits because they can and like doing it, in fact anyone can join in if they like or do their own bits that is what open source is all about. That really appeals both to my none capitalist side and to the geek in me.
While I am not an expert I have learnt a bit on using GIMP over the last year or so and offered to do a tutorial or two, so here goes. This is the very first one I've ever done and is how to use GIMP to make a mosaic as Mary over at Little Red House hosts a Mosaic Monday and Kamana at Journalling Through Photos mentioned she was looking at other options for make mosaics. I think learning to use an adaptable package like GIMP means you have many more options that a specific mosaic package though those are great too.
First you need to download GIMP, there are plenty of places to do this but I'd go here as it is the official source.
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
Once you have GIMP installed open it up.
You will have the toolbox and a document open up each in their own window.
First thing I suggest you do is go to the menu bar on the document window, pick Windows, dockable dialogs and then pick layers. This opens a third small window, make sure you can see all three as they can hide behind each other.
Then you need to decide what size document you want. I picked 600 by 600 pixels which is a good size of using on line, it's the sort of size most scrapbooking forums suggest to load up scrapbooking pages and gives you enough space to have good detail without being to big, it is also easy to divide by 3 which for the design I am planning is useful. To do this pick New from the file menu on the document window, fill in the number of pixels you want. (you can also chose to do this in inches, mm etc if that seems more understandable).
You should end up with something looking like this. (All pictures can be seen in larger versions by clicking on them)
Next find your images, open up the first one by going File , open.. search for the image you want on your computer and open it. Now you will have your picture in another window.
You can use as is or crop it down to a shape you want, for instance square. To crop you need to pick the crop tool from the toolbar, which looks a bit like a craft knife. I have highlighted it in the next picture. The click on one corner of your image and drag the cursor across and down, keep an eye on the two numbers in the size fields and when the two match you have a square. The area you have not selected will be greyed out.
You can move the selected area about by clicking and dragging in the middle and indeed you can change the size by hovering over an edge till you get a little split line with a triangle behind it, clicking and dragging will move that side of the selection only. However a click without dragging will crop the image to your selection. This leaves you with a canvas bigger than your image which is what the chequered background means in the image below. To get rid of the selection just click somewhere outside the selection.
There are many other things you can do to the image but that is another tutorial. At any point you can go back to a previous step by going Edit, undo.. you can keep going back as far as you like.
Now you want to get the image to a sensible size to go in your main document as if your camera has the sort of resolution most do these days it will be far too big for document. Go to the Image menu and pick scale image. Put 600 in the width, click on the height and that should change to be the same as the width because your image is square. Click scale and you will have a smaller image.
Now we have a picture we need to transfer it to our main document. This is simply done by picking copy from the edit menu just as you would in word. Then go to the main document and pick paste from the edit menu. At this point you will probably find the image is not showing properly.
Go to the layers window you will see two items, a background and one labelled floating selection, you need to confirm this before going on. Click on the little page symbol at the bottom left, this confirms the layer and changes it to pasted layer.
Do the same with other pics.. which will give you a whole bunch of layers showing in the layers box but you will only be able to see the top on in the main window as they all fill the space available. You can use Image - Transform to rotate if needed.
Now you need to decide what layout you want. I decided to go for one big picture 400x400 and then several 200x200 pictures around two sides of that.. like this
To get this we need to change the size of all the photographs. You can either do this using the Layer menu and pick scale layer or use the scale tool. Make sure you take a little off for the size you make it so you have a border. For instance I made the 400x400 one 395x395.
The scale tool is marked in the next photo, remember if you want to keep the scale the same click the keep aspect button at the bottom of the toolbar.
If you want to see layers lower down you can hide the upper ones by clicking the little eye symbol next to the upper layer this hides the layer.
Once you have sized the photos you need to move them to where you want them. Use the move tool, the one with four arrows pointing north, south, east, west. Make sure you have the layer you want to move clicked and the cursor needs to show the same symbol as the move tool without a pointing hand. You will see what I mean when you move the cursor around. Then just hold down the left hand button and move the photograph to where you want it.
You can use the text tool (the big A) to add text. As you can see below you can the font and of course size etc. You get an extra window open up to type the text in so if you don't see it try moving the others around or look for it on the bottom bar which you have all the links to windows.
Finally you can change the colour of the background. To do this scroll down the layer window till you find the bottom layer labled background. Then pick the fill tool, the one that looks like a paintcan with paint flowing out. You can pick the fill, in this case I picked a pattern called ice. If you pick background or foreground colour you can change the colour by clicking on the coloured boxes just below all the tool symbols and picking the exact shade you want.
Finally save the file. If you want to work on it again or save it to use as a template for another mosaic then save as a .xcf file. Then for the version to post up on your blog save it as a .jpg. You will be asked if you want to export it, say yes and then pick about 45% for the quality seems to work well for me and gives you a sensible size file.
Well there you go I hope that is some help and I am sure it could be better written so please say if any bits are unclear.
While I am not an expert I have learnt a bit on using GIMP over the last year or so and offered to do a tutorial or two, so here goes. This is the very first one I've ever done and is how to use GIMP to make a mosaic as Mary over at Little Red House hosts a Mosaic Monday and Kamana at Journalling Through Photos mentioned she was looking at other options for make mosaics. I think learning to use an adaptable package like GIMP means you have many more options that a specific mosaic package though those are great too.
First you need to download GIMP, there are plenty of places to do this but I'd go here as it is the official source.
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
Once you have GIMP installed open it up.
You will have the toolbox and a document open up each in their own window.
First thing I suggest you do is go to the menu bar on the document window, pick Windows, dockable dialogs and then pick layers. This opens a third small window, make sure you can see all three as they can hide behind each other.
Then you need to decide what size document you want. I picked 600 by 600 pixels which is a good size of using on line, it's the sort of size most scrapbooking forums suggest to load up scrapbooking pages and gives you enough space to have good detail without being to big, it is also easy to divide by 3 which for the design I am planning is useful. To do this pick New from the file menu on the document window, fill in the number of pixels you want. (you can also chose to do this in inches, mm etc if that seems more understandable).
You should end up with something looking like this. (All pictures can be seen in larger versions by clicking on them)
Next find your images, open up the first one by going File , open.. search for the image you want on your computer and open it. Now you will have your picture in another window.
You can use as is or crop it down to a shape you want, for instance square. To crop you need to pick the crop tool from the toolbar, which looks a bit like a craft knife. I have highlighted it in the next picture. The click on one corner of your image and drag the cursor across and down, keep an eye on the two numbers in the size fields and when the two match you have a square. The area you have not selected will be greyed out.
You can move the selected area about by clicking and dragging in the middle and indeed you can change the size by hovering over an edge till you get a little split line with a triangle behind it, clicking and dragging will move that side of the selection only. However a click without dragging will crop the image to your selection. This leaves you with a canvas bigger than your image which is what the chequered background means in the image below. To get rid of the selection just click somewhere outside the selection.
There are many other things you can do to the image but that is another tutorial. At any point you can go back to a previous step by going Edit, undo.. you can keep going back as far as you like.
Now you want to get the image to a sensible size to go in your main document as if your camera has the sort of resolution most do these days it will be far too big for document. Go to the Image menu and pick scale image. Put 600 in the width, click on the height and that should change to be the same as the width because your image is square. Click scale and you will have a smaller image.
Now we have a picture we need to transfer it to our main document. This is simply done by picking copy from the edit menu just as you would in word. Then go to the main document and pick paste from the edit menu. At this point you will probably find the image is not showing properly.
Go to the layers window you will see two items, a background and one labelled floating selection, you need to confirm this before going on. Click on the little page symbol at the bottom left, this confirms the layer and changes it to pasted layer.
Do the same with other pics.. which will give you a whole bunch of layers showing in the layers box but you will only be able to see the top on in the main window as they all fill the space available. You can use Image - Transform to rotate if needed.
Now you need to decide what layout you want. I decided to go for one big picture 400x400 and then several 200x200 pictures around two sides of that.. like this
To get this we need to change the size of all the photographs. You can either do this using the Layer menu and pick scale layer or use the scale tool. Make sure you take a little off for the size you make it so you have a border. For instance I made the 400x400 one 395x395.The scale tool is marked in the next photo, remember if you want to keep the scale the same click the keep aspect button at the bottom of the toolbar.
If you want to see layers lower down you can hide the upper ones by clicking the little eye symbol next to the upper layer this hides the layer.
Once you have sized the photos you need to move them to where you want them. Use the move tool, the one with four arrows pointing north, south, east, west. Make sure you have the layer you want to move clicked and the cursor needs to show the same symbol as the move tool without a pointing hand. You will see what I mean when you move the cursor around. Then just hold down the left hand button and move the photograph to where you want it.
You can use the text tool (the big A) to add text. As you can see below you can the font and of course size etc. You get an extra window open up to type the text in so if you don't see it try moving the others around or look for it on the bottom bar which you have all the links to windows.
Finally you can change the colour of the background. To do this scroll down the layer window till you find the bottom layer labled background. Then pick the fill tool, the one that looks like a paintcan with paint flowing out. You can pick the fill, in this case I picked a pattern called ice. If you pick background or foreground colour you can change the colour by clicking on the coloured boxes just below all the tool symbols and picking the exact shade you want.
Finally save the file. If you want to work on it again or save it to use as a template for another mosaic then save as a .xcf file. Then for the version to post up on your blog save it as a .jpg. You will be asked if you want to export it, say yes and then pick about 45% for the quality seems to work well for me and gives you a sensible size file.Well there you go I hope that is some help and I am sure it could be better written so please say if any bits are unclear.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Scrapbooking Potato flowers
A page done for the Miracle gro challenge on Digital Scrap Garden, Ladybug always does such lovely kits for the challenge and I really like doing one step at a time and seeing other people's pages gradually build up. It is a real learning experience and would I suggest it to anyone getting into scrapbooking who is unsure about putting together papers and elements and photos.
The photos themselves are just various different potato flowers but I like them and I thought a fairly simple layout suited the mudane but pretty nature of the flowers.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Just a quick scrapbook page
Done for my mum of the recent roleplay pictures. Using a lovely kit from June at Cen's Loft called My little Garden.
Monday, February 16, 2009
365 -update
Well I've very behind though I have been taking photos pretty much everyday. I have decided not to deluge the blog with all the ones I've missed out so instead I will post the weekly layouts when I've done them. I thought I'd start from now, or rather yesterday however and maybe post a couple of times a week from now on with a few pictures a time.
So yesterday's picture is below.. It is what the allotment looks like now after a fair amount of work building a shed. for more details see our allotment blog.
Today's picture is of washing on the line, this is for two reasons. One to celebrate that it is warm enough to dry washing outside and the second somewhat less pleasant to record the fact we have had to do loads of washing as Treestump has been throwing up and indeed exploding out the other end for several days now so all his and many of our clothes have needed washing ! Please keep your fingers crossed he gets well soon I'm hoping he will as most of these bugs don't last more than about 3 days and he's been ill longer than that now.
The washing line is under the edge of the car port which is very useful if the weather is marginal as even if it rains a bit the washing general is OK unless the wind blows it out into the rain. The less said about the stuff piled under the car port the better !!
So yesterday's picture is below.. It is what the allotment looks like now after a fair amount of work building a shed. for more details see our allotment blog.
Feb 15th
Today's picture is of washing on the line, this is for two reasons. One to celebrate that it is warm enough to dry washing outside and the second somewhat less pleasant to record the fact we have had to do loads of washing as Treestump has been throwing up and indeed exploding out the other end for several days now so all his and many of our clothes have needed washing ! Please keep your fingers crossed he gets well soon I'm hoping he will as most of these bugs don't last more than about 3 days and he's been ill longer than that now.Feb 16th
The washing line is under the edge of the car port which is very useful if the weather is marginal as even if it rains a bit the washing general is OK unless the wind blows it out into the rain. The less said about the stuff piled under the car port the better !!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
My first attempts at design
Digital scrapbooking design that is.
Far too long ago I signed up to a VW camper vanswap and my first idea went wrong then we had lots of illnesses and so forth and I failed badly to forfil my commitments.. sorry Katy. Katy sent me a wonderful package ages ago ! However I was determined to do something however late and finally hit on an idea which I also thought would work as a christmas present for my brother who is also a VW fan.. so started my first attempt at design.
Now my brother is a graphic designer so doing any form of graphical work as a present for him is a little nerve racking but he seemed to like his version and I hope when Katy gets back from her holiday she will like her's too which has finally been sent.
I drew several different outline views of Camper vans then scanned them and played about with them in Gimp. I used a couple of papers from the weeds kit by June from Cen's loft and a frame or two from other places but otherwise everything was made from scratch. So what did i make?
Bragbooks, that's what which for those not in the know are 4 by 6 inch photo albums... suitable for people to carry about to show pics of grand kids etc and brag about them :)
This is the finished book for Katy, I made her a box for as well. My brother book is more substantial red leather look one from boots. This book was from Dunelm Mill who had several different colours and I though this ones was perfect to go with the pages..
So what do you think?
Far too long ago I signed up to a VW camper vanswap and my first idea went wrong then we had lots of illnesses and so forth and I failed badly to forfil my commitments.. sorry Katy. Katy sent me a wonderful package ages ago ! However I was determined to do something however late and finally hit on an idea which I also thought would work as a christmas present for my brother who is also a VW fan.. so started my first attempt at design.
Now my brother is a graphic designer so doing any form of graphical work as a present for him is a little nerve racking but he seemed to like his version and I hope when Katy gets back from her holiday she will like her's too which has finally been sent.
I drew several different outline views of Camper vans then scanned them and played about with them in Gimp. I used a couple of papers from the weeds kit by June from Cen's loft and a frame or two from other places but otherwise everything was made from scratch. So what did i make?
Bragbooks, that's what which for those not in the know are 4 by 6 inch photo albums... suitable for people to carry about to show pics of grand kids etc and brag about them :)
This is the finished book for Katy, I made her a box for as well. My brother book is more substantial red leather look one from boots. This book was from Dunelm Mill who had several different colours and I though this ones was perfect to go with the pages..
Closed Box
Open box with book
a couple of pages, these ones use June's flower paper. The frame and vans I made.
and some more just by me, the windows are cut out to allow photos to be inserted..
And here is the title page..
Open box with book
a couple of pages, these ones use June's flower paper. The frame and vans I made.
and some more just by me, the windows are cut out to allow photos to be inserted..
So what do you think?
Friday, February 13, 2009
A purple swap, crochet and a layout
Ok the swap is actually for purple, green and white because it is for International Women's day and those are the colours used by the suffragettes.
I found the Purple Paisley Patch blog recently which is run by a lass called Kelly and I already know it will be a blog I keep reading and not just because we both love purple ! Kelly is running the International Women's Day swap and the plan is to swap four Fat quarters of fabric in the aforementioned colours and then it has been suggested make a bag from it thought you can obviously do what you like with it. So if it sounds fun pop over there before the 20th and sign up.. Parcels will need to be posted on the 23rd/24th so them have time to get to their recipients.
So on to crochet.. This is the finished mystery square from the Mystery Crochet a long group on Ravelry . I really like it. You make the flower first then crochet into the back of it to make the square so the flower stands out form the square. Made it in te same colours as the previous ones. If I keep this up I by the end of the year I will have 36 sqs which will probably make more than one blanket but i also know me and so hopefully even if I get bored in a couple of months I will still have enough to make one blanket !!
The layout is of Treestump and his friend.. They both think grabbing heads and vigorous patting of them is a sign of affection, that or eating you.. though Treestump does give real hugs too ! Poor old Treestump has some sort of sickness bug today and his little friend had it yesterday.. the kit is another great Miracle gro kit from Ladybug at Digital Scrap Garden.
I found the Purple Paisley Patch blog recently which is run by a lass called Kelly and I already know it will be a blog I keep reading and not just because we both love purple ! Kelly is running the International Women's Day swap and the plan is to swap four Fat quarters of fabric in the aforementioned colours and then it has been suggested make a bag from it thought you can obviously do what you like with it. So if it sounds fun pop over there before the 20th and sign up.. Parcels will need to be posted on the 23rd/24th so them have time to get to their recipients.
So on to crochet.. This is the finished mystery square from the Mystery Crochet a long group on Ravelry . I really like it. You make the flower first then crochet into the back of it to make the square so the flower stands out form the square. Made it in te same colours as the previous ones. If I keep this up I by the end of the year I will have 36 sqs which will probably make more than one blanket but i also know me and so hopefully even if I get bored in a couple of months I will still have enough to make one blanket !!
The layout is of Treestump and his friend.. They both think grabbing heads and vigorous patting of them is a sign of affection, that or eating you.. though Treestump does give real hugs too ! Poor old Treestump has some sort of sickness bug today and his little friend had it yesterday.. the kit is another great Miracle gro kit from Ladybug at Digital Scrap Garden.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
a few layouts
Just done this one of the moon. Very simple as it is basically just the photograph a couple of times but I think it works.
Then there is this one from our holiday to the grandparents this summer. I made the background papers myself from bits of the photograph and various effects in GIMP which i could do more of. It was partly inspired by the technique challenge on DSG called Follow Us Down the Garden Path w/Liz & Elaine. They explained how to make papers from photos and suggest using ones that are good but a little out of focus and similar. The elements are from the seaside splendour kit put together last summer by Tempus Fugit and nbk.
Finally the first of this month's Miracle gro challenges again at DSG. I think this months kit is one of my favorite yet.
Then there is this one from our holiday to the grandparents this summer. I made the background papers myself from bits of the photograph and various effects in GIMP which i could do more of. It was partly inspired by the technique challenge on DSG called Follow Us Down the Garden Path w/Liz & Elaine. They explained how to make papers from photos and suggest using ones that are good but a little out of focus and similar. The elements are from the seaside splendour kit put together last summer by Tempus Fugit and nbk.
Finally the first of this month's Miracle gro challenges again at DSG. I think this months kit is one of my favorite yet.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
365 - Day 8
Technically I didn't take this one, Tom did but I thought it was wonderful. I was planning to do something else other than Treestump today but hey.
I did adjust it in GIMP to take the background out of focus.
Shows his two teeth wonderfully, I hope they will soon be joined by the top ones because they are defiantly trying to come through currently.
New Camera
Happy Dance !!!
I had resigned myself to not having a new camera for a while as it looked like to get the specs I wanted was going to cost too much money and I didn't want to spend less on something that didn't do what I wanted. We weren't camera less as I had Tom's camera to use though it has a irritating happen of sitting there saying processing while you miss the shot you wanted and burnt out anything close with the flash so I turn it off and end up with lots of blurred shots.
However a few days ago I saw QVC had a photo hour on and decided to watch i to see if they had any good tips. Well the tips were things I know though Tom learnt the rule of thirds however they had a camera that seemed to do most of what I wanted and at a lower price than I expected. After some internet searching the reviews looked good. So we decided as QVC has a thirty day trial period on all their goods it was worth a try as unlike most places if it didn't do what i wanted I can send it back!.
So yesterday a Fujifilm FinePix S5800 turned up with a nice case and extra rechargeable batteries and charger.
So far I am very happy with it. It's basically a bridge camera which is what I wanted, in that it has a proper optical lens like a DSLR but it doesn't detach. It has various modes up to and including fully manual as I grew up using a traditional SLR one of the things that has been gripping me is times when I know I could get a better picture if I had more control over focus, aperture etc.The camera light but sturdy feeling. The screen is big and clear and the controls are fairly easy to learn. You have auto, anti shake mode, natural light, natural/flash (where it takes two photos back to back one with and one without flash), and two settings where you can define them out of a set of pre-programmed modes ie portrait, landscape, snow.. that sort of thing. On top of that it has four modes for if you want to adjust aperture, shutter speed etc P,A, S and M.
It also does video.
It is what they call a super zoom as it has a 10x optical zoom and it also as a super macro setting so will do macro as close as 1cm and it is much better than our current camera on such things and that one wasn't bad. Great for photographing minis, food etc.
Macro shot of boar badge which is a bit over an inch long and shiny.
It has what they call an intelligent flash which they hype quite a lot and claim doesn't wash out close subjects.. so i did a test.
Photo of small ones trying to climb on my lap with old camera
Photo of small ones trying to climb on my lap with new camera..
Pretty good .. having taken a bunch more pictures the flash is much better and the flash/natural double shot option means you can do both very easily and decide which you prefer.
Probably the only thing I'm wary about is the cover over the usb port as it is quite hard to open and feels like it will die of wear, considering I want to down-load daily it may not last but that isn't critical.
Obviously compared to some other cameras it has downsides as things like having such a wide range on a single len can give problems but for the cost the quality is fantastic and unless you are used to much more expensive equipment you will not notice. If you want to try out more DSLR style photography without breaking the bank I think it's a pretty good choice. I used to use a film SLR and I think I will be able to get back to more technical photography not just snaps with this.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
A couple of layouts
These two are both using A little bit of me, a little bit of Yule by Magick scraps which you can find at DSG. It is an upbeat and vibrant kit designed to scrap the holidays whatever you celebrate.
My first one is my first attempt at a silhouette, I want to do all mum's grandsons, being me I picked one of the harder ones to cut out to do first but I also think it is probably easier to recognise for those who know him than some of the younger ones will be.
The second is a snap of Noddles in his new hat which Himself said made him look like an elf. Noddles agreed and didn't mind at all.
My first one is my first attempt at a silhouette, I want to do all mum's grandsons, being me I picked one of the harder ones to cut out to do first but I also think it is probably easier to recognise for those who know him than some of the younger ones will be.
The second is a snap of Noddles in his new hat which Himself said made him look like an elf. Noddles agreed and didn't mind at all.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Day 2 - project 365
Over night we had the first snow of the year. Not much but we don't get it very often so even a bit is worth note so I took a picture of it on the wall on my way to taking Treestump to nursery.
Of course snow on a wall is not a hugely interesting picture but it does have good contrast in it so I thought I'd play with it in Gimp a bit.
So I have not one but three versions of it for you.
The first is the standard picture just lightened a little as the snow confused the cameras levels rather.
The second is a black and white version made by desaturating the picture.
The final one is a result of playing with curves which I've done very little of before and then polarising the result. I think it's quite fun in a heavily adjusted photo sort of a way. I remember playing with colourising kits and so forth in a traditional dark room setting and getting all sorts of weird effects but this is much faster and a lot less messy :)
Of course snow on a wall is not a hugely interesting picture but it does have good contrast in it so I thought I'd play with it in Gimp a bit.
So I have not one but three versions of it for you.
The first is the standard picture just lightened a little as the snow confused the cameras levels rather.
The second is a black and white version made by desaturating the picture.
The final one is a result of playing with curves which I've done very little of before and then polarising the result. I think it's quite fun in a heavily adjusted photo sort of a way. I remember playing with colourising kits and so forth in a traditional dark room setting and getting all sorts of weird effects but this is much faster and a lot less messy :)
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Project 365
I've thought about doing this before but never at a good time to start. As several people have mentioned it on forums and blogs I though this time I'd give it a go as the start of the year is about the best start point i can think of..
Basically you take a picture a day of something, anything really. It could be something special about that day or just something everyday but over the year you get a sort of montage of things about you and for me I hope it will get me back into taking more than just snaps of the boys as I used to do 'proper photography' years ago.
I may well make use of some of the templates on offer to scrap each week's photos as well but for now I will try and post them here.. If I manage more than a week or two I may set up a blog just for the 265 photos but I know me and most of the time I only manage something like this for a couple of weeks so lets see if it lasts first :)
Today's Photograph is just a snap really and is to record the one of the most popular christmas presents with both boys and indeed all the children that have been here.. a pop up ball pit, den thing which was a last min purchase from Lidl as it was on their specials poster for the last few days before christmas. We then promptly forgot to give them it christmas day.. we got it out when Noodles, on being told we were going shopping in Lidls, said Oh we could get one of those ballpits.. dur.... well there were a lot of presents to get out christmas eve by the time we had all ours and the grandparents, aunts etc :)
Basically you take a picture a day of something, anything really. It could be something special about that day or just something everyday but over the year you get a sort of montage of things about you and for me I hope it will get me back into taking more than just snaps of the boys as I used to do 'proper photography' years ago.
I may well make use of some of the templates on offer to scrap each week's photos as well but for now I will try and post them here.. If I manage more than a week or two I may set up a blog just for the 265 photos but I know me and most of the time I only manage something like this for a couple of weeks so lets see if it lasts first :)
Today's Photograph is just a snap really and is to record the one of the most popular christmas presents with both boys and indeed all the children that have been here.. a pop up ball pit, den thing which was a last min purchase from Lidl as it was on their specials poster for the last few days before christmas. We then promptly forgot to give them it christmas day.. we got it out when Noodles, on being told we were going shopping in Lidls, said Oh we could get one of those ballpits.. dur.... well there were a lot of presents to get out christmas eve by the time we had all ours and the grandparents, aunts etc :)
Sunday, December 14, 2008
2 versions in one
I have two versions of the same layout for you today. Tell me which you like the most and why if you don't mind it will help me work out what works and what doesn't.
The first one is using a lovely kit by Ladybug at Digital Scrap Garden it is the second free kit this month for the Miracle gro challenge. If you like the kit she is bringing out a much bigger version soon.
The only change I made.. I always seem to make at least one, is that I re-coloured the flower to give me several shades but I tried to stay in the same colours as the kit. I like this and think the flowers give it a lovely soft feel.
The second layout uses Ladybugs paper but the elements are from Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild who I only found this weekend. They have a digital magazine every month which just looked too good not to try and it came with several free items to use including the elements I used here. If you join as a guild member there is a monthly kit on top of that which goes with the magazine.. so far i am quite impressed as the kits are delicate and complicated and I want to do some layouts that are less bold and simplistic. I did adjust one of the frames on the bottom line to make it slanted and added the third above to give a similar layout to my first one. I also like this one and I chose the elements as they have some complicated clustering done for me but they are also harder edged,
Tell me what you think ?
The first one is using a lovely kit by Ladybug at Digital Scrap Garden it is the second free kit this month for the Miracle gro challenge. If you like the kit she is bringing out a much bigger version soon.The only change I made.. I always seem to make at least one, is that I re-coloured the flower to give me several shades but I tried to stay in the same colours as the kit. I like this and think the flowers give it a lovely soft feel.
The second layout uses Ladybugs paper but the elements are from Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild who I only found this weekend. They have a digital magazine every month which just looked too good not to try and it came with several free items to use including the elements I used here. If you join as a guild member there is a monthly kit on top of that which goes with the magazine.. so far i am quite impressed as the kits are delicate and complicated and I want to do some layouts that are less bold and simplistic. I did adjust one of the frames on the bottom line to make it slanted and added the third above to give a similar layout to my first one. I also like this one and I chose the elements as they have some complicated clustering done for me but they are also harder edged,Tell me what you think ?
Friday, December 12, 2008
Two layouts using Full Abalone
As I mentioned I've had the Full Abalone by Magick Scraps to play with for a few days and here are a couple of layouts using it.I hope my Freeport friends don't take it too badly that I've called them pirates as I'm sure they are all upright citizens really.. For those not in on these things they are live roleplay characters who spend much time talking like pirates, drinking and being silly.. and of course wearing sunday best on important occasions !
The other layout is photos from our trip to Ireland a couple of years ago.
All in all it has been a fun kit to play with and there are many more elements and papers I haven't used. In particular there are some great metal jewellery pieces which I love and I'm sure I'll find the right photos to put them with soon.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
I've joined a Creatve team !
Mojo from Magick Scraps asked me to join her creative team which bowled me over than someone thought my layouts were good enough to showcase their kits. After a little though I said yes. I am aware that I don't have unending time but I think what she asks of her CT is very reasonable and do-able, so expect to see layouts using her kits very soon.
The first one I will be working with is her newest one Full Abalone which has some very fun elements and a lovely colour scheme. If you like the look of it then pop over to Digital Scrap Garden and buy it as it is currently 50% off.
One of the reasons I said yes to Mojo is that the DSG forum is such a friendly place and I have enjoyed doing their challenges so much that if I was going to join a CT one of their designers seemed a good idea rather than on a site I would be making an effort to be active on.
The first one I will be working with is her newest one Full Abalone which has some very fun elements and a lovely colour scheme. If you like the look of it then pop over to Digital Scrap Garden and buy it as it is currently 50% off.One of the reasons I said yes to Mojo is that the DSG forum is such a friendly place and I have enjoyed doing their challenges so much that if I was going to join a CT one of their designers seemed a good idea rather than on a site I would be making an effort to be active on.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
A great family get together
Last weekend was my aunts 60th birthday party. She arranged to get as many of her family and her hubbies family together in one place as possible, normally we don't met up like this. We had a great couple of days and a fantastic group meal to finish up at which there were about 80 people. At the meal she mentioned she had 11 grand nephews at the party (no girls) and 6 of those are mine and my siblings so mum wanted to try and get a photograph of them all together. Considering that includes an 8 month old, 15 month old twins and a 2 year old it was 'interesting' .
The following layout is a one of the better ones with some cut out shots from others so here is a good shot of everyone. It is scraplifted (based on) this layout.
The kit is True Blue, the papers from an add-on by Sara and the alpha from Vicki who has done the main kit.. it's a great one for boy related layouts so you may well see it again here and best of all free..
The second layout is of my mum and aunt and uses as the kit from Dee's secret garden challenge at Digital scrap garden, great colours which I thought really suited these two ladies who have always been some of the most vibrant and wonderful people I know.
The following layout is a one of the better ones with some cut out shots from others so here is a good shot of everyone. It is scraplifted (based on) this layout.
The kit is True Blue, the papers from an add-on by Sara and the alpha from Vicki who has done the main kit.. it's a great one for boy related layouts so you may well see it again here and best of all free..The second layout is of my mum and aunt and uses as the kit from Dee's secret garden challenge at Digital scrap garden, great colours which I thought really suited these two ladies who have always been some of the most vibrant and wonderful people I know.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Christmas Look
I've got a new blog look for christmas.
Another great layout from Allie Brown using a kit by Vicki who's blog I follow anyway.
Hope you all like it and I'm tempted to try and do one myself or possibly a header at least so watch this space.
Oh and the fish pool got paler for the winter. You can get one too from here along with various other silly but fun things.
Another great layout from Allie Brown using a kit by Vicki who's blog I follow anyway.
Hope you all like it and I'm tempted to try and do one myself or possibly a header at least so watch this space.
Oh and the fish pool got paler for the winter. You can get one too from here along with various other silly but fun things.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
and one more
A quick and fairly simple one using another kit by June of Cen's Loft I think you can probably guess it's name if I tell you she is doing nursery rhymes at the moment.
I like the kit very much and thought it would be just right for these photos. I was more looking to lay them out nicely for Noodles to show them at school rather than do anything complicated with them.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
recent layouts
Some more layouts done as various challenges on forums. Have you got that I like challenges to give me a head start yet? Using one specific kit has a similar restriction which can help to cut things down enough to know where to start.
First one is another miracle gro on digital scrap garden, this is where we get given papers etc then some elements then some more elements and build up the layout as we go. This kit has similar autumnal colours to the last one or at least the parts I used did though they were fairly different when you looked at the two kits side by side. The photo was taken by himself when we went to the woods for a picnic recently and I though it was wonderful.
The next two were for challenges on snap and scrap, both for the weekend cyber crop. The first one was a progressive scrap which was were we went round a blog list collecting items to then use them in a layout. We got a very nice selection of items on a purple theme which went perfectly with photos of a hat I recently made Treestump as you will have seen in a previous post.
The other one was the All The Same To Me Challenge where again we were given a kit and had to use it, I only used the blue parts of the kit but it had similar elements in pink and yellow too. The layout is about a trip to the London Eye this half term and all the photos are ones I took while we were up there.
Finally I used the wonderful new Wee willy Winkie kit from Cen's Loft to scrap a layout for a challenge from Cottage Scrapbooks to do one with something to do with music. That was easy because we sing a lot in our house and Noodles is dead sweet trying to lull Treestump to sleep singing twinkle twinkle little star. June was even kind enough to re-do one of the frames with the alternative wording for me to change nursery rhymes.
First one is another miracle gro on digital scrap garden, this is where we get given papers etc then some elements then some more elements and build up the layout as we go. This kit has similar autumnal colours to the last one or at least the parts I used did though they were fairly different when you looked at the two kits side by side. The photo was taken by himself when we went to the woods for a picnic recently and I though it was wonderful.
The next two were for challenges on snap and scrap, both for the weekend cyber crop. The first one was a progressive scrap which was were we went round a blog list collecting items to then use them in a layout. We got a very nice selection of items on a purple theme which went perfectly with photos of a hat I recently made Treestump as you will have seen in a previous post.
The other one was the All The Same To Me Challenge where again we were given a kit and had to use it, I only used the blue parts of the kit but it had similar elements in pink and yellow too. The layout is about a trip to the London Eye this half term and all the photos are ones I took while we were up there.
Finally I used the wonderful new Wee willy Winkie kit from Cen's Loft to scrap a layout for a challenge from Cottage Scrapbooks to do one with something to do with music. That was easy because we sing a lot in our house and Noodles is dead sweet trying to lull Treestump to sleep singing twinkle twinkle little star. June was even kind enough to re-do one of the frames with the alternative wording for me to change nursery rhymes.
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