Hybrid Cards

I promised to post this card last week, but I lacked any form of enthusiasm to post it. I'm in this frame of mind where I have a gazillion ideas, but nothing actually happens. I've still been going to the gym three times a week, with the exception of last Friday as I had a haircut appointment. Very important! Because I've been physically a lot more active, I've also been a lot more tired and obviously have less hours in the day to craft. Anyway, I'm in positive minds.

I'm working on a commission at the moment for Scrapbook Inspirations. Unfortunately I won't be able to show you anything for quite a while as it's for the February issue. And Rebecca dragged me into making party bags for her belated party, which will take place during half term. I finished one bag and I must say it looks really cute.

Anyway, back to the card... This is a hybrid card. Robin Carlton, the owner of Sweet Shoppe Designs sent me an email asking whether I would be interested to join their hybrid team. It was a really tough decision, because it's such an amazing site, with cool products, but I couldn't seem to sell the concept to myself of printing off digital papers and then scrapping them traditionally. After much deliberation I turned her down. I would like to thank Robin for considering me. Oh, and I did have a go and made a card with one of their kits:

The none digital supplies are: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics (Kraft) Clear Stamp: Papertrey Ink, Ink: Staz'On (Timber Brown), cord, Border Punch: Fiskars Uppercrest, Corner Rounder: EK Success, Circle Punch: EK Success, Pinking scissors: Fiskars.

My apologies for the delay in posting. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Your Room

Very last minute I played along with Page Maps 3rd Anniversary Contest. I had no expectations of winning anything, but it was a good excuse to create something. I initially wanted to make a paper layout, but ended up making a digital one.

We've been out all day. I'm exhausted and off to bed! Until tomorrow.

Want to be my Lab Partner? + a TOOT!

I know the title suggest otherwise, but I'll start with the TOOT! (It just sounded better the other way round). I was chosen as card of the week over at Card Patterns yesterday for sketch #7. I'll be guest designer for sketch #9. I received the sketch yesterday, and I can tell you it's different. The new sketch will go live on Saturday, so stay tuned.

Hybrid scrapbooking. Ever considered to use your computer to make a layout, and still use your traditional scrapbooking supplies as well? Is not knowing 'how to' one of the reason you haven't gone down this path, or you just wish you knew a little more about it. Well now's your chance.

Yesterday Jessica Sprague opened her new self-paced classes called Scrapbook Alchemy. This class combines digital techniques with traditional scrapbooking. I signed up for the first episode yesterday, and have almost finished my layout. As part of purchasing Episode 1 of Scrapbook Alchemy you get a free gift code to share with a someone else, a lab partner.



I've decided to give my free gift code away to one of my blog readers. Just leave a comment on this blog post by Sunday, and I'll pick a winner on Monday. No need to have any digital experience, but you do need to have either Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS.

I've still got to add my last embellishment on my LO, which is drying as I type this, but I'll leave you with a sneak. I'll post the whole LO when it's finished.



Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your comments. I'm seeing quite a few new names popping up in there. It's good to be able to put some faces to my blog readers and to return the favour and visit your blogs in return.

edited: If you really would like to try this class and you haven't got Photoshop, you could always download a free 30 day trial from Adobe's website here to see if it's something for you.

Happy Valentine's Day

In honour of Valentine's Day I had a little play with some digi goodies yesterday and created this LO using some old pictures, one of them being my eye candy:

Supplies: Mindy Terasawa Sweet Love kit, Ali Edwards Love Circles, fonts: Briquet, CK KOTM1, brushes: MST_Round_Brush2.png, MCO_Definitions_Family, Katie Pertiet Overlay.

Wishing you all a great Valentine's Day.

Thank You Cards

Besides sending out Christmas cards, I also had to create Thank You cards for everyone that gave Renee a present for her birthday. Since I had to make 34, I decided to keep it simple and make them in Photoshop. To make it more personal I altered the content of each note. As the 'Thank You' is from Renee, I had her write her name herself using my Wacom tablet.

(For privacy reasons, I've deleted the content of the note).



Supplies: mainly Mindy Terasawa's 'Beautiful Me' kit

Tomorrow I'm catching up on my December Daily album. I'll already be dismantling it, as I've got several things I want to add.

December Daily: 2-3

Currently I'm living day by day, finishing few tasks each time. Yesterday it was the Christmas cards, as more than half of the cards need to go overseas and I still needed to inform everyone of our new address, in case they want to return a card. Today, I had to prepare for Sinterklaas, whom will be bringing the children presents in their shoe tomorrow morning. Besides that, I needed to bake two cakes for both schools, which will be sold during their Christmas fair. Even though Ruben and Rebecca go to the same school, Rebecca wanted both of them to bring something in. So, we (Rebecca was a tremendous help) ended up baking one victoria sponge cake and two Dutch apple pies.

Here's a catch up on my December daily:




Supplies: clear stamps - Fancy Pants, Art Warehouse, white pen - Kikki.K, no. 2 - Elle's Studio, PPs - Making Memories, punch - Fiskars.



As I was sending the Christmas cards that day, I will include one for my records into this album. I will probably be adding a few more things as I go along. Since I already bound my album, I will rebound it at the end of the month to include the things I've added throughout the month.

Supplies: journaling paper and circle tag - Elle's Studio, our Christmas card made on a Mac using iPhoto.



Renee had her Christmas play with school today. Her drawing of an angel was on the front of the program. I've cut it out and stuck it on the back of the Christmas card to include in my album.



Supplies: digital stamp and brush - Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals, edge brush - Rhonna Farrer at 2Peas, PP and number - Making Memories.

Oh, regarding that moving note. I've made it almost 3 months ago, but it has been on my desk since. I thought I'd show you what it looks like (for privacy reasons, I've erased the address details):



Enjoy your Thursday! I'm off wrapping a few chocolate letters...

Digi: In Deep Week 4

Well, we've reached the last lesson of Digi: In Deep. The last LO we created was another 2-pager, which couldn't get anymore custom made if you ask me. We extracted part of a picture, used overlays, brushes and made our own mosaic background and shape. Click on the image to enlarge it to get a closer look.



Supplies used:
Torn paper edge: From Chunky Torn Paper Edges set by Anna Aspnes
Torn Journaling Card template: from Torn-n-Tattered Paper Templates by Anna Aspnes
Green patterned paper and paper Swirl: From Hope kit by Amanda Rockwell
Cream floral paper: From Love kit by Amanda Rockwell
Starburst paper: from Patience kit by Amanda Rockwell
Dictionary text paper: From Botanist No. 4 kit by Katie Pertiet
Number overlay: from Counting Trash Overlays set by Katie Pertiet
Graphic pop edge: from Graphic Pop Edgers Set No. 2 by Katie Pertiet
Storyboard frame: from Storyboard Negatives set by Katie Pertiet
Love You circle embellishment: From Romantics Brushes-n-Stamps set by MaryAnn Wise

Today my BIL and SIL are celebrating their 8th anniversary today. I know this so well, as the got married 4 weeks after Ruben was born and we were living in Portland, OR at the time, which meant we couldn't attend the wedding as they were getting married in England. Happy Anniversary to you!



Supplies used: carstock Bazzill Basics, PPs Luxe Design and ?, Sizzix hearts die-cut and rub-ons, felt Queen&Co., paperfrill Doodlebug, black marker.

Eight years ago we lived in the US, but also that same year we moved to the UK. And in September 2006 we moved to Australia. The longest David and I have lived in the same place is 6 years in the UK (this, however, doesn't imply that it's the best place to live!) and that's where we'll be heading again in July.

My blogging might become a bit erratic from now until September, as we need to start preparing for the move. From July everything we own, with the exception of what we can take in our suitcases, will be on a 40ft container sailing the oceans for 7 weeks, before it will reach shore again in England to wait for custom clearance. That will mean no scrapbooking supplies whatsoever, unless I choose the wear the same clothes for 8 weeks and stuff my suitcase with scrapbooking supplies. The dilemma I face is, will I be organised enough to make all cards for birthdays, etc. up until September before everything gets packed up, or will I for a few months buy them?

Fingerprint

Yesterday I was already pointing out that on the LO for Lesson 3 of Digi: In Deep we are using our fingerprint. This is the most custom digi LO I've every made and it was great fun.

Lesson 3a turned out like this:



And for lesson 3b we had to extend the LO into a 2-page spread. I kept it quite simple and mirror imaged the left hand side and had some fun creating my own custom pattern with circles and brushes.

Digi: In Deep Week 3

It's already week 3 again of Digi: In Deep. It's really cool. This week we are using our fingerprint on the LO, but I'm still working on that one. Right now I can show you the LO I created myself as assignment 2B. I really feel I've got a love/hate relationship with digi scrapping. I love all the cool things you can do with it, but then I always stumble as I cannot seem to find the right papers or embellishments, which in the end I'm never fully satisfied with the end result.



I've also created some 'thank you' cards last night, but I'll share those on Wednesday, along with another birthday card.

I hope your week starts of great!

Then & Now

For our second lesson of Digi: In Deep with Jessica Sprague we are doing a Then & Now LO. Ruben is always my toughest target to photograph because he's either not in the mood, or he moves so fast that all pictures turn out blurry. However, he made me very happy when we were in Fiji on the day we went to play golf, as I got some gorgeous shots of him. Therefore, I chose to do the then and now of him. This week we learned to make our own custom made overlay and brush stamped paper.



Thanks for stopping by. Happy Tuesday!

Digi: In Deep

Last Monday I started my third digital scrapbooking course with Jessica Sprague, Digi: In Deep. Due to our holiday and me being down with the flu in bed all day yesterday, I was late starting. But today I managed to complete Lesson 1A and 1B. 1A was to follow the lesson:



Task 1B was to create another LO using some of the techniques taught in the lesson:



This third course is more advanced, but also more fun as you get a little more design freedom and learn to do things 'different'. It definitely is full on. So, I'll be busy the next 4 weeks.

You

Today is the last day of our digital scrapbooking course with Jessica Sprague, and I must say that I'm pleased that I signed up for it. She's got an incredible amount of knowledge and with 300 others on the forum a lot of information gets shared about what's around. During the course we also received several discount vouchers to use at different digital scrapbooking sites. I did get a few kits and brushes and felt that in honour of the end of the course I should put them to practice.



Enjoy your Sunday.

Sneaks Revealed

Today is Ingrid's birthday. For those who didn't realise yet, Ingrid is my SIL. Happy, happy birthday girl! I hope you'll have a great day. I've already showed you a sneak peek of the card I made for her, but now I can show the rest.



Besides her card I also made a surprise LO for Ingrid, of which I showed you sneaks too. My brother was so kind to send me a picture, which hopefully meant that Ingrid had no idea I was making it. I know she's already received it in the post, but left it closed until today. 'Ingrid, in case you haven't opened it yet, don't look.'



The journaling is in Dutch which reads:
'Psst Fleur, Auntie Lisette is making a LO for mummy's birhtday, but don't tell her.'

Don't you think that this is just the perfect picture for it? By the way this gorgeous picture was taken by Florence Bavinck.

With the end of my digi course in sight I thought I should try and create a LO without just copying Jessica's steps. This is obviously fantastic, as I believe this is the best way to really master Photoshop. Today I made my own...



What do you think? I'm not too dissatisfied with it.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Play All Day

Well, we've already reached the last lesson of our digi course, but this lesson seriously rocked. Because of all the brushes I thought I might get into digi scrapping more, but somehow I don't think so. I will have a go at more hybrid scrapping. This is by far my favourite LO (even though all the design credits go to Jessica Sprague).



Tomorrow I will be revealing some of my sneaks from quite a while ago, so be sure to check back later.

By the way, it goes without saying I appreciate everyone that reads my blog and enjoy reading your comments. It's always nice to have an audience. Until tomorrow!

Little Artist

Yesterday we returned from a long weekend trip in Gippsland, where the only use of a computer was typing my blog entry ready for upload when I got back. There was no signal, so even our mobile phones didn't work. The weather was rather wet, but we still had a good time. Now it's back to normality and trying to catch up with my digi course. Lesson 3 was a two page LO. This is a first for me in digital terms, but I must say it was quite fun. I used pictures that were taken in May, which I've been wanting to scrap.



The font we used on the twill tape, called VT Portable Remington was downloaded from dafont.com, where you can find many free fonts.

Oh... and that little gift I made for my mum that I posted to her now four weeks ago surfaced, not in Holland, but back here in Australia. For whatever reason (no reason was given on the package) it was returned. At least it didn't get lost. I'm very hesitant to send it again, but I also don't want to publish it on my blog yet as she will be reading it (well, technically speakinig 'looking' as she doesn't speak English). So, for those of you that would like to know what it is (totally expecting her not to understand this and not bother to follow this link... I might be underestimating her abilities here), look here.

Boys Toys

I was in the mood last night to create lesson 2 of Now We're Rockin'. Normally, you would watch the lesson first and then start on your own LO. Not me, I dive straight in. My screen is big enough the have the video running on one side and me scrapping along in Photoshop on the other. I really liked this lesson because I actually learnt something I didn't know yet, which was recolouring an overlay. The original overlay on this LO was blue and white. We learnt to recolour the blue to black and setting the layer property to screen, which ultimately meant that you only see the white parts. A really cool technique. The other main objective of this lesson was to use hot keys to save time, which is always a bonus.

Still Rockin'

Well, we've already completed week 1 of Now We're Rockin' with Jessica Sprague. In that week besides the lesson, there were two other challenges to create a digital LO. The first one had quite a few different criteria, which I didn't all met, but didn't want to not make a LO. The criteria I did meet were to use at least two papers from the kit we received, to use at least 4 pictures. Only good it wasn't a real test, because I would have failed miserably. Anyway, here it is:



The next assignment was where you had to take a picture there and then and scrap it, only having a 30 minute time frame to do it in. I didn't time myself, but it didn't take me very long to complete the LO.



For those who are interested in the 'daily something' brush, you can download it from Ali's website here.

We've already received lesson 2, so I'm going to have a look at the video now.

Enjoy your Monday!

Now We're Rockin'

When I did Jessica Sprague's Up & Running with Photoshop course in June I couldn't wait to get back to paper scrapping. Not that I didn't enjoy the digital, but I just wanted to have sticky hands again from the glue and I already spend enough time on the computer as it is. However, Jessica's started a 2nd digi course yesterday called Now We're Rockin'. Being the 'wanting to know all' person that I am, I signed up. Here's my first LO that we are all doing for lesson 1.



I changed the PPs colour from blue to pink as that better suited my LO. All the materials that are needed to create the LOs are included in the class. The brushes on this LO are accessible for everyone from Jason Gaylor's website Designfruit, which are also great to use on non digital pages. So, I'll be digital for a the next few weeks, but I'm sure I'll be doing some other things too.

Three Today

Two weeks after the digital scrapbooking course has finished it will all be locked down, that means participants have three more days to share their work and their thoughts. Therefore I decided that I would do one last digital LO as this was another free template we received during the course. This template is by Jen Caputo from Scrapbook Graphics.



To create the LO is used a digital scrapbooking kit by Mindy Terasawa called Pink Sonata.

Quickest LO Ever

It seems I did get a little hooked on digital scrapbooking too. One of the many freebies we got during Jessica Sprague's Up & Running with Photoshop Course was a quick page from Katie Pertiet. It was done in 5 minutes. All I did was added a picture, a title and a tag with the date. Oh, and I also recoloured the tag. Et voila!