Scrapbooking Ideas

Christmas Card Making Ideas

Jennifer Gormly — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:56:19 +0000

Christmas is sneaking up on us so it’s time to start thinking about some Christmas card making ideas! Handmade Christmas cards really are the perfect way to show your loved ones how much you care by making something special just for them.

If you’re like me though, the problem is your list of cards to send is quite long and make card after card can not only be time consuming but a little draining on your creative juices.

That’s why, every year I turn to my card making sketches. They just make the whole process so much easier so it becomes a lot more fun and a lot less like a chore!

If you’re not familiar with how card making sketches work, I’ll show you:

This is a sketch from 50 Card Making Sketches:

I used this card making sketch to create this Christmas card:

Supplies Used: Green cardstock, white cardstock, red cardstock, Bo Bunny Christmas papers and Heartwarming Christmas stickers.

As you can see, my Christmas card follows the same basic design elements as the card making sketch. They both have a matted rectangle as the background, a strip down the left side and a circle as the main feature.

The sketch showed me exactly what to do so I didn’t sit there umming and ahhing over everything, but I could still express my creativity by choosing my own colours, patterns and stickers. I have even added an extra rectangle so I had a place for my sentiment.

Card sketches are so easy to use and give you a starting point for your design. You don’t have to waste time staring at blank cardstock wondering what to do. Instead you can power through that long list of Christmas cards you want to make while having fun and being creative at the same time.

This is just one of the card making sketches featured in my 50 Card Making Sketches book at:

http://50cardmakingsketches.com

If you are stuck for Christmas card making ideas this Christmas, make sure you get your copy of my Card Making Sketches. You’ll surprised at how easy making Christmas cards this year will be. And you are sure to create handmade Christmas cards your loved ones will adore and treasure.

Get your copy today, at:

http://50CardMakingSketches.com

The Original Post is Located Here: Christmas Card Making Ideas

Photography Tips: Exposure Explained

Jennifer Gormly — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:41:08 +0000

One of the most important elements of photography is the amount of light that is available for the pictures that are being taken. This is known as exposure. Exposure can significantly affect the appearance of the object or person you are trying to photograph. For example, a brightly lit background such as a sun filled sky can cause a vibrant subject to appear as just a black outline. For this reason, it is important to understand how you can adjust the exposure modes on your camera to take the best possible photograph.

Many cameras today come with various auto exposure modes to help combat the issues that can be caused by varying light levels. In a standard camera the default exposure setting is usually referred to as the centre weighted average. This mode averages out the entire area of what you are photographing and tends to focus on subjects in the centre of the photograph.

Some of the other modes available for exposure on a quality camera are spot metering, multi spot metering and centre weighting. All of these settings are intended to assist you in finding the right exposure level for situation at hand. These modes can be used to help balance out skin tones, sunlight, shade or multiple people in a photograph. Be sure to test out each mode so you can begin to understand which one best fits the scene and area that you are photographing and therefore gives the highest quality picture.

Another way to tackle exposure difficulties is to set the exposure on your camera on your own. This option is known as manual exposure. While this option may be better suited for more experienced photographers who really understand the amount of light needed for a particular photograph, it can also be learned through trial and error.

One of the benefits of using a manual exposure mode is that the settings will stay the same even as you change the area or subjects that you are photographing. With automatic modes, the exposure will change even if you only slightly change the area you are photographing.

Learning how to manually set exposure levels can also assist you in balancing out differences in the subjects, such as photographing persons that are wearing both dark and light clothing. A manual setting will stop the settings automatically changing as the camera tries to adjust to the colour differences in the clothing.

Understanding the amount of light that is exposed to the camera is generally related to four items. The most obvious of those is the light that is provided from the background that you are photographing. However, the shutter speed (the length of time the shutter is open), aperture setting (the dimension of the outlet where light is able to come in) and ISO speed (the sensitivity level of the light sensor) also affect it as well. Together, all of these elements determine what type of exposure is best for the image that you are trying to capture. Play around with adjusting all of them and you will soon work out the best combination for the photos you are wanting to take.

The Original Post is Located Here: Photography Tips: Exposure Explained

3 Steps to Organised Scrapbooking

Jennifer Gormly — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:47:06 +0000

When you begin a scrapbooking project, do you fumble hopelessly about in search of certain supplies? Or, worse yet, do you choose to not even start your scrapbooking project for the sheer inconvenience of having to dig through all your stuff to find what you need? Don’t worry – you are not alone. There is good news however. You can get organised in 3 simple steps and get back to enjoying your scrapbook creations.

1. Organise Your Ideas

You no doubt come across great scrapbooking ideas all the time that you would like to stash away for future projects. But where are those ideas when you want to start putting together your scrapbook? By organising your ideas, you can quickly and easily access them all when you need them. There are a few ways you might try for organising your scrapbooking ideas:

Store them in categorised computer files (this is what I do)
Store them in categorised hanging files
Store them in categorised sections of a 3-ring binder or compartmented organiser

You’ll notice the emphasis on “categorised.” Like anything else, your scrapbooking ideas will be easier to find when you have them divided into relevant category titles, eliminating the need to sort through your whole stack of ideas every time you want to start a new scrapbooking project.

2. Organise Your Supplies

The popularity of scrapbooking has soared and with that popularity has come multiple solutions to your scrapbooking needs. Supply organisers come in many shapes and sizes, from easy to carry compartmented caddies, to moveable drawer stands, designed for organized storage of anything and everything scrapbook. Dedicate specific places to store your paper, your stickers, your marking pens, cut-outs, stencils, templates, scissors and hole punches…everything you need and use in creating your scrapbooks.

Keeping your photos categorized and labeled in photo boxes is another great way to get organized too!

3. Organize Your Themes

Choosing themes is an important part of creating scrapbooks that really stand out. If you have scrapbook themes that you use frequently, it’s good to keep a separate space in your craft space that is devoted just to that theme.

For example, if your son or daughter plays soccer, keep all your soccer related items and his/her soccer team’s colors in an area all of their own. That way they will be easily accessible for the many scrapbooking projects you will be doing within this theme. Similarly, if your son or daughter is a musician, you don’t want to have to go digging through all the soccer balls and soccer nets to find the musical notes and piano keys.

By keeping commonly used themes organised within their own special areas – even a simple folder or binder will do – you can save yourself a lot of time and frustration in all your scrapbooking projects.

Scrapbooking is a great way to hold on to those cherished family memories by preserving the special moments for posterity in a book you made yourself. You can increase your enjoyment of scrapbooking by eliminating the frustrations of searching for needed supplies to complete your project. By following these three simple steps, you will be an organised scrapbooker in no time!

Time Saving Tips For Scrapbooking

The Original Post is Located Here: 3 Steps to Organised Scrapbooking

Simple Photography Tips

Jennifer Gormly — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 10:12:30 +0000

Improving your skills as a photographer is simple if you understand a few basic concepts. While many high end cameras have additional features to assist you in taking a spectacular photograph, you do not need to have a camera with a all the bells and whistles to be able to capture a beautiful photo. In fact, even the best camera with all of the best features is useless if you do not understand the correct way to use it. So instead, put your efforts into understanding a few basic photography principles like the use of motion and light and your photographs will quickly improve without the need to purchase a new camera.

Motion:

When you are trying to photograph a subject that is not in motion, it is important that you do not simply focus on that subject and ignore its surroundings. Make sure that you are paying attention to the background as well to ensure that there are not other objects that are moving in the area, like cars in motion or dogs running around, as they may cause blurriness in your photograph.

Similarly, if you are trying to capture a subject that is in motion, be sure to take several photographs from the beginning of the motion through the finish. By capturing the entire motion sequence, you increase your chances of taking a quality photograph.

Many photographers become so focused on capturing a particular subject that they mistakenly forget to check what is going on around that subject that might influence the final image. Make sure that’s not you by looking in every area of the photograph and being aware of how the background of your image will appear.

Do not be afraid to get close and zoom in on your subject either. This will limit the amount of distractions in the background of your shot and allow you to focus more on your subject.

Light:

If you have ever tried to take a photo on a cloudy day or outside at night you may have run into the issue of the subject of the photograph not appearing in your image the way that you would like it to. If this has happened to you, you may need to find a way to increase the available lighting for your photograph to ensure that your subject will be seen clearly in your image. Many cameras come with varying exposure and flash options that can be easily adjusted to account for the different times of day and lighting conditions. Have a quick look though your camera manual to see what options are available to you.

Having the ability to take a memorable photograph does not necessarily require a specialised skill set or a camera that costs thousands of dollars. By making a few simple adjustments and gaining some knowledge about general photography principles such as those mentioned above, you can quickly increase your capability to take an impressive and high quality photograph to remember your special memories.

The Original Post is Located Here: Simple Photography Tips

Zoo Stickers

Jennifer Gormly — Tue, 31 May 2011 05:39:20 +0000

Zoo stickers are perfect for embellishing photos taken at the zoo or a wildlife park but to make your scrapbooking page successful, other elements come into play. Your choice of colours is perhaps one of your most important decisions when creating your scrapbooking layout - one that could make or break your designs.

Click Here To View Our Zoo Stickers

This quick double-page layout shows you not only how to incorporate adorable zoo stickers into your scrapbooking designs but also how to combine colour and texture with a balanced geometric design to create an eye-pleasing page.

Materials Used: Four shades of Bazzil cardstock, tan cardstock and Doodlebug Zoofari stickers.

The first step to creating this layout is effectively selecting colours that match. I began with a base colour of light brown, a colour I thought was quite appropriate for a zoo layout. I then matched three other shades of complimentary browns (two Bazzil and one normal) to it and for contrast, I selected a green Bazzill cardstock.

As I am not using a lot of overwhelming patterns on this page, I have opted to mainly use Bazzill cardstock to give my scrapbooking page texture and dimension. It allows me to keep my design simple, but not boring.

Constructing this layout is very simple. All you need to do is matt four horizontal photos and place them on your background cardstocks, as shown in the scrapbooking layout above. Then cut four strips of green cardstock and position them in the corners of your page, again, as shown above.

Finally, decorate your layout with Doodlebug Zoofari stickers or any other zoo stickers you like.

Click Here To View Our Zoo Stickers

If you wish, you can also add a small square on the right-hand page (see layout above). This could be used either for a smaller photo or journaling.

And that’s it! Another great layout in less than half an hour!
I’d love to hear what you think of this zoo stickers idea. Please leave a comment in the comments box below.

The Original Post is Located Here: Zoo Stickers

New Disney Stickers

Jennifer Gormly — Sun, 15 May 2011 13:26:31 +0000

Disney stickers make the perfect embellishments for all sorts of scrapbooking layouts and our new range is no different. They feature all your favourite characters like Cinderella, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Finding Nemo, Cars, Tinkerbell and more.

Click Here To View Our Full Range Of Disney Stickers

Personally, I love combining my Disney stickers with photos I have taken at Disneyland or Disney World, but there are so many more things you can do with them. Here are just some of the fabulous ideas I found while looking around EK Success’s official website.

Artist: Kara Ward

This layout uses EK Success’s 3D Tinkerbell Poses stickers to embellish a beautiful photo of a young girl dressed as Tinkerbell. While this photo was taken at Disneyland, the layout could easily be adapted to suit any photos of your kids dressed as their favourite characters. I particularly love how the Tinkerbell stickers have been layered over the swirls and flowers.

Artist: Dana DeCarlo

This layout uses Glitter Disney Princesses stickers and shows how you can use stickers of your favourite Disney Princesses to embellish photos of your own little princesses. Also, placing each sticker inside a circle adds a bit of style to your page while still focusing attention on your photos.

Artist: Karen Bulmahn

Disney stickers can also be used to showcase your child’s favourite characters or stars, as in this layout featuring Disney’s Camp Rock and EK Success’s 3D Camp Rock stickers.

These are just three of many different ideas for incorporating Disney stickers into your scrapbooking layouts and projects. Choose your favourites and have some fun.

Click Here To View Our Full Range Of Disney Stickers

I’d love to hear what you think of these Disney stickers ideas. Please leave a comment in the comments box below.

The Original Post is Located Here: New Disney Stickers

K&Company Stickers

Jennifer Gormly — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:56:29 +0000

K&Company stickers are in a class all of their own. They’re stylish, they’re sophisticated and they look fabulous on your scrapbooking pages and cards. Many of them are also three-dimensional to give your projects extra pop.

Click Here To View Our Full Range Of K&Company Stickers

While browsing K&Company’s website, I came across this absolutely stunning card I just had to share with you.

Artist: Melanie Cantrell

The first thing I noticed about this card was the rich colour scheme. It simply draws you in with its deep purples, greens and a touch of white.

The design also really plays with dimension by layering one element on top of another. The white heart is tucked behind the green floral paper and then the beautiful K&Company floral sticker is placed on top to give the card depth. The sticker is also three dimensional and embellished with a rhinestone to really make it stand out.

This card has been made for someone’s graduation, but it could easily be adapted to suit any theme or event. You’d simply have to change the words and the date.

What a great way to make someone feel special. I wonder who the lucky recipient of this beautiful card was!

Click Here To View Our Full Range Of K&Company Stickers

I’d love to hear what you think of this K&Company stickers ideas. Please leave a comment in the comments box below.

The Original Post is Located Here: K&Company Stickers

House Mouse Stickers

Jennifer Gormly — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:31:44 +0000

How adorable are our new House Mouse stickers! They are just so cute! I couldn’t resist playing them so I thought I would share one of my creations with you. This card is very easy to make and is perfect for any romantic occasion like Valentines Day, an anniversary or even the birthday of someone special.

Click Here To View Our Range Of House Mouse Stickers

Materials Used: Brown cardstock, Bo Bunny Olivia Honeydew paper, Bo Bunny Olivia Mums paper (the underside), light brown cardstock, light brown ink, brown ink, a brown pen, a small heart punch and House Mouse Leaves and Berries Mice stickers.

To recreate this adorable card making idea using House Mouse stickers, follow these steps:

1. Cut a piece of brown cardstock measuring 15cm by 22cm. Fold in half to create a card. Place in front of you with the fold along the top.

2. Cut a piece of Bo Bunny Olivia Honeydew paper measuring 13.7cm by 10.3cm. Ink the edges with light brown ink. When dry, glue in the centre of your card.

3. Cut a piece from the underside of Bo Bunny Olivia Mums paper measuring 10cm by 8.8cm. Ink the edges with light brown ink. Ink again with brown ink (make sure it is a much darker shade than the first ink). When dry, use a brown pen to draw a dashed border around your piece.

Finally, make two small tears (one on the left side, one on the right) and fold down the flaps, as shown above. Then glue in the centre of your card.

4. Stick your chosen House Mouse sticker on light brown cardstock. Cut out around the edges of the sticker. The sticker itself as a clear background, so you have now given it a light brown background. Glue in the centre of your card.

5. To finish off, use your small heart punch to punch four hearts from the underside of your Bo Bunny Olivia Honeydew paper. If you wish, use your brown pen to draw an outline around the edge of each heart (this just helps them stand out a little more). Glue two on the left side of your card and two on the right side, as shown in the card making idea above.

And you’ve finished your super cute House Mouse card!

Click Here To View Our Range Of House Mouse Stickers

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas for using House Mouse stickers on your layouts and what you think of this card. Please leave a comment in the comments box below.

The Original Post is Located Here: House Mouse Stickers

Train Stickers

Jennifer Gormly — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:44:16 +0000

I’ve always had a fascination with trains and train stickers. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because my Dad has always been interested in trains and when I was little, he let me play with his train set (which now, unfortunately, lives in the top of a cupboard). So when I saw our new 3D train stickers from EK Success’s Jolee’s range, I just knew I had to find a way to use them.

Click Here To View Our Range Of Jolee’s Stickers

These photos were taken during our visit to McComick Railroad Park in Arizona. Aren’t the train stickers just perfect for them? I love the way they just pop out of the page.

Materials Used: Dark brown cardstock, background paper from Scrapbooking Memories magazine, KI Sand Linen paper, Patchwork Cocoa Patchwork paper, American Traditions gold paper, Sassafras Lass Striped paper, brown ink and EK Success 3D Trains stickers.

To recreate this scrapbooking idea using train stickers, follow these steps:

1. Cut two pieces of dark brown cardstock each measuring 21.6cm by 28cm. These will be your backgrounds for your two scrapbooking pages.

2. Cut two pieces of background paper each measuring 20.8cm by 27.3cm. Lightly ink the edges with brown ink. When dry, glue one in the centre of one page and the other in the centre of the other page.

3. Cut two pieces of Sassafras Lass Striped paper each measuring 20.8cm by 1.4cm. Glue one across on page approximately 9.3cm from the bottom edge. Repeat for the other page.

Now focus on the left page:

4. Cut a piece of KI Sand Linen paper measuring 7.3cm by 7.1cm. Lightly ink the edges with brown ink. When dry, glue on the left side of your page approximately 2.2cm from the left edge and 4.1cm from the bottom edge.

5. Cut a second piece of KI Sand Linen paper measuring 4cm by 10.5cm. Lightly ink the edges with brown ink. When dry, glue on the right side of your page approximately 1.4cm from the right edge and 6.2cm from the top edge.

6. Cut a piece of Patchwork Cocoa Patchwork paper measuring 3cm by 5.1cm. Lightly ink the edges with brown ink. When dry, glue on the left side of your page approximately 1.2cm from the left edge and 11.2cm from the bottom edge.

7. Glue a horizontal 4×6 photo towards the bottom of your page so it is approximately 3.9cm from the left edge and 5cm from the bottom edge. Make sure you can cover a significant amount of the top quarter of your photo as this is where your train stickers will go.

8. Glue a second horizontal 4×6 photo towards the top of your page. It should be approximately 3cm from the left edge and sit on top of your first photo.

9. Place three of your 3D train stickers (including the engine) across the top of your first photo, as shown above. You have now finished the left page of this double-page layout.

Now focus on the right page:

10. Cut a piece of KI Sand Linen paper measuring 11cm by 2.5cm. Lightly ink the edges with brown ink. When dry, glue on the right side of your page approximately 1cm from the right edge and 6.3cm from the bottom edge.

11. Cut a second piece of KI Sand Linen paper measuring 7.5cm by 11cm. Lightly ink the edges with brown ink. When dry, glue on the left side of your page approximately 2.9cm from the left edge and 4.4cm from the top edge.

12. Cut a piece of Patchwork Cocoa Patchwork paper measuring 10.1cm by 10cm. Lightly ink the edges with brown ink. When dry, glue on the right side of your page approximately 1.3cm from the right edge and 3.2cm from the top edge.

13. Cut a piece of American Traditions gold paper measuring 2cm by 4.6cm. Lightly ink the edges with brown ink. When dry, glue on the right side of your page approximately 0.9cm from the right edge and 11.2cm from the bottom edge.

14. Crop a vertical 4×6 photo down to approximately 9.2cm by 9cm. Glue to your page approximately 1.2cm from the left edge and 4cm from the bottom edge.

15. Glue a horizontal 4×6 photo above your first photo. It should be approximately 2.4cm from the right edge and sit on top of your first photo.

16. Crop a third photo down to approximately 10.3cm by 7.2cm. Glue to your page approximately 1.4cm from the right edge and 7cm from the bottom edge. It will overlap your other two photos.

17. Finally, place your remaining two 3D train stickers across the top of your first photo, as shown above. Make sure you line it up with the other train stickers on your first page.

Now you have a fabulous two-page layout featuring EK Success’s 3D Train stickers!

Click Here To View Our Range Of Jolee’s Stickers

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas for using train stickers on your layouts and what you think of this page. Please leave a comment in the comments box below.

The Original Post is Located Here: Train Stickers

Puffy Sticko Stickers

Jennifer Gormly — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:30:30 +0000

Sticko stickers remain a favourite amongst scrapbookers all over the world, and their new line of puffy stickers is no different. Their miniature designs make them so cute and their puffy nature really make them pop and give dimension to your scrapbooking pages and cards.

Click Here To View Our Full Range Of Sticko Stickers

There’s lots of different designs to choose from to give your pages that special touch and there are so many different ways to scrap with them.

One page I absolutely love, is this layout that I found on Sticko’s official website:

Artist: Nicole Ratzlaff

This layout uses Puffy Fish stickers to create a unique border down the ride side of the page. The artist has used a simple strip of green cardstock as the base for her border, punched holes in it to create a bubble effect and strategically placed fish stickers all the way down for a completely unique look.

She’s also very cleverly incorporated several fish stickers into her title, again creating a one-of-a-kind embellishment for her page.

Of course, you don’t have to use only fish stickers to re-create this effect. Any small stickers will do. Just choose the theme you want to work with and have some fun.

Click Here To View Our Full Range Of Sticko Stickers

I’d love to hear what you think of these Sticko stickers ideas. Please leave a comment in the comments box below.

The Original Post is Located Here: Puffy Sticko Stickers

Scrapbooking Ideas

Christmas Card Making Ideas

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Photography Tips: Exposure Explained

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3 Steps to Organised Scrapbooking

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Simple Photography Tips

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Zoo Stickers

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New Disney Stickers

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House Mouse Stickers

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