Thank you, Shayla!

I'm really loving the Scrapbook.com community. I posted a thread in the general forum expressing my need for empty ribbon spools to house the 25 un-spooled rolls of ribbon I have coming, and one member, ShalyaCreations, generously offered to send me 25 empty spools. That entailed taking all the leftover ribbon off the spools and storing it elsewhere, taking a photo of the spools I'd receive, and having it sent to me in the mail.

How's that for scrapbooker camaraderie?

Check out her gallery at Scrapbook.com: [shaylacreations]

She also has a blog here at Shaylacreations.blogspot.com

Thank you, Shayla!

I'm really loving the Scrapbook.com community. I posted a thread in the general forum expressing my need for empty ribbon spools to house the 25 un-spooled rolls of ribbon I have coming, and one member, ShalyaCreations, generously offered to send me 25 empty spools. That entailed taking all the leftover ribbon off the spools and storing it elsewhere, taking a photo of the spools I'd receive, and having it sent to me in the mail.

How's that for scrapbooker camaraderie?

Check out her gallery at Scrapbook.com: [shaylacreations]

She also has a blog here at Shaylacreations.blogspot.com

Ribbons & Sugar

My friends, this little ribbon rack from Marie Osmond crafts is apparently quite popular. The three top search result stores were out of stock, but I did find it on eBay for $7. Could have gotten it cheaper (and cheaper shipping), but I've got 25 spools of ribbon coming to me and I need a way to store them! Here's the coveted rack:



The title of this post is in reference to Gatsby's American Dream's second album, Ribbons & Sugar. I love that band. The lead singer, Nic Newsham, is even my friend on Facebook :)

Ribbons & Sugar

My friends, this little ribbon rack from Marie Osmond crafts is apparently quite popular. The three top search result stores were out of stock, but I did find it on eBay for $7. Could have gotten it cheaper (and cheaper shipping), but I've got 25 spools of ribbon coming to me and I need a way to store them! Here's the coveted rack:



The title of this post is in reference to Gatsby's American Dream's second album, Ribbons & Sugar. I love that band. The lead singer, Nic Newsham, is even my friend on Facebook :)

A Scrapbooking Story

I started scrapbooking in January. My motivation was to make a scrapbook of my sister's wedding and give it to her as a gift. I slowly got about four pages done, then started a new job and stopped scrapping. Well, when I left that job I started up again, and this time around it has gotten to be a full-blown addiction! I adore it. That's why it's one topic of my blog :)

For my sister's wedding scrapbook, I ended up spending a few hundred dollars on supplies. I worked on it for a grand total of 200 hours. It took 8 months, and weighed over 6 pounds. It had a total of 44 pages. It was massive. Here's a video I made of the pages...basically a slideshow.

I have been working on several other scrapbooks along with my sister's. I finally gave my sister her scrapbook, and she loved it (thank God!). I just finished an album for my best friend's birthday and a mini-album featuring my photography and photo manipulations. I'm currently working on my personal scrapbook (no real theme, just life in general) and on an album for my mom's birthday at the end of November.

I've found that I enjoy working on albums that I'm making for someone else a lot more than I like making them for myself. It's heartbreaking giving all that work away, but I will always have fond memories :) And that's exactly why I take photos of all my work!

My favorite place to get layout ideas is from ScrapbooksEtc.com. You have to create an account to download the PDF files, but they have hundreds of layouts. Many of them come with a real-life example, which is very helpful in seeing how it will come together. They offer quite a bit of inspiration, too.

____________________________

From my album, "Happiness"

Lauren & Me

This is one of my best friends, Lauren. We were at an All-Time Low show near Chicago and Lauren snapped this shot of us hanging around.

To make this page, I used a template I found on Scrapbook.com. I opened the photo in Photoshop and printed the 12x12 page on four sheets of 8.5x11" computer paper. Then I cut the pages down and taped them together to get my full-size template. I colored with a pencil over the back of the template, and then turned the pages over and traced over the design so it would transfer the graphite onto my scrapbook page. To finish the design, I darkened it with a black ink pen and sharpie.

The butterfly was printed on transparency paper and rubbed on. The title is also a transparency rub-on. The chorus to Mika's "Grace Kelly" is -- you guessed it -- a transparency rub-on as well :)

A Scrapbooking Story

I started scrapbooking in January. My motivation was to make a scrapbook of my sister's wedding and give it to her as a gift. I slowly got about four pages done, then started a new job and stopped scrapping. Well, when I left that job I started up again, and this time around it has gotten to be a full-blown addiction! I adore it. That's why it's one topic of my blog :)

For my sister's wedding scrapbook, I ended up spending a few hundred dollars on supplies. I worked on it for a grand total of 200 hours. It took 8 months, and weighed over 6 pounds. It had a total of 44 pages. It was massive. Here's a video I made of the pages...basically a slideshow.

I have been working on several other scrapbooks along with my sister's. I finally gave my sister her scrapbook, and she loved it (thank God!). I just finished an album for my best friend's birthday and a mini-album featuring my photography and photo manipulations. I'm currently working on my personal scrapbook (no real theme, just life in general) and on an album for my mom's birthday at the end of November.

I've found that I enjoy working on albums that I'm making for someone else a lot more than I like making them for myself. It's heartbreaking giving all that work away, but I will always have fond memories :) And that's exactly why I take photos of all my work!

My favorite place to get layout ideas is from ScrapbooksEtc.com. You have to create an account to download the PDF files, but they have hundreds of layouts. Many of them come with a real-life example, which is very helpful in seeing how it will come together. They offer quite a bit of inspiration, too.

____________________________

From my album, "Happiness"

Lauren & Me

This is one of my best friends, Lauren. We were at an All-Time Low show near Chicago and Lauren snapped this shot of us hanging around.

To make this page, I used a template I found on Scrapbook.com. I opened the photo in Photoshop and printed the 12x12 page on four sheets of 8.5x11" computer paper. Then I cut the pages down and taped them together to get my full-size template. I colored with a pencil over the back of the template, and then turned the pages over and traced over the design so it would transfer the graphite onto my scrapbook page. To finish the design, I darkened it with a black ink pen and sharpie.

The butterfly was printed on transparency paper and rubbed on. The title is also a transparency rub-on. The chorus to Mika's "Grace Kelly" is -- you guessed it -- a transparency rub-on as well :)

Christine's Photo Shoot {Day 1}

Last September I enlisted the help of a dear friend to model for a digital photography project at school. I've been a little slow on the uptake, but I'm starting to edit them more and more. I will share with you the exact methods I used to edit each photo, and even offer you the Photoshop file so you can see the layers and all that good stuff for yourself!

-----------

Shower Us In Light
by Katie Hunter {featuring model Christine Hooley}

How I made it:

This is the original, untouched photo I started with:

1. Add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer using these settings:
   - Brightness: +29
   - Contrast: +9
2. Using a basic brush (medium hardness/softness), color with black over the part of the image without the model. This will mask out the brightness and contrast adjustment so the model becomes a greater focal point.
3. Add a Black & White Adjustment Layer using these settings:
   - Red: 40%
   - Yellows: 60%
   - Greens: 40%
   - Cyans: 60%
   - Blues: 20%
   - Magentas: 80%
4. Add a Curves Adjustment Layer like in the following screen shot:
   
   
5. Add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. Choose "Yellow" from the Filter menu and set the density to 34%. Keep the "Preserve Luminosity" box checked.
6. Add the vignette using these instructions:
   - Create a new layer and place it above all the other layers
   - Fill the layer with white
   - On the top toolbar, go to Filter --> Distort --> Lens Correction
   - In the dialogue box that pops up, you only need to adjust one thing. Set the Vignette amount to -100%
   - Change the layer's blending mode to Multiply
7. Add a layer mask to the Vignette layer, and using a basic brush, paint black over the area where the model is not located. This will also help keep the subject bright and in focus.

To see how simple this image really is, here is the Photoshop file. Please be aware that the file is very large, 29MB, so if you have a slow connection it will take quite a while to download. If when you click on the link you get a warning that you will navigate away from the page, ignore that, you will not be redirected to another site. The file is hosted on www.deviantart.com, but clicking it will not take you to their site.

Photoshop (.psd) file

---------

The vignette, in my opinion, is a great action to have in Photoshop. A vignette or Holga effect can really tie an image together. It helps to give it a border without needing solid black lines around your photo. It's a very soft effect that is easily customizable.

Check back soon for more photography and scrapbook fun!

Christine's Photo Shoot {Day 1}

Last September I enlisted the help of a dear friend to model for a digital photography project at school. I've been a little slow on the uptake, but I'm starting to edit them more and more. I will share with you the exact methods I used to edit each photo, and even offer you the Photoshop file so you can see the layers and all that good stuff for yourself!

-----------

Shower Us In Light
by Katie Hunter {featuring model Christine Hooley}

How I made it:

This is the original, untouched photo I started with:

1. Add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer using these settings:
   - Brightness: +29
   - Contrast: +9
2. Using a basic brush (medium hardness/softness), color with black over the part of the image without the model. This will mask out the brightness and contrast adjustment so the model becomes a greater focal point.
3. Add a Black & White Adjustment Layer using these settings:
   - Red: 40%
   - Yellows: 60%
   - Greens: 40%
   - Cyans: 60%
   - Blues: 20%
   - Magentas: 80%
4. Add a Curves Adjustment Layer like in the following screen shot:
   
   
5. Add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. Choose "Yellow" from the Filter menu and set the density to 34%. Keep the "Preserve Luminosity" box checked.
6. Add the vignette using these instructions:
   - Create a new layer and place it above all the other layers
   - Fill the layer with white
   - On the top toolbar, go to Filter --> Distort --> Lens Correction
   - In the dialogue box that pops up, you only need to adjust one thing. Set the Vignette amount to -100%
   - Change the layer's blending mode to Multiply
7. Add a layer mask to the Vignette layer, and using a basic brush, paint black over the area where the model is not located. This will also help keep the subject bright and in focus.

To see how simple this image really is, here is the Photoshop file. Please be aware that the file is very large, 29MB, so if you have a slow connection it will take quite a while to download. If when you click on the link you get a warning that you will navigate away from the page, ignore that, you will not be redirected to another site. The file is hosted on www.deviantart.com, but clicking it will not take you to their site.

Photoshop (.psd) file

---------

The vignette, in my opinion, is a great action to have in Photoshop. A vignette or Holga effect can really tie an image together. It helps to give it a border without needing solid black lines around your photo. It's a very soft effect that is easily customizable.

Check back soon for more photography and scrapbook fun!