Digital Scrapbooking Blog and Scrapbook Inspiration
from DesignerDigitals

This time around for the 3 Kits 3 Ways Challenge I decided to see what my team members would create starting out with three very basic kits. I chose three very popular kits and I just love seeing how Paula, Fiona and Debi from the Designer Digitals Creative Team met the challenge! The way this challenge works is that we invite all of you to create a page using the same three kits the team used and post in the 3 Kits 3 Ways Gallery. Check the specials in the Designer Digitals store. The 3 Kits are on special today if you would like to purchase them.  You may use additional Designer Digitals supplies, too.

First, here are the 3 Kits:
You can’t go wrong starting out with a paper from Naturally Krafty No. 01 Paper Pack by Katie Pertiet. I think the colors in this paper pack are perfect for spring or summer layouts.

My second choice for you is a kit that allows for the versatility of choosing your own papers to use to create ripped and stitched elements that match the colors in your photos. It is easy and fun to clip a paper to the torn paper layer.
Ripped and Stitched Do It Yourself by Lynn Grieveson

Third,  is one of those handy kits you can use over and over again. Brad Bonanza no. 03 by Pattie Knox is especially suitable for spring and summer layouts.

And, now, I am proud to show the 3 layouts created by Paula, Fiona and Debi.

Layout by Paula
The neutral Kraft background allows the family portrait to take center stage and gives the background just enough texture to be interesting, too. Paula used the DIY strips to frame both the top and and bottom of her photos and she used that magic uneven number three! Also, three different brads in a row finish off the page nicely. Paula’s additional kits are Two Sides Layered Template No. 02 by Katie Pertiet and Roughed Up Alphabet: Flourished Red also by Katie Pertiet.

Layout by Fiona
Fiona’s layout demonstrates how the 3 basics can be used to produce an exciting, modern look, too. I love the placement of the DIY strips and brads down in the corner of the page. That graceful title was achieved using Brushed Alphabet No. 03 by Katie Pertiet. Her brushwork is all by Anna Aspnes available in kits like Hipster Plumes Mega Pak No. 02 and LoopDaLoop Melange ArtStrokes no. 01.

Layout by Debi
Debi did something very clever and unique with the DIY strips. She filled the torn strip shapes with grass from her photos! She used the brads for bullet points for her journaling in a list. As she always does when she creates for this challenge, Debi used only the 3 chosen kits. (That’s cool!)

Wow! Once again I am gratified to see my choices for kits looking so good on these pages. I am eager to see more examples posted in the 3 Kits Gallery. I have one of my own ready to post, too.

I came across this week’s iTune inspiration and literally said ‘wow’ out loud. I like finding CD covers that translate into scrapbooking, but this one, I think this one was made with scrapbooking I think they raided our store don’t you ?

Here is my version. It has some little snapshots I wanted in my travel book, but weren’t so important a picture that they had to be huge.. perfect for this page

I hope this inspires you in some way, shape or form. Please post your pages into our special iTunes Inspiration gallery.

This week I visited with Angela (aka amcmillian) one of my favorite photographers and scrap artists at Designer Digitals. I was eager to learn more about this lovely woman who inspires us and encourages us in our gallery and forums, so, I am going to let Angela introduce herself in her own words before I ask questions.

I grew up in a small town called Sanford, NC. I was raised by my great-great grandmother and later my great-great aunt. Being raised by elderly southern women, I have great respect for law and order, so to speak. My mother (now deceased) was a very young teenager when I was born and she left town shortly afterwards. I met my father in my late teenaged years. I eventually moved to Fairfax, Virginia, a city a few miles south of Washington, DC., to be with my father and my half siblings. Even though I sometimes feel like I’m not quite sure where I fit in, I think I have more family than anyone could ever need. I’ve been in Virginia now for 25 years, but, I frequently visit my relatives in NC.
 
I’m pretty quiet (until I get to know you), and a bit of a loner, which makes it hard to meet people. But, to be quite honest, I enjoy every minute of the alone time I get.  I’d rather be alone or have one-on-one time with a good friend than be in a crowd, which makes one wonder how in the world I ever became an Event Coordinator! One word: downsizing. My research project was downsizing and my mentor suggested I look for another job within the company, just in case my job was cut. That was ten years ago. I had no idea I was going to enjoy my new job as much as I do. It speaks to the need for order in me and thank goodness it’s corporate meetings and conferences. I don’t think I could handle party planning or weddings! I have a son, 26, and a daughter, 25, who are the subjects of most of my pages and photography. 

One can tell immediately from perusing your gallery how much you love your family, Angela. You are such an excellent photographer. Which came first for you…your interest in designing a scrapbook page or your passion for photography?

Photography came first for me but not seriously until I found Digital Scrapbooking and Katrina’s online Photography classes.

I remember that you said you were the sole photographer at your sister’s wedding and you created a beautiful gift wedding book for her with the photos. Tell us more about that experience.


My sister got married in 2008 and since it wasn’t her first marriage, she had a very small wedding. I photographed her wedding with my point and shoot camera. Boy, I look back at those pictures and the photographer in me cringes, but the sister in me is so proud.  She loves those pictures and they posed for me as if I had a professional camera.  The hardest part was putting an album together,  I was still pretty new to scrapbooking and kept changing my mind about the direction I wanted to take. In the end I settled on a set up templates by Cathy Zielske.  My sister eventually got the book for Christmas in 2009.

That is such an amazing thing to accomplish and a loving gift for your sister. It shows what you can do with a point and shoot if you’ve got the good eye for photography as you do! I know you’ve upgraded your camera since then. We’re all curious about what equipment you use for your photography and what was it like to upgrade from PSE to CS4 for your scrapbook software?

I currently own a Canon Rebel XSi (450d) along with the 18-55mm, 55-250mm, and 50 1.4 mm which is almost never off my camera. I’m looking to upgrade and need to decide between the Canon 60d and 7d. I’m also looking to purchase my first L series lens most likely the 24-70mm. I currently use PSE and CS4 to scrap. I have PSE at home and CS4 on my work laptop. I couldn’t have learned either software application without Cassie’s tutorials. (Photoshop and PSE tutorials by Cassie Jones) I still struggle with CS4 and I know I’m not using it or PSE to their full capabilities, but, I’m enjoying the process.

There are so many wonderful shots of your family members in your layouts. What advice do you have for us for posing people for a photo shoot or do you try more for candid shots?

I would love to be able to capture more candid shots, but unfortunately, or fortunately, my family knows I take my camera everywhere and they are very aware of it. As soon as it comes out of my bag or goes up to my face, they either hide or start modeling. So I usually let them try what they want first and then I try to say something to get them laughing to loosen them up a bit. I still have lots to learn when it comes to photographing more than two people in one photo. Hopefully I’ll get lots of practice this spring and summer.

Well, it shows that you have a wonderful relationship with your son and daughter so whatever you’re doing really works! I just spent a lovely time reviewing your gallery and enjoyed every minute. I noticed you join in on many of our Designer Digitals Challenges. In fact, I counted eight layouts you’ve created for Cassie’s 30 Minute Challenges! Why do you like that challenge, in particular?

Merr, my good friend, you’ve noticed that a lot of my pages in the gallery happen to be challenge pages! I think that is mainly because I’m a slow scrapper and having a challenge gives me the OK to either copy someone else or gives me boundaries and less time for my indecisiveness. My favorite challenges are Mel’s iTunes Inspiration and Cassie’s 30 Minute Masterpiece Challenge.

I agree with you, Angela…it is helpful to have the choices narrowed down and an idea to start scrapping. We’re so glad you like the challenges. In fact, let’s leave the folks with a link to one of your favorites from your gallery. It’s one you did for the Journaling Challenge back in 2009.

My Wish 4 YOU

You’ll all want to visit Angela’s entire gallery for inspiration. Her layouts always showcase great photos and her ever increasing technical skills with Photoshop, so, here’s the link:
amcmillian’s Gallery

Thank you, Angela. I appreciate you taking time out from your work and family time to chat with us.

In our last Quarterly Sale Chat day, Katie lead an hour long discussion about collage.  The ideas and the inspiration she provided were so rich.  Here is the link to her notes.  You can spend many hours wandering through these links and learning so much. A visual feast.

For this month’s PageKraft feature we are looking deeply into this idea of piecing bits and parts onto one page.

A recent show at the Princeton University Art Museum  featured the retrospective work of Kurt Schwitters.

To quote the web site “Schwitters developed a unique form of artistic practice, one that merged art and life, embraced disparate media, and utilized found objects and printed materials”.

Sound familiar?

I have been very attracted to his work and one piece in particular served as inspiration for my latest PageKraft project.

Mz 601, 1923

This article in the New York Times, March 31, 2011, provides more insight and ideas.
If you Google his name and choose “Images” you will be overwhelmed with the most magical paper piecing you can imagine.

After a recent quick visit to Madrid where I spent most of my time in museums, walking and photographing in the streets ( and eating, of course!) I pieced together this hommage to the Madridleños love of art.

Madrid’s Art

Sharon and I have been almost psychically connected across the globe more than once.  And the day I finished my page she posted this marvelous example of a complex collage.  Check out how she used the layers and the color in the composition which flows so well.

Love Photos Like This

And check out this wonderful layered photo collage from Sam.  The colors and paper use, the shadows and stitching are what brings it into the collage domain.  I love the combo of color and aged paper.

Fish and Chips

PageKraft is more of an inspiration than a challenge but we do have our won Gallery where we would love to see your creations. 

Explore the links above to get more ideas and then give it a go.
Thanks for joining us as we explore our PageKraft.

Apologies for the slightly later than usual appearance of this week’s Saturday Scraplift - it was an unseasonably warm and sunny day here so we took off on a ferry to a nearby island instead of sitting at our computers. But now I am back and eager to talk about this week’s wonderful inspiration page from the gallery of ptabbert:

That shade of brown for the background is so perfect with a black and white photo, and the little touches of pinky-red add just the right amount of extra punch. Beautiful clustering too, and the way the repeated text cluster brush is used adds extra interest and grounds the photo without overpowering it.

Kathie, Sharon and I enjoyed lifting this lovely page, and perhaps you will too. Here’s where we ended up:

Credits: layout by Lynn, Worn Photo Edges No.03, Raspberry Sundae kit, Painted garden, Hint at it No.07 brushes, Dirty Words No.03, and Delighted kit by Lynn Grieveson, Artplay Palette English Rose and Descriptives Word Transfers (both coming soon) by Anna Aspnes, Fasten Its! by Pattie Knox.

Credits: layout by Sharon, You and Me kit, Ripped Cardstock: Krafty No.01, Vintage Photo Frames No.07, Collageables No.03, Thankful Memories element pack, Worth Repeating overlays no.02 by Katie Pertiet.

Credits: layout by Kathie, Summer Splendor brushes and stamps, Cold Springs brushes and stamps, Lifted Wings No.02, Winged Collection No.03, Conifere kit, harmony Grove kit, Ripped Vintage Photo Frames No.01 by Katie Pertiet, Hint at it No.03 and No.05 by lynn Grieveson, Descriptoves Word transfers No.01 (coming soon), Painted Fotoblendz Clipping Masks, cream stitching and Autumnal Pageset No.02 by Anna Aspnes, Dara Kit (coming soon) and Just Linens Paperpack No.20 by Maplebrook Studios, Staple Its! by Pattie Knox.