A truly 'green' Christmas card

On this digital greeting card, I used photos from some of the things we did together in 2010. I printed it in 4x6 photo size to give to friends and relatives, but I also saved a few trees and e-mailed it, too. The LO design, tartan papers, and white elements are all my own.

Miss MacGregor

I used a real Scotland map decoupaged on the papier mache torso, MacGregor tartan ribbon, a small Scottish flag, and a beaded necklace made by my good friend Candace. I inked the natural-colored beaded twill and added an enameled MacGregor clan badge pin to the ribbon to make it look like a sash. The head is a painted wooden finial.

What I Made on World Card Making Day

World Card Making Day was on Saturday, October 2nd, so my DIL and I got together to make our September Adobe Greetings to Go (G2G) cards from Club Scrap. I added flowers from Close to My Heart and Prima, inks: Clearsnap, Versacolor, and Brilliance, some copper glitter glue, and punches from EK Success.

Here's some of my finished cards.

I hope you were able to find time to make a card or two. If not, don't wait a whole year for World Card Making Day 2011...make some today!

Eat carrots...get younger looking skin AND a design challenge

OK, after reading about how the beta-carotene in carrots helps to fill in those 'blotches' caused by (gasp!) our body's maturing process (mature - not me!), I'm heading for the market!

Carrots are teeming with tiny orange pigments called beta-carotene, and when you ingest those pigments, you’re inviting them to nestle into your skin, fill in blotches, and give you a healthy glow. And what’s more, research shows that this can actually help prevent premature aging from sun damage. But, is the accumulation of orange in your skin going to make you look - ummm - orange? Well, hopefully not. However, eating 'excessive' loads of carotene-rich foods CAN lead to a condition called carotenosis and your could end up looking quite orange. Thankfully, the conditions is rare, so unless you notice yourself turning into a prison jumpsuit, feel free to chow down!

Other beta-carotene rich foods: sweet potatoes (yum!), red bell peppers, red grapefruit


DESIGN CHALLENGE: Make a layout featuring the color orange and/or carrots!

Let's Go Sounders!

For this digital LO, I used both the Club Scrap Jubilee and Destinations digital papers. I took the picture of the huge Sounders logo on a wall inside the stadium and overlaid it on the background paper to give it texture. The only embellishments are the photos. ;-)

How to add color to a brush image

I learned this cool technique from Obsidian Dawn. I'm using PSCS3, but the steps may be the same for PSE.

1. Create a new transparent layer on top of the background layer.
2. Choose your brush.
3. Stamp the brush once using black as your foreground color.
4. Rename the layer to “black.”

You should now have a background layer and a black layer with the black brush image on it.

5. Duplicate the black layer layer and name the layer with whatever color you would like to use first.
6. With this new layer selected, click on the “fx” at the bottom left corner of the layers palette.
7. Choose “Color Overlay” from the menu and choose your color. Your image will change to the color you chose.

But wait, there's more!

8. Create a new layer above the black layer. Your colored layer will be on top of this one.
9. Select the colored layer, right click, and choose “Merge Down.” This makes the image keep the applied color instead of the black.
Note: When you merge down layers, the name of the combined layers changes to the name of the bottom layer. Rename your new layer back to your color choice.

10. To change the way that the color layer blends in with the black layer, select the color layer, click on the “fx” again, and choose “Blending Options.” Change the blending mode from “Normal” to “Color.” Notice how the color brightens up; preserving the luminosity of the original black image.
11. Repeat steps 5- 10 to add more colors (see my sample above).
12. Erase areas to let the individual colors show through.

Tip: Play around with the hue/saturation, lightness/darkness, and opacity of each layer (including the black one).

A couple of new digital layouts...

Summer time is here and so is the 'virtual' summer camp at Club Scrap! I'm in the Sturgeon 'cabin' and we're doing all digital LOs. Here are 3 that I did from our recent vacation through the Black Hills and Badlands of WY, SD, ND, and MT.

Stay crafty!

Tartan Day 2003

All digital.

Around the World in ATCs

ATC book featuring cards from an "Around the World" themed swap using papers and stamps from the Club Scrap "Road Trip" kit.

Heidi GlitterJugs

Digital ATC

Little Lady

All digital.

Scottish Memory Book

Club Scrap flag book kit.

Playing Games

Club Scrap paper

I Like Beer

Another LO on foam core board with a cutout for the bottlecaps.

Summer Microbrew Festival

Layered on foam core board with a cutout for the bottlecaps.

8 1/5 x 11 Pages

Various papers and elements

6x6 ATC Album Page

Club Scrap paper and stamps

Welcome!

This blog will showcase my scrapbooking pages, custom greeting cards, and projects. I may even throw in a tutorial or three!
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