AWDML Design Team Blog

12x12 Sketch

Lucy gave you an awesome card sketch for inspiration yesterday! How about today I give you a 12x12 layout sketch?! If I am feeling "stuck" I LOVE to use a sketch as a jumping off point for my layouts. Hopefully, this sketch will give you some ideas and inspiration!  Enjoy!

Have a Happy Thursday! 

Kelly Shults

{WILD WEDNESDAY} Card Sketch

Lets get your scrapping going and make a card for that someone special

Upload into the gallery and link it back here. I would love to see it

Lucy Chesna

Do you scrapblog??

Huh? Scrapblog? What is that? Well it's one of the latest crazes to hit scrapbooking, and a way to get your feet wet with digital scrapbooking. Scrapblog is an online site that allows you to "combine your photos, videos, audio and text to create stunning multimedia scrapbooks".

The site provides templates as well as elements for you to create one or a series of pages to tell a story.  The premade templates have been designed by artists such as Michelle Colman, Rhonna Farrer and Amy Hutchinson.  To use the templates you can simply select the premade elements (which include background papers, stickers,  shapes, text and ballons, video and frames). Then you are free to move the elements around  as you like. There are two ways to use your photos: you can either upload them from your computer, or access them online from sites like Photobucket, Flickr or Facebook. Once you've used a photo, it remains in your account to be used again later. The site also allows you to edit your photos and change them to Black&White, Sepia or Vintage to name a few.

Here is a page I made using the Court Papers theme by Amy Hutchinson.

I highly reccommend checking out the how-to tour  before getting started. If I had done that it might have saved me about half of hour of frustration! After the initial learning curve, I think this site will allow you to quickly put digital pages together. You can then share these pages online or download them to your computer.

You can also build your scrapblogs from scratch, and select from the every increasing directory of papers and elements available. Soon to be added will be designs from Cosmo Cricket and Bam Pop! So go check it out and get scrapblogging!

Cheers
Francine

Monthly Challenges!

So you need a bit of motivations to get you scrapping!  Perfect because each DT member posts a monthly challenge to get your mojo flowing.  So you not only have one to pick from but several inspiring challenges.
Make sure to have your uploads into the gallery by Aug 14th!


Francine's Challenge:My challenge is to use your scraps on a scrapbook page. But with a twist: you have to use them as is! You can’t cut them, or punch things out of them, use the piece exactly the size and shape it is now! You’re allowed to use a full sheet for your background, but all other paper must be scraps!

Mollie's Challenge:Scrap a LO about with a summer time theme,make sure to use the colors Yellow and green, and at least three types of ribbon!

Angie's Challenge:CHIPBOARD FRENZY - you must use more than 4 pieces of chipboard on your layout however they have to be different shapes from one another. And alphas would only count as one.

Kelly's Challenge:Scrap by Numbers Challenge:

Create a layout using:                    
5- Embellishments
4- brads or eyelets
3- patterned papers
2- photos
1- rub-on

Lucy's Sketch: Use the following sketch as your inspiration.

(I completed Lucy's sketch challenge this month my layout Little Sunshine was completed using July's Floral Frenzy Kit from AWDML. LOVE ME ALL THE FLORALS!)
So what are you waiting for, grab your supplies and get scrappin!-Angie

                                                                                                         

Floral Friday!

Yep that's right I'm feeling a bit FLORAL today!  Kidding aside I have been playing with July's Floral Frenzy kit and I created these two cards!  I wanted to show how you can get two completely different looking cards using the bold colored florals.  On one card I cut the florals out of the KI paper and used them as thier own embellishments. I even doodled a bit!  And who could not resist using that cute button scallop border! Perfect for making cards!  To add a bit of glitz I used Kaiser Rhinestones which you can find here at the store: Kaiser Rhinestones  I keep a variety of colors on hand.  I just love these stones!  I felt they added just the right element to add a smile to anyone's face! (Thanks stamp not included in kit)

If you already have the kit I would love to see what your creating with it!  If you don't have this juicy kit in your hands yet I think their may be a few left...get em while they are HOT!
Floral Frenzy   Have a floral frenzy FRIDAY!  - Angie

Scrapbook Tutorials

I am always on the search for ideas and inspiration!  How about you?  For instance, today I was trying to come up with ideas for what I should post about today.  So... I started clicking links and surfing the net.  I happened to click on a link in our lovely DT member, Francine's signature line, because it was one I hadn't noticed before.  I was delighted to find, she has a site dedicated to turorials!  Whoot! Whoot!  That sparked an idea!  I will post links to some of my favorite tutorial sites!   So... here we go! :)

Francines - Tuesday To-Do 
I-Scrap Video Tutorials
Triangle Accordian Album
Paper Pleasing Ideas
The Scrapbook Lounge - Video Tutorials

I have a few tutorials on my own site, some of them for digital scrappers and some of them for traditional scrappers.

Also, be sure and check out the classes and tutorials in the TSS forums.  There is a wealth of great tutorials and projects to be found there! 

Have fun. Be inspired. Create.

Until next time,

Kelly Shults

Pubbity Pub Pub!

Let me just start off by saying, there is some amazing and talented work in the gallery over at the site!!!  All of the entries for the MMASS contest are fab and it's so hard to choose ONE person to vote for!  Now, with all of the talent that's floating around over there, there's bound to be some real potential in all of the members!!  And by potential I mean Publication potential!

Check out a few of these sites to find out what type of work some companies and sites are looking for... And don't be shy... It's worth the try!   (You may even get some fun, free goodies! Always a plus!)  :)

Pub Calls

Scrap Scene

How To Get Published

Scrapbook Publishing Resources

~Mollie

Expanding Your Photographic Horizons.

Part 2 - Composition

Photo composition is a huge topic as I discovered, but I will attempt to give you some ideas, because I think that’s one of the things we would like to be better at as scrappers.

The first tip is to get close to your subject. In looking at many of the photos I took before I was a scrapper, I notice that I have a lot of unnecessary elements in the background. There's lots of greenery, scenery and buildings, and just a tiny person floating somewhere in the middle. Even though sometimes this is what I want to show, most of the time it isn't. I t

hink when we’re taking a photo we have a tendency to want to capture everything, and while this may be great for landscapes, it’s not so much for photos of people. So get closer to your subject, then even closer. Try to see how much you can fill your frame with whatever it is you truly want to capture. Of course with digital photography and programs like Photoshop we can crop out background easily, but why have to do an extra step?  Also give some thought to whether you should be taking the shot with the camera held horizontally or vertically.

Secondly there’s what’s known as the Golden Rule of Photography, or the Rule of Thirds. Most people tend to compose a photo with the main subject smack dab in the middle of the frame. That’s the way our mind works, but is it really the way we want our photo to look? To use the rule of thirds what you do is to divide your viewfinder into thirds both vertically and horizontally, ending up with a diagram that looks like the frame for a game of tic-tac-toe.

Now place your main subject on one of the 4 intersecting points. Another way to use this, especially for landscapes is to place things like mountain ranges, the sky, or the horizon in one of the horizontal thirds of the frame.

Look at these two photos taken of the lavender fields in Provence. In the first one the earth and the sky are evenly divided with the horizon in the middle.

In the second photo, the sky occupies only the upper third, with the mountains in the middle and the fields in the foreground.

One of the neat things about digital cameras these days is that many of them include a function where you can see this tic-tac-toe frame on your screen. If you have this function, try using it! If you don’t then you have to eyeball it. Spend some time looking at what you’re photographing and see how you can apply this rule before clicking the shutter.

When taking portraits compose the shot so that the subject's eyes fall in the top third section of the frame.

 
The third idea is that of framing. This is where you use things that are in the foreground of the scene you’re photographing to “frame” the main subject. You can use natural frames like tree branches, or even a window frame, by taking a photo of the outdoors from inside and including the frame in your composition. Framing your subject helps to lead the viewers eye through the photo. Here’s a photo that my husband took in downtown Lyon that illustrates this.

Other ideas for frames: taking a picture through rock formations, architectural elements like doorways and archways, even fancy sculptures. How about those tube like things at your kid’s playground? That might make a cool photo!

One last tip is point of view. When you see something cool that you want to take a photo of, if possible walk around it and see how it looks from different angles. Get up high, go down low, and really look at your intended subject before clicking the shutter.

Hopefully these tips will be the motivation you need to try new things with your camera. It may not always be possible to make the necessary adjustments as you're shooting, but if you know before hand the situation that you will be taking photos in, then you can set your camera up appropriately. Please feel free to share your photos and tips with us in the Photography Forum. You may also post any questions you have in the forum, we'll be happy to help.

 For more information you can also check out these online resources.

Fodor's Lighting info

Lighting sources and direction

Light

Making the most of your flash

Techniques for better on camera flash

Digicam Help

understanding flash photography

Photo Tips

 

Floral Frenzy-July Kit Reveal

If you have a love for all kinds of blooms, this kit is a MUST have!  So many gorgeous flowers to create with; large ones, small ones, wood ones, mirrored ones, bling ones....I could go on you know.
Not to mention this kit has such an array of VIBRANT colors!  I was actually motivated to haul out some photo's from a cruise I took a few years back and scrap!  The colors were perfect!  The variety of patterns is a plus as well.  From buttons to scallops, butterflies to stripes, this kit has it all.  I'm sure you have some photos just waiting to be scrapped with this gorgeous kit!  Check it out! _Angie                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
 

MMASS Week #4 - Piggy Tales

The contest continues, as does our search for the ultimate Super Scrapper!  This weeks challenge was all about telling a tale!  Here are a few of this weeks participant lovely layouts:

by Reeni

by Debra Reitz

by Brianne

by Michelle D.

All these ladies deserve a big round of applause for their hard work!  They have stuck out the contest for 4 weeks so far and have created some gorgeous layouts during that time!   Keep it up ladies, you are all doing an amazing job!

{July Kit Reveal} Twist and Shout

Hello my fellow TSS members

It Summer and time once again to show you the awesome kit I used this month. I am telling you its ROCKS!!!!

Lets give it up to the Twist and Shout Kit ......ITS THE BOMB

 

I am telling you the kit is full of stuff that you can do many things with it.

Look at this kit

2008 07 Twist and Shout Kit

Starting at: $29.99

This kit includes:

Sandylion Tangerine Twist Out of This World
Sandylion Tangerine Twist Pop Rocks
Sandylion Tangerine Twist Simply Sweet
Sandylion Tangerine Twist Around The Block
Luxe Designs Simply Luxe Black Pinstripe
Luxe Designs Simply Luxe Black Calico
Luxe Designs Simply Luxe Black Lined
Luxe Designs Simply Luxe Black Polka Dot
Bazzill Cardstock Scallop 6x12 White
Bazzill Cardstock Scallop Circle Black
Bazzill Cardstock Just the Edge Rio
Bazzill Cardstock Pebble
Bazzill Cardstock Yam
Bazzill Cardstock Cheddar
Coredinations Cardstock Nightfall
Cloud 9 Foil rimmed chipboard alpha Orange
American Crafts Indie Ribbon
American Crafts Thickers Accents Black
American Crafts Medium Brads Orange
Heidi Swapp Overlay Dots
Kaiser Crafts Wood Flourishes Borders
Kaiser Crafts Paper Flowers White & Orange
7 Gypsies Transparent ATC cards

Here is some of my work that I did with the kit and let me tell you...I still have more pp for more layouts and cards

Lucy

Expanding Your Photographic Horizons.

The central part of any scrapbook page is the photographs around which it is built. One of the ways to ensure that the photographs are the focus of the page is to use clear, sharp, properly focused photos, which capture what it is you're trying to show. While most modern cameras produce very good results when using the automatic function, if you are still dissatisfied with your photos, this article will help you to step it up a notch.

Part 1 – Getting to know your camera.

Otherwise known as "Get that manual out of hiding". I know I know, camera manuals are not a fun read. Mine has sent me to sleep more than once. But after having my nice new (and expensive) camera for over one month and still taking blurry unfocused photos, I realized I needed to have some idea of what I was working with.

The main function of this section is to allow you to have an idea of what your camera can and cannot do, as well as knowing where to look when you want more information.

First take a look at the schematic at the beginning of the manual that describes all the bits and bobbles of your camera. Make a note of the ones that you want to learn more about, and also where in the manual you can get more information. At the end of the article you will probably want to look this over again as you narrow on an things you want to try.

What I'd suggest that you get familiar with is using modes other than the automatic mode. Your camera might be equipped with a dial that has numerous symbols on it. I’ll describe the most common ones here.

Anti-blur (a torso surrounded by bracket like lines) – self-explanatory: this function helps you avoid shaky blurry pics – use when zooming

Portrait- (a head)- used for taking portraits, this mode allows you to get clear close up shots of faces with a blurred background

Macro- or close up (a flower) this is the perfect mode to take close up shots of details of subjects like flowers and insects. This is perfect for when you want to fill your frame with whatever you are shooting. Check your manual to learn what the closest distance you can use this mode at is.

Landscape mode (mountain peaks) – for taking shots of sweeping landscapes. This mode keeps everything in focus, from the object closest to you to the mountains in the distance. This is also good for taking shots of people in front of scenery.

Sports mode (man running) For all those action shots. This mode “stops” the motion. Use not only for sports or kids in motion, but also for animals and flowers blowing in the wind.

Night mode: (a moon and star, or a face and star, or a house and moon) – Gives a much more balanced look to a photo taken at night. It is recommended that you use a tripod with this function, or the subject will be in focus against a blurred background (unless that is the look you are going for of course!)

N : Natural Light mode: Great for low light conditions when you can’t or don't want to use flash, like sleeping babies, candlelit services, birthday parties.

Some cameras also have modes for Self-portrait, snow, party and fireworks. In some cameras, some of these modes aren't on the dial, but can be found by scanning though your menu options. Check your manual for more information.

 Practice using these modes by doing some test shots. First take the photo using automatic mode. Then select the correct mode for the situation and compare the results. You might never go back to auto! It's summer now and the perfect time to get out there and take lots of photos of your activities. Don't forget to share any gems with us.

 

Check back next week for Part 2 - Composition.

Francine