Bits&Pieces

Sponsor Giveaways: from ReneePearson.com, Tiny Belles and Log Your Memory

ReneePearson.com is giving away one spot to 25 days of Templates, a new 25-day workshop being taught by the talented Tiffany Tillman.

From ReneePearson.com: Do your scrapbook layouts take a back seat during the holidays? Do you want a quick way to capture the season’s best memories without sacrificing quality or design? Do you want to detail your family’s holiday season from this year or years past?

If you answered yes, then you’ll want to join Tiffany Tillman as she celebrates 25 Days of Templates! In this class, she will help you craft a holiday album using layered templates as the foundation. From there you can mix and personalize to match your favorite December festivities. In addition, Tiffany will show you how to work with a variety of timeless templates to fit your style.

Now, don’t expect all template talk. Tiffany will provide you with her unique scrapbook plan plus holiday-inspired solutions to photography, digital techniques, and page topics. You’ll even receive a brand-new, exclusive holiday kit from Paislee Press!

 

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Tiny Belles Boutique is giving one of my blog readers a free tutu and matching hair bow.

Is there anything cuter than a little one in a tutu? Or a big one, for that matter.

From Tiny Belles Boutique: Tiny Belles Boutique was opened in October 2009 by Emily Piper and Janel Starkey.  They've been friends for over 10 years, and have enjoyed raising their little monkeys together. They decided to take their mutual love of crafting and launch their own boutique. Now we spend our time together crafting and enjoying a great fellowship, while sharing our products with the world!

They plan on attending and participating in a few different craft shows around Spokane this holiday season, and will be featured in the Moonlight and Magnolias blog in the upcoming month, as well as being featured in the Etsy Gift Guide later in November. 

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Log Your Memory caps off today's giveaway with multiple goodies for my readers!

• One winner will receive their choice of either a coil-bound or perfect-bound print edition of the Scrapbooker's All-In-One Memory Logbook 2010

• Two winners will receive the Print-It-Yourself Digital Download version of the Scrapbooker's All-In-One Memory Logbook 2010

From Log Your Memory: The Scrapbooker's All-In-One Memory Logbook is a combination planning calendar, idea book, journal and sketchbook created especially for scrapbook enthusiasts. The 392-page book is the core product of Log Your Memory, a new Web site aimed at helping busy parents, grandparents and others interested in preserving their life stories capture and record their memories, even when they don't have time to actually sit down and create a scrapbook page.
 
The Memory Logbook accomplishes this through a collection of monthly and daily calendar pages, with room to jot down activities as well as memorable moments to be later incorporated into layouts. The book is much more than a calendar, however. A variety of questionnaires, journaling prompts in the form of "weekly challenges" and worksheets are interspersed amongst the calendar pages to help trigger ideas and guide scrapbookers toward capturing the "real" stories of their lives.
 
Supporting the Memory Logbook is LogYourMemory.com featuring daily blog posts, a community forum, a scrapbook layout gallery, a member chat room,  "Calendar Girls" Creative Team, links to scrapbooking sites and resources, Log Your Memory books and gifts, and other features designed to inspire and encourage "real life" scrapbooking.
 
Log Your Memory is a subsidiary of Spring Creek Design, a home-based freelance graphic design business founded in 2007 by Kristin Rutten. She, her husband Jacques, and their four children make their home in Lewistown, Montana.

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To enter, simply leave your name in the comments. I'll draw the winners sometime after 7 p.m. on Saturday night.

Can somebody get me Amanda Hugginkiss?

Last night, I did a live video chat at ReneePearson.com in my pajamas. (Sorry, whenever I use the term "live video chat" I have the urge to follow it with: LIVE SINGLES IN YOUR AREA ARE WAITING TO TALK NOW!, but I digress.)

So we start chatting (and if you missed it, you can register at ReneePearson.com and watch it On Demand at ReneeTV) and about 5 or so minutes into it, a chat participant named Fawn asked me "What is your favorite subject to scrapbook about?" I cheekily said, "Me," then followed it up with my sound reasoning as to why and how scrapbooking about others is ultimately a subjective point of view, and therefore, whoever  you are scrapbooking about, you can't help but inject a bit of you into the story-telling process.

It seemed like an innocent question, until my iChat Instant Messenger Window popped up, with a message from a very good friend and former co-worker of mine who I will call "Tim Dicklord," and he chats me: "Thanks for answering my question."

Then he asks me, while I'm trying to stay focused on the chat at hand if I liked the name he logged in as, which was Fawn del Majonk.

Which he then oh-so helpfully interprets for me: Fondle My Junk.

Of course, being the professional that I am, I quickly chatted at him: GO AWAY, and finished the chat and no one was the wiser, but stifling my laughter was about as easy quitting smoking.

I guess my point today is this: you never know when someone is going to log in under a false name and that name is going to be Fawn del Majonk.

Thanks to everyone who chatted last night. It really wasn't vodka in my glass. (And rest assured, Tim is a very dear friend who makes me laugh heartily on a regular basis. Still, I'm going to have to take him down a notch very, very soon.)

Tomorrow, I have a multi-sponsor giveaway, so check back!

Traditional, hybrid or digital? Yes, please!

I've been fielding a number of comments and emails lately asking me a variation of the following question: "Hey Cathy, what's up with all the digi stuff? Have you left traditional scrapbooking behind?"

The short answer: no. The long answer follows…

I remember when I started scrapbooking like it was yesterday, mostly because I was totally freaked out that I was so insanely in love with something I swore I would NEVER partake in. Scrapbooking? Me? Yeah, RIGHT.

But then I made the layout below, and there was no looking back:

 

From the very first magical day, I was a girl who tapped into my digital side to make layouts. By combining my love of design, type and computers with stuff in the real scrapbooking world, I found a way to make something with my hands that had components created and taken from the digital realm. In other words, I started as a hybrid girl, and for the most part, that's where I've been for most of my scrapbooking days.

I never thought I would make all-digital pages. Even though I loved the techie aspect of choosing type and making digital sketches, I always loved printing it all out, cutting it apart and re-assembling it in the real world.

The hands-on part of it actually forced me to move away from my computer and work in a different creative realm. I liked what that did for my creative process; that it added a tactile component beyond simply using a mouse and a keyboard.

But a funny thing happened over the summer as I started dabbling a bit more in straight-up digital designs: I felt inspired to tell stories again in a way I hadn't in quite a while.

Rather than wait until the time was good to pull out my photos, and pull out my scrapbooking stash of goods, I simply opened iPhoto, pulled out some photos and started designing right here, on my computer—the place where I spend a large majority of my work day as it is.

Suddenly, I was finding both the time and the inspiration to tell stories again.

So back to the question of "what's up with all the digital stuff?" I guess my answer would have to be: I'm following my inspiration right now. I plan to keep one foot in the "real" (edited to add: as in paper and glue) scrap world, one in the digi scrapworld, and a third in hybrid land, which might actually be trickier than you'd think, as I am currently only in possession of two legs.

I'm trying to find the best way for me and where I'm at now to keep telling stories from my life.

Talk to me about your traditional/hybrid/or digital leanings. I'd love to hear from you, the blog readers, on where you are and what percentages you put your own creating at.

Don't be shy now. The phone lines are open…

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Come do a live video chat with me tonight at 9 p.m. EST on ReneeTV. This is the second time I've done a live video chat and it's kind of a cool thing. You type questions, I answer them on video. And I promise, I will be wearing pants. You have to become a registered user at ReneePearson.com (it's free to join) to join in.

A 13-year-old still life

Her Dad's shirt, brand new Rocket Dogs, Little "Matched" socks, skinny red jeans, black patent leather purse and chipping black nail polish that'd make Adam Lambert proud.

I sort of wish my Mom had been a crazy, camera-totin' fiend back in the day, but somehow, I don't think my look was as interesting.

Video Tutorial: create at least one, or two , or two opposing rounded corners using Photoshop Elements

A blog reader recently asked, "Cathy, how do you get some of the corners rounded in your designs, but not all of them?" and I thought it'd be a good idea for a quick video tutorial.

For many moons, I did this effect of opposing or single rounded corners using an Apple script for use only in Adobe InDesign, the page layout program. But since I've been working in Photoshop and creating templates for scrapbooking, I figured I'd better learn how to do this in Photoshop. Here, I present the results of my figuring as figured using Photoshop Elements 8. (Note: to watch this video in a larger size, simply click on the Rounded Corners Tutorial link below the video to go directly to the Vimeo site.)

A Rounded Corners Tutorial for Photoshop Elements from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

Of course in Photoshop, there is always more than one way to achieve the same end result. I just wanted to share with you how I would achieve this result using PSE 8. (A side note: you can't actually do Command+Z until the cows come home. Usually there's a set limit and honestly, I'm not sure what it is, but just keeping Command+Z'ing until you hear something resembling mooing. You get my point.)

To create an outline to a shape in Photoshop CS, you simply apply layer styles by double clicking on your shape layer and selecting the Stroke option, and then under Blending Options, change the opacity of the Fill to "0"

Note: I have my PSE and my PS grid set up to 1 inch increments so that when I am designing with my grid on, I can easily see in inches as I go. You can access your grid specs through Preferences, or in some versions of PSE, under the Edit menu.

P.S. Isn't that the most AWESOME shot above of my 10-year-old boy? So many of them look like this:

Rounded corners or not, let's hear it for good shots of pre-teen boys.

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As always, feel free to share your best tip for achieving the same end result! As I said, there are more than one way to accomplish goals in PSE and PS. Don't be shy if you know of another way.

From blog to page (a.k.a. The Blog Grab)

When I started blogging back in the Days of Yore, I remember distinctly thinking how awesome it was going to be to have all these new little bits of story telling and pictures to scrapbook with.

It made perfect sense. I'd put all this time and energy into crafting blog posts, then I'd transfer it all to a scrapbook page to preserve forever in the so-called real world.

While it's a sound idea, I've probably only done this a handful of times. For example, one time I told a rather sweet story about something Dan said to me (read it here), and then I made this page:

 

A true and victorious example of blog to page. But I can count on a few fingers how many times this has actually happened.

Enter the Blog Grab.

(Not to be confused with the very familiar and all-too-prevalent Boob Grab):

As I was working on some new template ideas for Designer Digitals, I thought: I want to create something that easily lets me transfer a word-heavy and photo-laden blog post to a simple layout design. You know, a design with lots of room for journaling, and accordingly, room for multiple photos if need be. And here's what I came up with:

 

 

These templates (one for 12 x 12 scrappers, and one for 8.5 x 11 scrappers) are my solution for taking a longer story that I love, like this one, and being able to save it to the real world scrapbook page, like this:

 

Or, the page I actually printed out for Cole's album, in 8.5 x 11:

SUPPLIES: Layered Template No. 7 (12 x 12) • Layered Template No. 8 (8.5 x 11) • Spot Dots Paper Pack No 11, Digital Dates Date Stamps Vol. 12 (Katie Pertiet) • Archer font • Adobe Photoshop CS4 • (Note: I cut the larger shot on this template in two, to add a few more shots.)

Because I was on a roll, I also did this hybrid page with another blog post about my girl turning 13:

 

(click on the image to see a larger version of the layout in new window)

I tweaked the template a bit by first turning off all of the photo layers and backgrounds, then erasing the lower left hand horizontal line on the overlay for the left page, and then flipping the overlay itself and moving the journaling block over to continue the journaling on a second page. Next I copied and pasted my journaling directly from the blog post into the template and formatted the text using Avenir and a tiny bit of Amelie. Then I printed the two pages out onto white cardstock. To finish, I grabbed some of the shots from the blog post (in 300 DPI, mind you), plus a few other shots, measured the open space, and trimmed the photos to size.

These templates also work great if you simply need lots of space for multiple photos and longer stories.

Don't let your good stories live only in cyberspace. Take them from blog to page today. Try one this weekend!

Every one of my templates is on sale—as is everything in the store—until next Tuesday at 6 a.m. E.S.T. as part of the Designer Digitals 4th Quarter Sale.

Have a lovely weekend.

Design Your Life Registration is Open (and a quick Q & A)

Beginning today, you can register for Design Your Life. There is no class size limit, so there is no need to race to register. There's room for everyone to learn design.

I've been fielding a series of questions since announcing this workshop a while back, and here is a brief Q&A for those of you who are interested in taking this workshop with me.

Is this the same class you taught in 2008?  Yes, it's the very same class. All of the assignments are the same. All of my layouts are the same. I purposefully  have not publicly shared any of these pages (or sketches) for this class to keep the content exclusively for my students. The weekly slide show lessons are also the same. However, I decided to re-record all 12 weeks of those lectures to create videos for the new format at BigPictureScrapbooking. Additionally, in 2008 I recorded video messages every few weeks for my students, based on whatever was going on topic wise on the boards, or just depending on what sorts of things were going on in my scrapbook life. These unscripted videos will be all new in DYL 2010, of course.

I've taken one of your workshops this year, and was able to save the slideshow to my computer. Will I be able to do the same in this class?  Not for Design Your Life. As with the first go round, we will have the slideshows available online, streaming, in high resolution. You will also have "forever" access to the class materials. Even though the class will end, you will always be able to go in and download materials, and view anything you may have missed. We'll also have transcripts and PDFs of every slide of each presentation for you to print and save if you wish.

I'm a digital scrapbooker. How will a class like this help me?  For Design Your Life 2010, I've added layered PSD files for digital scrapbookers, but the core content of this class—teaching design principles—is going to help all scrapbookers, whether you're digital, hybrid or tradtional.

Do digital scrapbookers need what's on the supply list?  No, except for possibly an album and page protectors to save your finished, printed pages. Honestly? The supply list is purely a guide to give you ways to store your work. You can store your final pages any way you like! And this goes for all students.

I would prefer to do all of my pages in 12 x 12. Will I still learn the concepts if I do this?  You are welcome to convert sketch concepts to 12 x 12, and yes, you will still learn the concepts. We have a good number of 8.5 x 11 sketches, both single page designs and two-page spreads. In 2008, some students simply took those core designs for the 8.5 x 11, and placed them onto a 12 x 12 space. The concepts we're studying do not get lost when you change space size. That's part of the reason I have multiple sizes for our assignments, to really communicate the idea that space is space, and design applies universally.

Will you be assigning us what to scrapbook about?  No. I may make a suggestion from time to time, but what you choose to cover is up to you. Aside from learning design, this is a great class to get a lot of pages done, and almost all of the assignments feature multi-photo designs.

I'm hoping to learn a bit about digital scrapbooking. Will you be covering this, since you're adding digi files to the classroom?  The short answer? No. This class is about design theory, not about software or digital scrapbooking technique. However, I may cover some digital tips in the unscripted video messages, but those videos evolve out of what types of things students are talking about on the message boards.

I took this class in 2008. Can I take it again if I want to?  Yep. And as an alumni, you can take it for $49. However, keep in mind that as an alumni, you have access now to the 2008 classroom any time you like so you may not need to take the 2010 workshop. That said, if you DO sign up for 2010, you will get the new digital files, and of course you'll get the interaction with me for another 12 weeks.

Will you be doing any giveaways for spots in your class?  Yes. I will do one giveaway in the next few weeks, and that will be the only one. Then, you can confidently place the workshop on your Christmas list and give it to someone who loves you and looks at your scrapbook pages often.

This isn't really related to your class but I have two questions. First, is that your natural hair color and second, would you consider watching my dog while I go on vacation?  The answer to question one is no. It's Clairol Grey Solution No. 4. The answer to question two…is your dog housetrained? Maybe we can talk.

If you have any more questions for me, feel free to email (design.life@comcast.net) me or leave a comment here. Hope to see many new faces in the workshop for 2010!

Work that photo

SUPPLIES: Layered Template No. 6 (Cathy Zielske) • Manchester Paper Pack, Manchester Solids (Michelle Martin) • Digital Date Stamps Vol. 12 (Katie Pertiet) • PW's Black&White Photo Action (pioneerwoman.com)

I recently posted a handful of shots from an impromptu, back yard, teen-requested photo shoot with Aidan, a.k.a. One Three.

It reminded me of something I used to do with great frequency—and still do—and that is: use shots from one time frame or event on multiple layouts.

Is it just me? Do you do this as well? You know, when you get a series of shots you love, you just invent more ways to use them? And if you do, do you feel like you're just making stuff up to use the shots again?

Inquring minds want to know.

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I'll be hosting an online Coffee Chat this weekend on Saturday morning over at Designer Digitals in celebration of their big sale. I'm going to be chatting bright and early—8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. You'll need coffee or some other early morning pick me up, and if you join me, I'll be giving away a brand new layered template to all who drop by. We can talk about whatever you want. You know, design, daughters, dogs—no big whoop. See you there.

You know they're growing up when they opt for a party with their peers instead of trick or treating

This year marked a milestone—not necessarily a good or bad one—wherein one of my children decided to hit the Halloween party circuit rather than stay-at-home, carve pumpkins and trick-or-treat with her ever-loving family.

Oh, it's all right. I'm fine. I mean, I did get this shot, proving she at least placed one of her hands inside of a pumpkin:

But what I'm not fine with is that I have not a single shot of her dressed in a costume. She went to two different parties and now I'm relying on her Facebook friends to hook me up with a shot, you know, for the album.

Cole on the other hand had problems of his own, namely, the I Have Way Too Many Ideas for a Costume and Will Be Changing My Mind Every 30 Minutes for the Final Week Leading Up to Halloween problem.

He settled on two. First, the Classic Ghost:

 

And second, the Classic iPod:

 

Both Cole and Dan found it interesting if not mildly shocking as they tooled around our 'hood, how many people didn't know what an iPod was. One of our sweet older neighbors asked, "What station are you playing?"

A few days before Halloween I took Cole out to Target—with the goal of just picking up some candy—and we ended up leaving roughly $70 poorer than when we'd first stepped foot inside the store. I just kept saying "Yes" to his requests for various Halloween decor items. Part of me is very aware that these years and these holidays are soon to be mere blips on the time line of memory. Why not let a 4th grader go nuts for once?

It felt good to be the Mom that said yes, instead of the Mom that usually points out how overpriced and unnecessary things are.

 

 

So while I wait for Aidan's friends to deliver great shots of whatever it was she was dressed up as this year, I simply worked with what I have for now, and whipped up this bit of memory documentation:

 

SUPPLIES: Spooky Sentiments Brushes & Stamps (Cathy Zielske) • Frightful Solids Paper Pack, Spot Dots No. 10 (Katie Pertiet) • Cathy Zielske's Layered Template No. 10 (coming soon!) • Archer font • Adobe Photoshop CS4

Hope you had a memorable Halloween. I'm off to have my bee costume dry cleaned and then to sign Dan up for a How to Shoot Be-costumed People in Focus class. (Get it, bee-costumed?)

Thank you.

 

Note: the moody and spooky edge burn effects on a few of my photos above are courtesy of The Pioneer Woman's Action Set No. 1. F-Ree and fabulous. And speaking of Ree, my book order should be arriving any day. Might not help my diet, but oh, will Dan love me all the more.

I believe you need a smidgen of goofiness with your design to really make what you learn stick.

Design Your Life Promo from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

For more information on Design Your Life, click here.

(And I'd like to thank the writers of this classic SNL skit for the inspiration.)