The Cake Was Not a Lie

Everyday Adventures

And it was good…

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Obviously I went with store-bought (I mean, sure, I could make something like that, but I wouldn’t normally). And not even because I was late getting home from the knitting event (because I had the date wrong and it was Tuesday night, not Wednesday–oops!), simply because the indulgence was all the sweeter for not having a kitchen to clean up afterwards.

One of the things that afforded the possibility of going to an after-work event was that Duncan has been given elevated privileges while we’re gone. After a couple of crate mishaps (the calm only lasted a couple weeks, apparently), Todd opted to sequester him with his bed, bowl, and toys in the back hallway and his dog door open for side-yard access. While we suspect he spends most of his days moping that we’re not there, he seems to be enjoying the change.

It meant we could go out to dinner on Friday night and not worry so much about him being cooped up for another hour or so. It also means we need to actually puppy-proof the back hall and side yard because, while he hasn’t destroyed anything yet, we really shouldn’t give him the opportunity if we can help it. I also worry about him being a nuisance outside, barking at the neighbors when they’re in their own backyards–just another reason to get that privacy fence up sooner rather than later, right?

And speaking of the pup, I made my first layout with the Project Life App of some of the pictures we took of him on Monday night.

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The app does have some drawbacks compared to digiscrapping in Photoshop. Pictures are only pictures unless you buy the overlay packs, text only fits in the designated journalling spaces in the journaling cards, and of course there are no additional embellishments. But the pro column is stocked with all my photos at my fingers since I can pull from Google Photos (where both my cell photos and my “real” camera downloads are archived). Plus, it’s on my phone, which is with me pretty much always, so I could scrapbook on my lunch break or in the car (when Todd’s driving, obviously!). Plus, the necessarily simple layouts make getting the basics down quick and easy.

I think my plan would be to start on the app, then export it so I can add embellishments or other bits in Photoshop before uploading them for printing.

Sure, most of the pictures I take these days are of food or design team projects, but the app might also help me remember to take more candid, everyday photos, not just special trips or assignments. Certainly couldn’t hurt!

2015 Digital Scrapbooking Day

In The Studio

A lot of people, when they hear my blog name or email address, assume that the “scraps” in Scraps of Life refers to scrapbooking. That’s not the case (it actually represents the bits and pieces–aka scraps–of time and experiences that make up our lives) but it’s true that I’ve been into scrapbooking since the late 90s, back when the landscape was wild and the supplies were few. My how things have changed (in, um, 17 years).

If you’ve hung around here long enough, you know I’m the crafty sort and I do love my papers and glue and for the longest time I swore I’d never give them up! I still haven’t, but I did broaden my horizons back around 2006 or so when I started fooling around with digital scrapbooking–turns out, I really liked it!

Even though I have most of my supplies for traditional, paper, scrapbooking I mostly use them for other projects these day. Instead, I’m 99% digital when I do make the time to scrapbook. Why?

  • Digital elements don’t get used up
  • Digital elements don’t take up a lot of space (well, physical space… my external hard drive is another matter, but storage gets cheaper every day!)
  • You never run out of glue
  • You can change the color of a paper or embellishment if it’s not quite right
  • Unfinished layouts are easy to save and come back to

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve held onto a particular piece of patterned paper because it was so pretty and I didn’t want to use it up because it was now discontinued. Or how I once borrowed my mom’s SUV to go to a scrapbook retreat because it meant I could bring more supplies. OR how frustrating it is to have the perfect thing for a layout but it clashes horribly with everything else I want to use. The struggle is real, and the supply bills are high!

Digital kits and elements also tend to be a lot less expensive than their physical counterparts. Add to that the fact that most of our photos these days are digital, you save money by not having to make prints for scrapbooking (not to mention the ease of resizing images to fit just so) and you can still print out your pages and put them into albums.

An unexpected benefit from digital scrapbooking was learning to use Adobe products (I took a course from Scrap Girls back in the day on how to scrapbook with Photoshop Elements 3.0–I think 12 just came out? No, wait, we’re on version 14 now) that made it so much easier when I started my webcomic and needed to do some digital post-processing. I’ve also dabbled in creating my own digital papers and elements, including this little mini kit (from back in 2012) which is kinda perfect for this time of year! In honor of Digital Scrapbooking Day (which is the first Saturday in November, aka tomorrow), I’m putting this little set up for grabs (for free!).

HMD_harvestfruit_preview600Get your free kit here!

More recently I got bit by the Project Life bug. I love that it’s quick and easy and the templates are so much fun to use. I bought a physical kit to put together an album of years of family photos for Mom a couple years ago, then I switched to their digital options for my own stuff. Here’s a smattering of some of my recent layouts

From our wedding album (which I really need to get on the ball with!)

From our wedding album (which I really need to get on the ball with!)

From our honeymoon (I still have a lot to do on this book, too)

From our honeymoon at Disney (I still have a lot to do on this book, too)

Halloween 2015! After all, the everyday is what makes the most memories...

Halloween 2015! After all, the everyday is what makes the most memories…

And one of last year's conventions.

And one of last year’s conventions.

Will you be doing any scrapbooking this weekend, digital or otherwise?

Why Templates Are a Girl’s Best Friend

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

I’m a scrapbooker from way back, but I haven’t been keeping up like I used to or taking many photos that don’t correspond to a blog post. To commemorate this last year before the wedding (and remind me to take pictures of the fun stuff), I’ve been putting together a layout per week for our Wedding Year scrapbook. Now, working full time, planning a wedding, and blogging about it are enough to keep me plenty busy–adding in scrapbooking might seem like adding more work rather than some much-needed relaxation.

For me, it all comes down to 3 things:

  • Digital scrapbooking
  • Project Life
  • Templates

The Digital Approach

While I do absolutely love paper and creating with it, physical scrapbooking was becoming less and less convenient with all of my photos being digital for the last several years. That love of paper that had me scoffing at digital scrapbooking 1o years ago has since enthusiastically embraced the digital approach for both the ease of integrating my digital images but also the fact that once a digital paper or embellishment is purchased, it doesn’t get “used up.” As someone who has more than once hoarded those last few sheets of a favorite paper, this is quite freeing.

And you can always print your pages out yourself or upload them to a photobook site and end up with very professional looking albums.

Just about any photo software that will handle layers can be used for digital scrapbooking and there are some programs out there specifically for it. I learned on Photoshop Elements (PSE) 3, “back in the day” with tutorials from ScrapGirls. While I’ve upgraded to full-on Photoshop for other projects, I still use PSE (version 9, now) for scrapping for the simpler interface.

Project Life

Project Life is a system devised by Becky Higgins that is meant to make saving photos and memories easy, streamlined, and low-pressure (though it’s but one of many pocket-style scrapbooking systems out there). By using divided pocket pages–like baseball card pages but more varied–and 2 sizes of inserts (4×6 and 3×4) all you have to do is slip in your photos and write on the journaling cards and you’ve got a scrapbook in no time flat.

I’d heard about it a couple years ago (and mentally kicked myself for not trying out a similar idea many years prior) but didn’t want to go back to paper scrapping. Behold, the official Project Life digital kits are available at ACDigitals.com (though I bought my kit and template when they were still partnered with Jessica Sprague). What’s even better is that with the popularity of Project Life on the rise, several sites have similar products available. ScrapGirls has their Pocket Life line, and several designers over on The DigiChick (my 2 favorite shops) have Project 52 offerings that are compatible.

Of course, with digital scrapbooking, anything can be used with the Project Life base system, especially if you use the templates.

Templates

Just like writers who stare at a blank page/screen, feel anxious and can’t start writing, scrappers sometimes have a similar block. Recently I’ve become a total template convert as all I have to do is pick my photos, papers, and maybe a few embellishments and start clipping them to the template layers and, boom, there’s my page! Of course, when you scrap digitally you can turn and flip the templates to get a bit more variety (there are only 7 basic page layouts with Project Life, but you can certainly branch out to other templates, too).

But the Project Life-style templates, based on 4×6 and 3×4 spaces, are perfectly suited to both digital camera images as well as those cell phone shots we’ve all been taking. And if you take a lot of photos, then the simple grids are going to be your best friends.

To show you just how easy it is, I took screenshots while I put together this layout, week 9 of our wedding year album:

Week 9, Dec 29, 2012 to Jan 4, 2013

Week 9, Dec 29, 2012 to Jan 4, 2013 (all photos personal)

Step 1: choose your photos

First I pick out my photos to see what I’m working with. Lots of photos mean a template with more spots, fewer photos mean bigger spots to take up more space.

Step 2: Pick your templates

Then I look through my templates to see which ones I want to use. In the back in a Project Life template and in front is a template from eNKay Design’s Project 365 line. Then I decided which would be the left side of the layout and which one the right.

Step 3: Start placing your photos

I rotated the 365 layout to get the photo spots in the orientation I wanted them, then added my first photo to fill the large, vertical block on the page, sizing it up to fill the space or maybe a little bigger. Make sure the photo is above the layer you want the photo to fill and clip it (Ctrl+G on a PC, Mac is Cmd+G, I believe) to that layer. This makes the photo (or whatever) show only where the template shape is “active” so it trims it to shape without actually cutting the image, and you can nudge it around to get the best view.

Step 4: Finish putting your photos in place

Place your photos wherever they best fit so you can see how much space you still have to work with.
You can combine different layer elements by merging them, like I did with the 4 3×4 slots in the upper right, then clipping the image to the merged set. It’s a nice little trick when you want to use larger pictures in smaller slots for effect. And it’s so much easier than cutting and corner-rounding 1 picture into 4, right?

Step 5: Save your work!

Right about now is a good time to do a “Save As” and name your file something other than the template name (you don’t want to overwrite your original template files with the changes you make, since you might want to use them in their original form sometime later).

Step 6: Pick out some papers and embellishments

Then I pick out some papers and embellishments to clip to the background and blank template spots

Step 7: Add your papers and embellishments to the pages

Now the fun part! Clip the papers to the template areas and start to place your embellishments on top of them. For efficiency’s sake I like to merge layers and them clip the paper file once, unless I need some of the elements overlapping others. The more layers, the bigger the file size, you know? But embellishments just need to be positioned above the layer you want them to rest on, they usually don’t get clipped (again, this is a bonus of digital–not everything had to fit exactly in the “pockets”).

Step 8: Add journaling spaces

I like using a mix of patterns, but patterns aren’t always great for journaling on, so I use the shape tool to make “clear” areas filled with a lighter version of one of the colors already in the layout (and then added a texture fill to it because I have issues with flat colors). Remove any layers you don’t want in your final layout (like journaling place-holders and title bits).

Step 9: Add the wordy bits and additional embellishments

Use your words! Add journaling to the open areas, titles, and then any additional embellishments to finish out the layout. That’s it!

And that’s just how simple it is.

Whether you’re saving the wedding planning memories, putting together a photo-book of your engagement photos, or even scrapbooking your honeymoon pictures, templates can make the process much smoother. Templates (Project Life or otherwise) are also great for learning composition skills and branching out of your usual style.

So, have I swayed you over to the digital template side of scrapbooks?

5 Years In, 1 Year Out

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

Friday, November 2, was our 5 year dating anniversary and also brought us exactly 1 year until the wedding!

Suddenly my Inbox is full of countdown emails from various wedding websites and we can finally say we’re getting married in less than a year!

For our actual anniversary we went to the local Greek Food Festival but didn’t stay too long–last year we closed it down and then came home with friends to play cards until 3am–this time we were home in jammies before 10pm! Then, Saturday night we had a slightly more “proper” anniversary dinner at Buca di Beppo, which recently opened in the mall, followed by going into every jewelry shop for some impromptu wedding band shopping.

Todd went in thinking he wanted a brushed-and-shiny two-tone look, only to find he liked the look of highly polished Tungsten Carbide band.

Tungsten Carbine Band from Kay Jewelers

Tungsten Carbide Band via Kay Jewelers

And I’m still set on an open-work band with plenty of sparkle.

Sterling Silver & Diamond Band via Kay Jewelers

Sterling Silver & Diamond Band via Kay Jewelers

Not necessarily that ring, but something along those lines. We decided a while ago that, rather than getting a ring custom-made to fit around my engagement setting, I’d get stand-alone ring and wear my engagement ring on my right hand. At first I was against the idea, but then had so many problems with the setting that not wearing it every day seemed like a not bad thing. And, hey, it’s more shiny things for me and I’m not going to fight that!

Ring shopping was a nice way to walk-off dinner but it wasn’t all fun and games. We went into one of those all-but pawn shop jewelry stores, just on a lark, and I regretted it immediately. There was a very wrong feeling in that place and we made a polite circuit of the cases and got the hell out of there. Not that I really expected my dream ring to be in there, but a bride on a budget needs to examine all options.

One more thing I decided, with a year left to go, was to scrapbook this last year of wedding planning, Project Life-style. This will not only get me to take more photos of us and our wedding activities over the next year (something we’ve been really bad about, so far), it’ll also be nice to have a definite reason to scrapbook again. It’s a hobby from way-back for me, but now I do it digitally.

Title Page for our Project: Wedding scrapbook using the Becky Higgins Tourquoise Project Life Kit

The Cover page to our Project: Wedding Album!