A Digital Scrapbooking Journal - Part Three

The Third Installment of My Digital Scrapbooking Journal

Friday, February 2, 2007: Valentine Sweets for the Sweet

My next experiment was making altered CD envelopes with a Valentine's Day theme. I thought they would be an excellent way to give a Valentine's cookie to my friends.

If you look closely, you'll see that the pink background is stamped with the alphabet. The alpha circles are used to frame the "S" in "Sweets" and "Sweet".

Using brushes like stamps is one of the neatest things I've learned from Scrap Girls. I used to think brushes in Photoshop were only for painting and drawing.

I had figured out that I could also use them for distressing edges and creating paper with a torn paper look.

But stamping - I never dreamed! I've bought several of the Scrap Girls brush sets. There are tags and name plates, flowers, snow flakes, you name it.

For complete instructions, visit Altered CD Envelopes.

Saturday, February 2, 2007: Coordinating Jackie's Birthday Gift

Jackie's birthday was this week.

Who is Jackie? She's just one of the most special people in my life. She calls me "honey" and really means it. If I miss the gym one day, she always asks what happened - but in the nicest way.

She's an inspiration and keeps me going when the going gets tough. It's hard to explain. May you be blessed to have someone so special in your life.

I wanted to go the extra mile with Jackie's present. She has admired the botanical note cards I make, especially the purple hyacinth one.

So I decided to make a bagalope to match. This bagalope is made from a 9 x 12 white envelope.

In addition to the purple hyacinth graphic, the bag uses the following Scrap Girls digital scrapbooking products:

• "You are loved" Charming Charm Tag Special
• CBA Antique Charm Embellishment: Bookplate - Brass; Key - Brass; and Keyhole - Brass
• Love Always Pink: Paper; and Embellishments - Stitching Loops
• Persian Breeze Green Floral paper

The message inscribed in the bookplate is, "Happy Birthday, Jackie!.

Sunday, February 11, 2007: Digital Scrapbooking: Taking Stock

I ordered my first digital scrapbooking products at the end of December, less than two months ago.

I've worked with my toys in spurts: 14 hours one day; then no digi-scrapping for three or four days.

One thing I do faithfully every weekday is read Scrap Girls' free newsletter, which is just chock full of great designs and tutorials. So I estimate that I've spent about 70 hours or an average of 1 1/2 hours a day learning and using my digital-scrapbooking toys.

Before starting, I thought the learning curve was way too steep for me to climb and so I hesitated to even begin. Looking back, I'm simply amazed at how far I have come in such a short time. And I loved every minute of the journey. Scrap Girls' product support and tutorials are absolutely outstanding.

And then, there's the personal touch that they add. There are Ro's Muses in the newsletter which frequently give me inspiration for scrapping and for life in general. I've also received encouraging and informational e-mails from members of the Scrap Girls' design team.

In just seven weeks of part time play, I've learned to work with layers in Photoshop; how to create my own brushes and use them like stamps; how to lend a 3D look to my pages; how to design my own digital layout and paper templates; and much, much more.

Next on my to-do list: learn the difference between a "layer your own brush set" and a plain old "brush set"; and figure out when to use the JPEG vs. the PNG version of a product.

And what is a PNG file anyway?!

Visit our Digital Scrapbooking Index Page for more tips and techniques.