The Daily Digi Playbook is brought to you by the readers who purchase THE DIGI FILES each month!  THANKS for making this possible!!

Well, all of the products that are included in THE DIGI FILES this month have been revealed, so we thought we would share our secrets with you again!  We are very excited to release the second Daily Digi Playbook as a FREE gift to you!  The Playbook is where we give you the play-by-play for many of the layouts that were featured on the site during July.  There are tutorials with screen shots for many of the techniques that were used, links to even more tutorials and resources, as well as instructions for a hybrid project and hybrid layout!  There are even some links to a couple of free gifts for you as well!

From the beginner digi scrapper all the way through advanced, there is something for everyone in the Playbook!  If you are newer and come across a play that is overwhelming, then just skip it and move on.  Chances are that down the road, as you get more practice, those more difficult techniques will become less intimidating!

In this playbook, we also included a tutorial (including screenshots) for using Emily Powers’ Photology overlays that are included in THE DIGI FILES this month.

Go ahead and download July’s Playbook, grab THE DIGI FILES,  and LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

P.S. Shannon was the random winner selected from yesterday’s comments, here’s what she said: I really like the look of the Expectantly Yours line. And Everyday Celebrations is probably my most used kit.

Check your email Shannon, you just won $10 in product from AUDacious Designs!

Supplies: Kristin Cronin-Barrow’s Tropical Hideaway

My favorite way to create titles is by using a great font and making it look like an alpha.  Sometimes, I’m just too lazy to arrange letters one-by-one .  Below, I share a play-by-play of how this title was created.

I typed my title word using Clementine Sketch.  With this font, you must start each word with a capital letter and end it with ^ so that you get a fully closed word.  Since the v does not connect with the other letters, I typed the title like this VAcations^ which gave me a completely closed word.

Next I selected the magic wand:

I clicked outside of the word ‘vacations’ (the settings at the top are shown for your convenience):

You will get marching ants on your page that look like this:

Next, you need to invert the selection by going to shft+ctrl+i or select>inverse.  Now, your selection will look like this:

If you look closely, there are some parts that we need to subtract from the selection (the inside of the o and s).  To do this select ‘subtract from selection’ (as shown below) or hold down the alt key while clicking inside the o and s.  You might want to zoom in to help with accuracy.

After clicking and subtracting those areas, they should look like this:

Create a new layer by clicking on the new layer icon:

Make sure that the new layer is below the title layer like this:

Select the eyedropper tool:

Click on a color you want the inside of your text to be, I’m choosing the lighter blue in these papers:

Make sure the desired color is the foreground color:

Now select the paint bucket tool:

With the paint bucket tool, click inside the selection of your title and your selection will be filled with the desired color:

I decided that I wanted my outline to be brown and then add a sticker border.  So, I will select the type layer again in the layers palette:

Now, select the type tool by clicking on it in the tool bar OR use the keyboard shortcut ‘t’.  Click on the color in type toolbar at the top of the window:

Now, I’m going to click on the brown paper and the outline of the title will turn brown:

Now, go to select>modify>expand and below is the settings I chose, feel free to experiment with different numbers:

Create a new layer as we did above and make sure that the new layer is below the text and below the color, like this:

With that new layer selected, choose a white color and then with the paint bucket tool, click inside the selection (just like we did for the blue above):

Now, lets get rid of those marching ants by using the keyboard shortcut, ctrl+d and we have the completed title:

Layout by Katie. Taking Chances by Megan Mullins (Wild Dandelions) from The Digi Files 10 font is LD Elementary. Template unknown.

Have you ever paid attention to the edges of your layouts? I (Katie) had not really put a lot of thought into it until last year. I put together this page and thought I was finished.

Layout by Katie. Credits: Stephanie 2 Whirligig Kit  Kaye Winiecki template 6 (modified).

After I saw it posted online a few days later, I just knew something was “wrong”, but I couldn’t figure it out. Soon afterward, I read this post about Janet’s most used scrapping trick of adding a border to a layout. There was my answer! I needed something around the edge to reign my eye in and keep the attention on the photo and story.

I followed Janet’s advice and added a simple dotted border. What a difference that made!

Ever since that time, I’ve kept a lookout for how great scrappers use the edges of the page to contribute to the overall layout design. It’s something that I’ve noticed that our creative team here at The Daily Digi is very good at, so I asked them for their tips and examples to help us all “live on the edge” a little more comfortably.

As you will see, edge treatments can range from minimalistic and simple to all out bursting with  oodles of layers and creativity! We are excited to show you several different ways to utilize the edges of your layouts. Here are our very favorite edging ideas:

Hands down, this is the method we use the most! Adding a simple framed edge of stitching, doodles, or even a straight line, seems to be the perfect finishing touch for many different types of pages.

Here are a few resources for this type of border effect:

• Inked Edges
• Easy Border Tutorial

Plenty of page examples from the team:

Layout by Katie. Template by Debbie Hodge. Hello Sunshine by Kelley Mickus.

Layout by Melissa L. Dani Mogstad Take Me Away kit Gina Miller Simple Singles Template: Roundabout 3 Gina Miller border stitching Font is DJB Smarty Pants

Layout by Katie. Credits: Shabby Princess Word Whimsy Shabby Princess Blossom
Kitty Designs template (modified) Traveling typewriter font

Layout by Jenny B. Credits: Template: Tiffany Tillman Background Paper, Yellow Checkerboard Paper (masked over elements): Girls Are Yucky Kit by Lili (TDF #8) Paint Swash, Doodle Border, 2010 Punch Label: Altered 365 Kit by Something Blue Studios (TDF 11) Yellow Paper (masked over paint swash): Sunshine Kit by Suzy Q Scraps (TDF 12) Alpha, Button, and Papers: Upside Down Kit by Dunia (TDF 16) Arrows: Sketchy Elements Kit by Spencer at Design House Digital Staples: Wonderful Kit by Shabby Princess Drop Shadow Layer Styles by Megan Turnidge Fonts: CK Stenography and LD Shelly Print

Layout by Melissa L Lauren Reid 365 Remembered May papers, elements, and template  Lauren Reid You’re Moody kraft paper Lauren Reid Lift Me Up border Ali Edwards Remember word art Font is Pea Devon

Layout by Katie. Credits: Anne Made Chromophobia papers and Heart Paper Trails
Template by Janet Phillips. fonts are CK footnote and Fontologie Weathered Low Fat

Layout by Melissa L Daydreamer kit by Leora Sanford Simple Solutions Set 3 by Leora Sanford Font is DJB Renee

Layout by Dúnia Basic Neutrals Paper Pack by Dúnia  Whole Lotta Love by Dúnia Doodling Page Frames by Annick Philibert Crazy Squares Template by Gina Miller

Layout by Dúnia Spacey Templates Mini Vol.7 by Amy Martin Pure Love Kit by Jenna Desai Sugar Plum Alpha by Amy Wolff Font: 2Peas Just Plain Little

This is another subtle way to create a border within a page. By using rounded corners in the design, you automatically end up with and interesting and classic edge treatment. Be sure to read our tutorial on How to create rounded corners. You can also use purchased background masks with rounded corners from several digital designers.

Here are a few examples of borders using rounded corners:

Layout by Katie. Credits: Layout made with Wendyzine action from The Digi Files 15 (March 2010) Impressions of Friendship kit by Scrapbook Graphic designers. Font is Pea Jiawei

Layout by Karen. CREDITS: Lauren Reid Wonky Templates 5, Journal Mates, Second Spring kit, You and Me Elements; Font is Pea Muggy’s Girl

Layout by Katie. Credits: Michelle Coleman Wonderful Kit Ali Edwards template no. 3 from Designer Digitals CK Ali’s writing font and CK Ali Circles font for dingbats

My most used scrapping trick is adding another layer of paper to the back of my layout or template to create the look of matted paper. I guess I bring this one with me from my paper scrapping days because I used to love to trim just a small edge off of each side of my paper and then mount it on a full 12×12 piece of cardstock. Now I do this digitally, by simply resizing the first layer of background paper to be just a bit smaller. Then I add another papers as a background layer. I love this trick! Looks like several of our team members use this technique as well.

Layout by Katie. Cheeky Monkey A Happy Heart kit from The Digi Files 12 (February 2010) Template by Sine Journaling font is traveling typewriter

Layout by Jen. Credits: Good Day Sunshine by Megan Turnidge Going Postal Date Stamps by Man In The Moon Designs Makin’ Me Happy alpha by Stolen Moments Tuesday Template by Canadian Mommy Font: Pea Walker

Layout by Karen. CREDITS: Free to Be by Tracie Stroud

Layout by Karen. CREDITS: Leora Sanford Just Like You

There’s no reason this type of layering has to be done in a straight line. How about tilting some background layers? It’s makes the layout even more fun, and it’s a great way to use several different papers without overwhelming the page design.

Layout by Katie. Blessed by Nancie Rowe Janitz.at Scrap Artist. font is CK constitutional. Template unknown.

Layout by Katie. Credits: The Digi Chick kit from The Digi Files 8 (every life has a story)
flowers from Weeds n Wildflowers journaling font is Darcy Baldwin Tracy Script Template by Natasha Nast

Border treatments don’t have to be on the very edge of a page. You can create a bordered space by using a frame or lines to frame a smaller portion of the layout.

Layout by Katie. Credits: Pamela Donnis school kit from Digi Files 7 at The Daily Digi
template by Janet Phillips collection 14 (also from The Digi Files 7) fonts are CK footnote and Fontologie Messy Bessy.

Layout by Jen. Credits: Cara Copycat Template by Man In The Moon Designs What’s Cookin’ by Man In The Moon Designs Superstar by Bisontine Everyday Scatters 2 by MickeyB Designs Hello Sunshine alpha by Kelley Mickus Stamp ABC by Brittish Designs Font: mtf Sketchie

Layout by Jenn. Credits: Vaca Templates by Purple Tulip Designs Queen of Scrap by Scrap Matters Designers Polka Dot Vellum alpha by Man In The Moon Designs Detention alpha by Krystal Hartley Vintage Linens by Shabby Miss Jenn Font: Designer Notes

Layout by Katie. Credits: Everything from the Digi Files 15 (March 2010) for the -From the Files challenge. Template by Jen Caputo.

Creative team member Jenn loves to blend papers to create a subtle edged effect. She says “ I’ve got a few tricks that tend to use over and over with my LO’s.  One is to create a “new” background paper from two other ones. I’ll choose two that I want to combine, then erase the center portion of the top one with a large grunge brush, or a large soft round brush. Then I play around with the blend modes until I get the desired effect.”

Layout by Jenn. Credits: Moi  – A Magic Autumn Lily Designs – Fall Freebie stamp frame – JenLin Designs New Life Dreams – Indian Summer Font: Perpetua

Layout by Jenn Credits: Template No. 7 by Victoria Greenlees (Studio Saturday) Winter Morning Paper Pack by Victoria Greenlees (Studio Saturday) Playtime collab by Sahlin Studios and DeCrow Designs Squishy Dots by Karah Fredricks Midnight Kiss by Bren Boone A New Beginning by Digital Crea Design Team Comfort and Joy alpha by Brittish Designs (recolored) Fonts: Pea Devon Caps, Pea Jane

This is just a simple little way to do something fun around the edge of your layout. It’s an extra bonus that you can fit in your journaling as well!

Layout by Dúnia  Are We There Yet? by Kate Hadfield Going Places by Kate Hadfield Road Works Alpha by Kate Hadfield Shmootzy Alpha by Nancie Rowe Janitz Font: Go Boom!

Layout by Katie. Credits: quick page album template by Ali Edwards. Fall paper pack by Katie the Scrapbook Lady. Fontologie giggles font and CK classical font.

Some designers do the work for you. I love papers with natural bordered designs. They make the page interesting and beautiful.

Layout by Katie. Credits: Purple Phase by Vinnie Pearce Template by Hillary Heidelberg
font is Susie’s hand

Layout by Katie. Credits: Happyness paper pack by Nancie Rowe Janitz. fonts are CK constitutional and Fontologie weathered in-between.

Feel free to have fun with your edges! It’s a great place to layer embellishments and page curls without cluttering up big portions of the layout. Some designers put together pre-clustered page edges to make this even easier! (see enabling portion of this post)

Layout by Melissa S. Credits: Trap the Spark by mgl scraps.

Layout by Dúnia  Credits: Peekaboo Cardboard by Tracy Ann Take Two Photo Mats by Tracy Ann Overlay from State the Date 2 by Tracy Ann Ribbon from Lemon Drops by Holly Designs Torn Paper, String, Star from About a Boy by Jenna Desai Itty Bitty Epoxy Alpha by Emily Powers Bakward Staples by Jenn Patrick Stretchy Glue Blobs by Jenn Patrick Boys Dressed Denin by Natalie Braxton Font: AL Sandra

Of course we want to make it easier for you to find great digital products to give you more time for scrapping. That is part of our mission here at The Daily Digi! So here are some designs that we love.

(All images are linked)

So are you ready to live on the edge now? I bet you will find one of these techniques to be your most used scrapping trick as well!

P.S. The font used on the blue title blocks in this post is Fontologie Printing Primer.

To date we’ve covered four of six basic design principles: Emphasis, Contrast, Balance, and Alignment. Today’s lesson is on a fifth: Repetition. In August, we will look at Flow.

The principle of repetition advises repeating some aspect of your page elements throughout the entire layout as you work toward making a piece with unity.

UNITY AND REPETITION

Unity refers to how the parts of a design come together as a whole. If the elements on a scrapbook page look like they belong together (as opposed to having been collected and placed randomly) you have unity. In the quest for a design with unity, the WHOLE design is more important than any element or grouping in it.

Repetition is a useful tool for creating unity on a scrapbook page—or in any work of art. Consider music and the repetitions that are present in popular and classical songs. Great literature includes repetitions in image and word. Think about all the repetitions of careless driving in The Great Gatsby. Politicians work repetitions into their speeches.

Repetitions work because they create a pattern that draws attention.

REPETITIONS WITH VARIETY

The caveat: Too much repetition can be dull. THUS, the key to using repetitions in your designs is to use repetitions with variety.

How do you do that?  Here are a few ideas:

· repeat an image or shape in different colors.

· repeat an image or shape in different sizes.

· repeat a color in different elements (i.e., alphas, ribbon, mats).

· use a variety of tones of the same color

· repeat a motif in different styles

In “Cherish Forever,” slurpeegirl13 repeats “not-really-square” squares (I’ll call them that since they have a couple of angles that aren’t 90 degrees). They’re arranged in a sequence horizontally AND there are progressively smaller shapes stacked at each point in the series. She’s included lots of flowers and butterflies and hearts– but in differing colors and sizes. Note though that while the sizes of these shapes vary, they are all small relative to the canvas. Thus, slurpeegirl has included repetitions with variety as well as incorporating some nice contrast.

Cherish Forever by slurpeegirl13

REPETITIONS OF COLOR

Color is the easiest and most frequent way I work repetitions into my page. I could have three different embellishments (like a button, a heart and a ribbon tie) but if they’re all the same color and tone, they create a pattern.

Three colors are repeated in different amounts on “Sleeping Angel” by kaleandkiara. The yellows and the blue stitching are both in subdued tones, while the three red spots are bright and bold. Those strongly contrasting points draw the eye through the page and give it “punch” it wouldn’t otherwise have.

Sleeping Angel by kaleandkiara

“Stay Late” has lots of oranges and yellows and even some green, but the repetitions of blue (ocean button, journaling tag, title) are what create a visual triangle that draws the eye around the page and connects the many elements on this bold and busy layout.

Stay Late by Debbie Hodge

REPETITIONS OF SHAPE

Circles, squares, hearts, brackets . . . each of these has a shape all its own—and you kind find plenty of scrapbook page embellishments with these shapes.

In making “Put Your Right Foot In,” readstoomuch used several repetitions of circles. Three series of orange, green, and blue circles intersect at the focal point photo–which has, itself, been cropped to a circle. What’s more the dotted background is a pattern of tiny circles. Thus, there are circles in three sizes. And just for fun (and variety!), Mollie included a button in place of one of the many medium-sized circles—and she made it yellow. It’s the only yellow on the page except for a bit of light in the photo.

Put Your Right Foot In by readstoomuch

JALong repeated the shape of an arrow a whole bunch of times on “Photographer.” The arrows are in varying colors and each holds a numbered bit of journaling. Note that the numbers are on brads, thus there are lots of small circles on this page in addition to the large stitched circles on the background. Finally, eight journaling labels along the bottom repeat yet another shape, but all in orange and arranged in a more orderly fashion to contrast with wild circle above it.

Photographer by JALong

REPETITIONS OF LINE

Ulla-may’s “Go Your Own Way” includes repetitions of both horizontal and vertical lines in the grid foundation behind the photo. However, when we look to the foreground elements, it’s the vertical lines that are emphasized and repeated. The vertically-striped patterned paper and the very straight stems on the flower and leaves are fabulous repetitions of the vertical lines in the grid.

What’s especially interesting is that the arrow, the title and the sequence of photos run horizontally—thus presenting the subject of the page going in a direction that’s away from the norm. These repetitions in line are a great support to the page subject.

Go You Own Way by ulla-may

CONCEPTUAL/THEMED REPETITIONS

Sometimes your repetitions will be around a concept—for example when you’re making a themed page, you might find yourself collecting different images or word embellishments that are related by subject.

On her 4^th of July page, “Starry,” emmasmom incorporated images of a flag and stars in the blue and red colors we associate with patriotism in the United States. Notice the different forms, colors and sizes of the many repeated stars.

Starry by emmasmom

Good Dog Cooper by carey-bridges includes several repetitions of the dog theme, starting with the photos and including a pawprint button, a bone button, and paper and journaler bearing words associated with dogs.

Good Dog Copper by carey-bridges

REPETITIONS IN MOTIF

Combining images of the same thing but in different styles and formats is a great idea for getting repetitions with variety onto your scrapbook pages—and creating unity along the way.

“Awesome Sight” is a page about my Dad, who loves the outdoors but who can no longer move freely to enjoy it. He does, though, love his birdfeeders and looking at his birds!  There’s a little sticker bird, a larger die-cut bird, a collaged bird, and a bird on a newsprint cutout.

Awesome Sight by Debbie Hodge

The story on “Getting A Leg Up” is of a teacher lending his leg as a step to kids who wanted to climb a tree. It’s also a metaphorical representation of what great teachers do. I’ve repeated the tree motif in my photos, on my stamped background and with a smaller tree sticker at bottom right.

“Getting a Leg Up” by Debbie Hodge

REPETITIONS OF TEXTURE

Texture is yet another aspect of the elements on a scrapbook page that can be repeated. Think about how you could repeat felts, metals, acrylics, brushwork or the other materials your embellishments are made of on the page.

While there are several kinds of repetitions on Kayleigh’s “Can You Just Say Dada?” the ones I want to draw your eye to right now is the repetition of epoxy. The epoxy alphas for “dada,” dog, star, and flower all have dimension and shine the other elements do not have. They are placed in a visual triangle relative to one another.

Can You Just Say “Dada?” by Kayleigh

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

You don’t have to use just one kind of repetition; i.e., of shape or of color. The repetitions on “Create” by shhbabymine are a great examples of how you can use several different repetitions and create a page that works as a fabulous whole.

There are lots of colors here: yellows, reds, oranges, blues, greens, and pinks. Huh? How is that repetition that makes sense when there are so many different colors? What they all have in common is a pale and subdued tone.

Sarah has also repeated shape with the rectangular frames for her papers and photos 10 times. She’s varied their orientation, their position in the “stack” of layers here, how they’re attached to the page, and what they hold.

Buttons, butterflies and flowers are the primary repeated motifs—all rendered in the pastels of the page.

There’s a whole lot going on here, with the repetitions in tone and shape (rectangular frames) giving the page a foundation that succeeds.

Create by shhbabymine

Debbie Hodge shares scrapbook pages ideas, resources, and tutorials almost daily at her website Get It Scrapped! Her passion is showing you how to organize your memories and photos to make great-looking scrapbook pages that tell awesome (and meaningful) stories. She’s got an MBA with a concentration in operations management and has studied and practiced creative writing for two decades—even publishing a few short stories before publishing LOTS of scrapbook pages, articles, and even a book called Get It Scrapped!

Image from Wacom.com

I don’t know too many digital scrapbookers that don’t, at one time or another, want a pen tablet.  They are a lot of fun, but can also be frustrating to get the hang of. One of the things that I love about using my tablet, is how I can suddenly feel and maybe even look, like an artist when using the right programs (listen to the discussion in Paperclipping Digi #1).

I did some digging and found some great resources for those of you that are wanting to learn how to use a tablet:

• Penscrappers are a group of very talented digital scrapbookers and designers that also use tablets.  They have posted many tutorials on the Penscrappers site all about different aspects of using a tablet and many other things as well.
• Lynda (one of my favorite sites to learn new things) has a free video about beginning photo retouching using a Wacom tablet. As well as many other paid tutorials (Lynda is a membership site and well worth the money…these are NOT affiliate links)
• JessicaSprague.com has a class starting in August (it is 20% off through June 20th).  The class will work with PSE 5,6,7,8 and PSCS2, PSCS3, PSCS4.  It starts August 9th.
• Sara Horton has an e-book at all about the basics of using a tablet with PSE and PS.
• Digital Scrapbook Place has tutorials on Pen Pressure with Your Tablet and Customizing Your Bamboo Tablet Settings.

For those of you that do not have tablets, you might be wondering if it’s necessary.  I know when I first started digital scrapbooking, I thought a tablet was a needed tool.  They are not necessarily needed.  A lot of digi scrappers that have wrist problems associated with mouse usage do prefer to use a pen and tablet for everything on their computer.  They do make it much easier to draw and use drawing type programs (vector programs as well as ArtRage).  So, I guess it depends on what you plan to do and how you want to do it, if a pen tablet is high on the priority list.  No matter what, they are a lot of FUN!

P.S. Michelle was our random winner chosen from the comments left yesterday for Jennifer, Michelle said:  LOVED Jenn’s contribution this month. I think Growth Spurt would be a great kit right now-I think my kids must be part plant as the sunshine seems to be making them grow! Thanks for the coupon and chance to win! Check your inbox!

Curled index card by Katie Pertiet. Fontologie Journal Away and Free Refill fonts.

Word art is a fast and easy way to add something really special to your digital scrapbook layouts. I (Katie) am a big fan of word art! I use it to make cards, and also love to use it as a simple embellishment for special photos. One of my favorite ways to use word art is on a scrapbook page.

5 FABULOUS REASONS TO USE WORD ART ON A LAYOUT:

• You don’t have to think of a title! When I asked The Daily Digi team for help with this post, we all agreed that a major benefit of using word art is cutting out the stress of thinking of a clever title for our page!

Layout by Karen. Leora Sanford In Good Company — collab with Paislee Press

Layout by Melissa L. Jenn Barrett/Tracie Stroud Walking on Sunshine collab kit, Ali Edwards Remember word art, Font is Pea Steph

Layout by Dunia. Presslines N.13 – Wedding by Paislee Press Flower and Stamp from Curiouser & Curiouser by Paislee Press and Joanne Brisebois Frame from Honey Bee Kit by Paislee Press Paper Flowers by Gina Miller

Layout by Melissa L. Sahlin Studio/Decrow Play collab Crystal Livesay Aly’s Jumpers template

• Word art can give direction to your page. Many times I have decided to scrap a certain subject just because of a piece of word art. Word art has also directed my journaling on occasion and acted as a “prompt” to write about a specific memory.

Layout by Katie. Template by Janet Phillips (the Misc. collection) Girls are Yucky by Lili Designs from The Digi Files 8 font is CK footnote

Layout by Karen. Kelley Mickus Tumbleweed kit

Layout by Dunia. Fading Emotions Vol.3 by Taylor Made Fading Emotions Vol.4 by Taylor Made Revive Kit by Taylor Made Press Plate N.5 by Paislee Press

Layout by Melissa L. Gina Miller Wild Honey kit, Ali Edwards word art

• Word art can act as an embellishment and contribute to the design of the layout. Many pieces of word art really are like miniature works of art. They are beautiful and add a wonderful design element to the page!

Layout by Karen. Leora Sanford Kaleidoscope collab with Creashens and Lynn-Marie

Layout by Katie.Papers from Sock Monkey Collab by Kate Hadfield and Holliewood Designs. Word art by Katie Pertiet. Layout sketch design by Cathy Zielske

Layout by Katie.Savoy Truffle Quick page by Teresa Victor from Gina Miller Designs.
Century Gothic font for date

Layout by Katie.Ali Edwards December Daily template. Painted paper from Kate Hadfield. Word art by Taylor Made designs. flower by Holly Designs.

• Word art can fill in for (or supplement) journaling. We love journaled pages here at The Daily Digi, but not every page needs to be a novel. Sometimes you just want to add a sweet thought or a few words, and that is when word art can be a real lifesaver!

  

Layout by Melissa L. Girls are Yucky kit by Designs by Lili Lauren Reid Cut Ups v. 2 Lauren Reid Quote Marks 2

Layout by Melissa L. Lauren Reid The Way We Used to Be

Layout by Jenn Life’s Little Surprises by Scrap Matters Designers

Layout by Jenn Happiness by Three Paper Peonies Everyday Love wordart by Sahlin Studio Sparkly Swirls by Rina Kroes Crumpled Edge Border by Rina Kroes Font: Pea So Lovely

Layout by Jenn Vintage Worn/Torn Papers by Sahlin Studio Daily Digi by Vera Lim (bg paper) Composure by TaylorMade (“everyday you” word art) Tapestry Blues by JenLin Designs (beige leaf silhouette, blue bow and ribbon) Vintage Linens by Shabby Miss Jenn (pink leaves) Font: Segoe Print

• Finally, it’s just plain fun! That is as good of a reason as any! I love to use word art because it helps me feel creative and enjoy scrapping.

Layout by Katie. Amy Wolf’s barely there papers Maya’s word art. Font is Pea Olson.

Layout by Katie.Film overlay by Katie Pertiet Word art by Jen Wilson

Layout by Katie. Word art by Maya.

Layout by Katie. Word art by Art Warehouse

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Our team picked out some of their favorite word art products for some enabling. All images are linked to the store where each item is available.

…

Don’t forget to look through your stash to see what pieces of word art you can find to use on a layout. You will even find some in this month’s Digi Files!

Layout by Katie. Kristin Aagard Buggalicious, CK journaling font

Do you wish you could create beautiful digital scrapbook pages in mere minutes? Would you believe me (Katie) if I said it is SO easy to speed up your scrapping? Well, it is and I want to show you how! Before I give away the big secret, I want to show you some layouts that were scrapped in super speedy style:

Layout by Katie. Kristin Aagard Buggalicious, CK journaling font

Layout by Melissa S. Paradise Found Tale Feathers by One Little Bird

Layout by Katie. Weeds and Wildflowers Christmas blog freebie.

Layout by Melissa S. Holly Griego Font Pea Sue’s Print

Layout by Katie. Dunia Boys Collection. CK easy going font.

Layout by Melissa S. Flergs FlairyFloss, Impressions of Heritage Alpha

Layout by Melissa S. Flergs FlairyFloss, Melissa’s hand font

Layout by Katie. Artemia (NLA). Traveling Typewriter font.

Layout by Katie. Artemia (NLA). Traveling Typewriter font.

Layout by Katie. Weeds and Wildflowers blog freebie (NLA) CK Easy Goin font

Layout by Katie. I Dream of the Ocean by Holly Designs

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Did you guess the secret? Can you believe that every page in this post was made using a Quick Page?! For those of you who are newer to digital scrapbooking, a Quick Page (also known as a QP) is a predesigned digital scrapbook page that is already put together. All you have to do is add your own photos (and journaling if desired). No matter what your digiscrapping skill level is, you can use a QP. They are so easy to use and SUPER SPEEDY!

We’d love to see the layouts you have done using Quick Pages so we hope you will upload them to our flickr group with the tag of quickpage or use quotes like “Quick Page” – can’t wait to see them!

P.S.  The random winner for Anna’s gift is Cindy J who said “Anna is a new designer for me, which is one of the things I love about the Digi Files…to have that chance to see up close different designers’ works! Very cool offerings in her store…fav is Moments of Love I think…always hard to choose though.” - Thanks Cindy! That’s why we love the Digi Files also! Check your inbox for your gift code.

To date we’ve covered three of six basic design principles: Emphasis, Contrast, and Balance. Today’s lesson is on a fourth: Alignment. In July and August, we will look at Repetition and Flow.

Alignment is a great tool for unifying and organizing the elements on your page so that viewers can take it all in, and, what’s more, so that viewers understand and appreciate the story or primary meaning of your page.

THE PRINCIPLE OF ALIGNMENT

The principle of alignment says to:
1) consciously place each element on the page,
2) in relation to some other element on the page.

The reasons to use alignments are:
1) to create order (including organizing and grouping elements), and
2) to create visual connections between elements.

creating alignments

To create alignments on your scrapbook pages, you need to find a strong line . . .and use it. By this I mean, find ways to emphasize it and make it stronger.

There are many alignments in “Remember These Moments” by erininpink, but the strongest line on the page is the vertical line running along the left side of the photo. With the patterned paper blocks above it aligned on the left side and the tip of the left side of the journaling block below it aligned, the line becomes a strong one.

Another strong line runs along the bottom edge of the title block and lines up with the bottom edge of the patterned paper blocks to its right.

“Remember These Moments” by ErinInPink.

use alignments to create order

Alignments define the white space on your page.

White space refers to the areas of your page that are not filled with elements. White space not only gives the eye a resting point, it provides contrast and helps elements stand out. What’s more, it’s a great tool for grouping elements, and, thus, can be used to establish a hierarchy among elements and groupings.

Alignments define the white space on your page.

White space exists around your elements (as margins) and between your elements (as gutters).

On “Life is Grand [children]” Sam Ellis lined up six small photos in two columns of three each. She kept the height of the columns equal to (and aligned with) the focal photo on the left.

Another alignment on this page that really makes the design click, is that of the left and right title-block edges with the edges of the photo columns above it.

“Life is Grand[children]” by Sam Ellis

use alignments to create visual connections

When elements are aligned—even if they are not next to one another—there is an invisible line that connects them in your eye and in your mind. Connecting them strengthens the idea that they belong to the same piece.

On “Bright Spot,” the horizontal alignments as shown in the diagram help connect the two sides of this page despite the strongly division created by unusually-shaped white space. The top of the landscape photo on the left aligns with the top of the journaling block on the right. The bottom of the bottom photo on the left aligns with the bottom of the title word “spot.” The bottom of the bright yellow label plate aligns with the stitching beneath the title on the right.

“Bright Spot” by Debbie Hodge

ALIGNMENT TYPES

centered alignment

You may align elements on their center points (either vertically or horizontally).This is an approach that can give your design a more formal look.

All of the elements on “Two Tired Kitties” by jill-beamer are aligned along their horizontal centers: the bracket-shaped photo, the title, and subtitle. Even the motifs on the patterned paper are centered.

“Two Tired Kitties” by jill-beamer.

Carolee plays with multiple alignments on both vertical and horizontal element centers on “Captured Today.” The result is a page with a look I’d call classic but not traditionally formal. It delights and pulls the viewer in to the design.

“Captured Today” by carolee

edge alignment

You can line up text or objects along their top, bottom, left, or right edges. Photos, blocks of journaling, and mats (all typically rectangular shapes) lend themselves well to edge alignment.

In “Finger Space,” Gabi has used alignments of text, photos, and mats to strengthen her page design. Notice how the top and bottom edges of the journaling block align with the top and bottom edges of the photo. The right edge of the title aligns with the right edge of the photo. Gabi creates a strong line of white space (a.k.a. gutter) between the journaling and the photo by right-aligning the journaling. Left-aligned journaling would have created a jagged edge that would have weakened this line.

“Finger Space” by Gabi

In “Teen Boy Mows Lawn,” Britgirl incorporates many organizing alignments. The end of “teen boy mows” aligns with the right edge of green stitching and with the right edge of the photo block above. The top and bottom edges of the word “LAWN” in the title align with the top of the green stitching and the bottom of the title’s first half.

In an interesting break from the expected, Britgirl aligns the left edge of the journaling block with the left edge of some subtle writing above the photo: “document the details.”

“Teen Boy Mows Lawn” by Britgirl

IT’S OK TO BREAK ALIGNMENTS – PURPOSEFULLY

Once you’ve consciously put your alignments into place, it’s ok to place elements that break out of those lines. This will keep your white space from being so regular that it’s uninteresting. Additionally, those “overlappers” will ground elements to each other and to the page.

Katherine-hansen began “Froggy Boots” with a template by Deena Rutter that did a lot of the aligning work for her. See the points at which embellishments break out of the grid/alignments, including: the cloud at the top, the heart epoxy on the left, the umbrella at bottom right, and the clouds on the right side. These “breaks” from alignment add interest and firmly connect the blocks to the background canvas (a.k.a. grounding).

“Froggy Boots” by katherine-hansen

GET OUT THERE AN MAKE SOME ALIGNMENTS!

Arrange your elements to create alignments that make sense, that organize your page, and that just LOOK GOOD! Look for opportunities to create strong lines. And if you’re going to make a line — make it a strong one. Don’t go half-way with it. Understand, too, that once you’ve created strong alignments, you may then go ahead and break them—purposefully.

There are many big and small ways to incorporate alignments. If you’d like to think some more on this, take a look at these two articles:
*Strengthen your scrapbook page design with alignments
*Justification that strengthens scrapbook page design

Debbie Hodge shares scrapbook pages ideas, resources, and tutorials almost daily at her website Get It Scrapped! Her passion is showing you how to organize your memories and photos to make great-looking scrapbook pages that tell awesome (and often meaningful) stories. She’s got an MBA with a concentration in operations management and has studied and practiced creative writing for two decades—even publishing a few short stories before publishing LOTS of scrapbook pages, articles, and even a book called Get It Scrapped!

P.S. Leigh was the random winner selected from yesterday’s feature Fizzy Pop post. She won $10 to Fizzy Pop’s store! THANKS for taking time to share the love with Lizzy!

Have you ever come across a fun doodle pack that you just HAD to have … only to find that the doodles were all black? Maybe you bought them anyway, but still haven’t figured out how to customize them for your layouts. I (SuzyQ Scraps) am going to teach you some fun ways to color your doodles so you can match ANY layout! (Note: Screenshots are from PSCS4, but instructions work for PSE as well.)

CHANGING THE COLOR OF THE OUTLINE
1. Drag a doodle onto your layout. (For simplicity’s sake, I’m just showing the doodle in the screen shots.) This is a doodle from Oopsie-Doodle: Journaling 1 (if you purchased this month’s THE DIGI FILES there are some png files in Liz’s ‘Zine Style Templates’ that would as well (all those dots and arrows).

2. Choose a color. Add a new layer above your doodle (click on the sticky note icon or hit SHIFT+CTRL+N). Fill the layer with your desired color by hitting CTRL+Backspace. Then “clip” the color to the doodle (PSE: CTRL+G; PSCS: SHIFT+CTRL+G). (Tip: To match a color in your layout, select the eyedropper and then “suck” the color from the picture/element/paper.)

3. Alternatively, you can clip a background to the doodle. Instead of filling a new layer, just drag in a background above your doodle and clip it to the doodle. This can add more dimension to your doodle.

COLORING INSIDE A DOODLE
1. Drag a doodle onto your layout. This is a doodle from Digital Stamps: Wedding.

2. Select the magic wand tool. The default settings work beautifully.

3. Click inside the area you want to color — you should see marching ants around your selection after you click.

4. Expand the selection so it overlaps the doodle by going to Select > Modify > Expand.

5. Choose a small value — 2 pixels is typically sufficient.

6. Add a new layer BELOW the doodle (hold CTRL and click on the new layer icon) and fill it with your desired color (ALT+Backspace).

7. Hit CTRL+D to deselect.

8. If you want more depth or texture, try clipping a background to the fill layer.

COLORING A DOODLE USING MULTIPLE COLORS
1. Drag a doodle onto your layout. This doodle is from Oopsie-Doodle: Borders 1. I chose to change the color of my doodle to brown, but you could leave it black if that worked with your layout.

2. Select the magic wand too. To select multiple areas that will be the same color, click on the second option in the toolbar.

3. Click inside each area that you want to color — you should see marching ants around each selection. Then follow steps 4-7 above for coloring inside a doodle (expand the selection, add a new layer below, and fill the layer with your desired color).

4. Repeat these steps for each area you want colored, until your doodle is customized the way you want it.

Go have some fun coloring and customizing your doodles. Try experimenting with different papers — maybe even try clipping some patterned papers and see what happens. If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll try to answer them. And if you try this, please link us to your layout or post it in our Flickr group with the tag Doodle Color. We’d love to see your creation!

Suzy is a 28-year-old SAHM to a super rambunctious 2-year-old and wife my sweetheart for 4 years. We live in the middle-of-nowhere, which I absolutely love. My background is in biology but I now find myself on the opposite end of the spectrum designing digital scrapbooking supplies and I am LOVING the journey.

A note from Steph: Technically, you can use your ‘flood-fill’ tool (without using the selection wand) to fill the doodles as well, sometimes however, it will leave a a slight (1-2 mpx) area between the doodle and area you want filled, unfilled or transparent.  Suzy’s method is the best way to make sure you get the entire doodle filled)

When I (Katie) first entered the digital scrapbooking world 5 years ago, I felt like I was in a foreign country. I had no idea what most of the people were talking about! Now I often take it for granted that I can easily converse in both “digi-speak” and “forum-language” lol! without always realizing that not everyone is fluent in this terminology.

We here at The Daily Digi want you to have a reference to bookmark and come back to anytime you have a question. We were all new once, and in our fast growing community, there are often new terms and words to learn. No one knows it all, not even us! So if you find an acronym or word that isn’t on this list – please send it our way.

DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING RELATED ACRONYMS & TERMINOLOGY:

365 -   Also known as “Project 365” or “Photo 365”. Refers to the challenge of taking a picture every day of the year. See our big list of Project 365 resources

AAM – All About Me. Refers to layouts or albums centering around a page about a person. Usually includes information about likes and dislikes and/or personality traits.

ACDSee -   A software program developed by ACD systems to manage photo and image organization. Used by many digital scrapbookers to sort, organize, and tag supplies. See our post on ACDSee for more information, as well as our posts on digital scrapbooking programs and suggested program tutorials.

ACTIONS – A Photoshop action is a saved set of tasks or steps performed in Photoshop that are combined into a one-step process. See our posts on actions and using an action in Photoshop and Elements.

ART RAGE – A software program by Ambient Design for digital painting and adding creative effects to photographs and digital supplies. See our post about Art Rage here

ATC – Artist Trading Card. These miniature works of art can be created in many mediums, including digital. The canvas size is typically 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches. They are often swapped with other artists or collected in a similar way to other trading cards such as baseball cards.

AUTO – The automatic setting on a camera. The camera determines how to take the picture without any input from the user. Read our tips on Getting Out of Auto

BALANCE -  How the visual weight is distributed on a layout. See our design principles post on Balance

BLINKIE – A small graphic (often rotating or flashing in some way) to advertise a site, a favorite designer, or announce a team position. Digital scrapbookers will often display blinkies in a forum signature line, or on a blog. Grab a Daily Digi blinkie and find some great blinkie tutorials here.

BOM – Book of Me. An album about one person (often the person who is usually the scrapbooker). This term comes from Angie Pedersen’s The Book of Me publication.

BRUSH – A tool in Photoshop to customize the shape and appearance of lines. See our posts on brush basics and creating your own brush from a .png file. When you are ready to get more advanced, check out beyond brush basics.

BW – Black and White photo. See our tips for Better Black and Whites

CALIBRATE – Adjusting a computer monitor to display colors to a standard color scale. Calibration is the best way to ensure that printed layouts look the same as they do on a computer screen.  Be sure to check out this post on calibrating your monitor

CHAT – An online chat where digital scrapbookers gather together to talk (type) at a specific time. Many chats are organized by digital stores and/or designers and often have a giveaway product for the attendees as an incentive.

CLUSTER – A grouping of digital embellishments.  See our how-to guide for clustering elements

CONTRAST -  Difference in design elements to create visual emphasis. Read our design principles post on Contrast

CREDITS – A list of the materials used to create a layout or project. When posting a digital layout in a gallery or online, it is a nice courtesy to list the “ingredients’ used so others can find them as well.  See our tip for keeping track of credits on a layout

CROP – A physical or virtual gathering of scrapbookers for the purpose of creating layouts. Digital scrapbookers attend crops as well – either in person by bringing their laptops to a gathering, or virtually by meeting in a chat room or forum and following assigned topics or challenges.

CROPPING – Reducing the size of a photo, or cutting out a specific area of a picture to use. Just like with paper scrapping, you can crop pictures to use on digital layouts. See our tips for digitally cropping photos

CS – Creative Suite by Adobe. A collection of Adobe programs that includes Photoshop and other programs such as InDesign,  Some digiscrapers use the term CS interchangeably with Photoshop because PS is part of the Creative Suite.  See our posts on digital scrapbooking programs and suggested program tutorials.

CT – Creative Team. This is a team that is put together by a online store or digital designer to help them showcase their products and designs. Creative Team members are usually required to create and post a certain number of layouts in exchange for free product and/or other benefits.

DESIGNER – A person who creates digital and/or paper products for scrapbookers to use.

DIGI – An abbreviation for digital scrapboooking.

DPI – Dots Per Inch which is a measure of printing resolution. The industry standard for digital scrapbooking products is 300 dpi.

DROP SHADOWS – Shadowing added by a digital program to add dimension and realism to digital scrapbook layouts. See our post on drop shadows.

DSLR  – Digital Single Lens Reflex camera.  Learn more about DSLR cameras with our posts on I need a new camera, and You must have a great camera.

DT – Design Team. Another name for Creative Team.

EHD – External Hard Drive which is a storage device for files that is separate from a main computer. It is portable and plugs into the computer via USB drive.  See our post on backups.

ELEMENT – A term for a digital scrapbooking item that is not a paper. Used interchangeably with the the term “embellishment”.

EMBELLIE or ELLIE – Shortened form of “embellishment”.

EMBELLISHMENT – See definition for “element”.

EMPHASIS – The most noticeable part of a design. See our design principles post on Emphasis

EXTRACT – To digitally remove all background from an object such as cutting around a flower in the photo and keeping only the single flower image. Extract can also mean to unzip a file.

FLASH DRIVE – A small USB drive for saving and transporting files.

FLICKR – An online storage site that offers both free and paid photo storage, as well as groups and social sharing. Check out our post about flickr and be sure to join our flickr group.

FONTS – A complete set of characters used for typing on a computer. See  Fabulous Fonts for Titles and Font Organization for more information.

FOTO FUSION –    See our posts on digital scrapbooking programs and suggested program tutorials.

FREEBIES – Something given out for free! See our post on freebies for some great resources. Also check out the information about sharing files – it’s not ok to share files, even if they are free.

GRAYSCALE – A colorless image or element meant to be re-colored. See our post on working with grayscales

HERITAGE SCRAPBOOKING – Scrapbook layouts created about generations that came before you.  Find some great Heritage Scrapbooking Inspiration here

HYBRID – Combining digital techniques and/or product with traditional scrapbooking techniques and/or product.  See our ‘hybrid helps’ category for some ideas.

INDESIGN – A software program by Adobe that is often used by designers and/or graphic artists for e-zine or e-book creation.

JPEG or JPG –A file format used for storing and transporting photographs and digital images. For a more detailed explanation visit the Wikipedia page.

JOURNALING – The words included on a scrapbook layout.

JUMP DRIVE – A small USB drive for saving and transporting files.

KITS – A coordinated collection of digital papers and embellishments that are sold together as a set. See Getting the Most from your Kits for some great ideas.

LAYERS – Similar to a set of transparencies that can be stacked on top of each other, to create your layout, used in Photoshop programs (in paper scrapbooking, these are the different layers of papers and items that make up your layout).

LEVELS -  An adjustment tool in Photoshop programs to control the brightness of an image. Read up on our great tips for working with levels.

LIFT – Copying (with credit) another scrapper’s layout. Be sure to read our post on lifting a layout

LO – Layout

LOTW – Layout of the Week. Several sites and forums use this acronym when they pick a favorite layout to showcase.

MAC – The operating system for an Apple computer.

NSBR – Non-Scrap Book Related. This term is used in scrapbooking forums to indicate that the post is off the regular topic of scrapbooking.

ONLINE BACKUP – Storing photos and digital files on the internet.  See our post on backups.

PC –Personal Computer (usually with a Microsoft platform)

PHOTO EDITING –Making changes to a photograph in a digital editing program.

PICASA – A free photo editing and organization program from Google. Check out this post on how to use Picasa

PHOTOBOOK – A scrapbook or photo album that is printed and bound all at once as a stand-alone project. See our how-to guide for planning a photobook,  how-to guide for printing photobooks, and our review of photobook printers.

PIXELS – The tiniest piece of a digital image. See the pixel entry on Wikipedia for more technical information.

PNG – Portable Network Graphics file format used for storing and transporting digital images. Mainly used for embellishments that require a clear background area. See the png Wikipedia entry for more technical information.

POINT AND SHOOT – A compact camera that does not have interchangeable lenses.

POST PROCESSING – Any digital adjustments made to a photograph after it is taken.

PPI – Pixels Per Inch. A measurement of the pixel density of devices such as cameras, computers, and scanners.

PS – Photoshop by Adobe. See our posts on digital scrapbooking programs and suggested program tutorials.

PSD – A Photoshop document that saves in layered format.

PSE – Photoshop Elements (Adobe). Often followed by a number to refer to the release version such as: PSE8 = Photoshop Elements version 8. A consumer priced version of Photoshop. See our posts on digital scrapbooking programs and suggested program tutorials.

PSCS – Photoshop Creative Suite from Adobe. A professional level photo editing, management, and graphic design program. See our posts on digital scrapbooking programs and suggested program tutorials.

PSP – Paint Shop Pro. A graphic editing software program by Corel used for digital scrapbooking. See our posts on digital scrapbooking programs and suggested program tutorials.

QP – Quickpage or Quick Page. A predesigned digital scrapbook page saved in a flattened form with a transparent spot(s) for a photo(s). The only thing left to do is to add a photo or photos.

QUICKPAGE – A predesigned digital scrapbook page saved in a flattened form. The only thing left to do is to add a photo or photos.

RESIZE – To make an image smaller in compression to optimize web viewing and save on bandwidth space. See our post on resizing

SBR – Scrap Book Related. Pertaining to the topic of scrapbooking.

SCRAPLIFT  Be sure to read our post on lifting a layout

SCREEN SHOT – A captured shot of the full computer screen on a computer.  See how to take a screen shot post for more information.

SEPIA  – A tone applied to photographs to enhance brown and gray colors. Read our tips on Easy Sepia Tones

SOOC – Straight Out Of Camera with no editing.

TAGGING – To assign a keyword or term with a data file. Tags can be added to photos and/or digital scrapbooking supplies through computer system folder management or various software programs. See our posts on digital scrapbooking programs and suggested program tutorials.

TDD – Acronym for The Daily Digi

TEMPLATE – A guide for page design. In the digital scrapbooking world, this almost always refers to a layered template file (psd or tiff) that will ‘cut’ your papers and photos to a shape and size with just a couple keystrokes.  It looks similar to a paper scrapbooking ’sketch’.  Read our Layered Templates and Making Templates Work for You posts.

TEXT ON A PATH – Text that follows the outside or inside edge of a shape. Read our post on how to create a text path

TIFF – Tagged Image File Format. A flexible format that can accommodate layered files. For more technical information see the Wikipedia entry.

TITLE WORK – The art of creating a title for a layout. Check out our title-related posts; Terrific Titles for Scrapbook Pages, Fabulous Fonts for Titles, and Cutting Out Titles

TUT – Abbreviation for tutorial.

TWO PAGE LAYOUTS – A layout that spans two pages and looks cohesive in design across the space of an open book. See our post on 2 page layouts and also check out 2 page layouts from templates

TUTORIAL – A step by step description of how to do something. Can be in written, audio, or video form.

UNZIP – To open or undo the zip file format that digital products are delivered in. See our post on Unzipping Fast

WHITE BALANCE – White Balance is a special in-camera setting that adjusts the colors of the image as accurate as possible. White balance can also be adjusted in post-processing using photo-editing programs such a Photoshop. Check out our post on Working with White Balance

If you like to hang out in online forums or chat via email or text, you will find this link to be very useful:

• Common Acronyms from Cassie Jones at Designer Digitals

Now you can speak like a seasoned digi scrapper!