Category Archives: Truly Inspirational

If you need to feel inspired, this is the place to go!

Pinterest for Scrapbookers

 

on the fly border by Kristin Rice – Kstudio

I found out about Pinterest through Katie’s post about the site back in April 2011. Fast forward to the present and you’ll find me on Pinterest every day! If you haven’t experienced it yet, Pinterest is a visual bookmarking site. It’s a simple concept, but since it’s so visual, I’ll walk you through The Daily Digi (TDD) on Pinterest. You can find TDD’s pins here. TDD organizes its pins into several boards (topics), like this:

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I know that’s probably hard to see, so here’s a close-up on a few:

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You can choose to follow one specific board or follow every board by a particular user.

Once you’re following a few boards, pins from those boards will automatically show up on your Pinterest page for you to browse. If you want, you can choose to re-pin them onto one of your boards, “like” them, and comment on them.

Scrapbooking Pinboards

I happen to think that Pinterest is one of the best things to happen to digi scrapbooking since drop-shadow styles. Why? Because now I can locate all of my “favourite” pages onto a pin board! I love the inspiration in the galleries and in the past, I would “favourite” pages in the gallery where I saw the page. The trouble was that when I wanted to view it again, I had to think pretty hard to try to remember which gallery I saw it in.

Enter Pinterest. Here are some of my recent favourite pages that I’ve pinned:

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Each one is linked back to their original gallery post so I can find it again and check out the page credits.  Now I have hundreds of pages by various scrappers using many different designer products all located in one handy spot.

You can easily pin layouts you like, too! Here’s how:

1. Find a layout you love. I love the title on this page by our very own Trina. I also have a very similar photo of one of my own kids so I know this is a page I will want to refer back to.

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2. Copy the URL of the image.

3. Open another browser window/tab with Pinterest. Hit the “+” sign at the top right of the screen. It looks like this:

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When you do that, a dialog box will appear:

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Select “Add a Pin”

4. Paste the URL, select the image, select a pin board and add in some information. I add the name of the scrapper to pinned pages.

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Once you hit, “Pin It”, you’re done. The page is now pinned to your scrapbooking pinboard.

A recent development has been “pin me” buttons in galleries. In galleries with this feature, all you need to do is hit the “pin me” button on a favourite page and it will automatically connect with your Pinterest account (assuming you’re logged in) and take your through the pin posting steps.

Scrap Pin Boards

There are so many awesome scrapbooking boards to follow. Here are just a few:

Many scrapbooking stores are on Pinterest now. If you check your favourite store’s site, you may find a link to their Pinterest account.

You can easily find more pinboards by searching for key words like “scrapbook”, “layouts”, “digi scrap”, etc.

I hope you have fun on Pinterest!

Unfortunately, we are not able to respond to Pinterest invitation requests at this time. If you would like an invitation, try going to your favourite scrapbooking store forum and asking if one of the users there can send you an invitation. I’ve seen this work out for       many scrappers.

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Posted in Computer Tips and Tricks, Truly Inspirational Posted on by Heddy | Tagged , , |

What I’ve Learned in the Last Year + a chance to share & win!

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I really can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve learned from The Daily Digi  in the past year. I love that I can constantly find new and exciting digi tricks to make my memory keeping more enjoyable. The team provides me with so much inspiration through layouts and tips, and the readers have also shared many wonderful ideas in the comments sections. As I wrapped up 2011, I reflected back on some of the learning I experienced from The Daily Digi. Here are just a few of my highlights:

 

Downloading & unzipping digi supplies got a lot easier for me after this post full of great tips from our team. Can you believe it took me so long to use an unzipping tool?

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My photo editing skills greatly improved after I learned to use photo actions.

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Text size became much more important to me and I started to keep track of the font size I use on each layout.

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I figured out a fun way to digi scrap charts and graphs and have used this approach on a few of my favorite layouts created in the last year.

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By shooting more deliberately, I ended up with better photos. Katrina’s photography posts have helped me sharpen my photography skills and always leave me inspired to get out my camera.

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Steph made our trip to Disneyland a huge scrapping success thanks to her tips about using the Photo Pass services!

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I learned to stretch my supplies and creativity by combining digi papers and also combining 2 or more templates to get a whole new look.

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More than anything, I’ve been reminded that digital scrapbooking makes me happy and I’m so grateful for that!

What Have You Learned?

Have you tried anything new because of something you’ve learned here at The Daily Digi? Leave us a comment and link to a layout or project that’s the result from your learning and you might be featured on our Saturday post this week. You will also be entered into a random drawing for a gift card from one of our featured designers! Be sure to post before Friday, January 20th at noon (EST).

If you need to refresh your memory, browse through our archives or list of categories in the sidebar. I bet you will be amazed at how much you’ve learned!

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P.S. Alyna was the random winner from the feature on Tracie Stroud yesterday. She won $10 in product from Tracie Stroud!

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Posted in Truly Inspirational Posted on by Katie | Tagged , , |

KISS Digital Scrapbooking

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Jacque Larsen Love Letter, Traveling Typewriter font

I’ve been short on time and inspiration lately, but I’ve been longing to scrap some memories. During times like thing, I need to remind my self that it’s OK to “Keep It Simple Silly!” (K.I.S.S.)  Some people say “Keep It Simple Stupid” but I prefer to tell myself I’m “silly” for overcomplicating things. I’m still a smart person, I just need to remember to ease up on myself a bit.

If you are finding that your digital scrapbooking process is weighing you down, consider these tips to simplify your scrapping:

USE A TEMPLATE:

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“Life Composition” by Viva Artistry. Template by Scrapping with Liz.

We talk about templates all the time here at The Daily Digi, but they really are huge time-savers and a great way to simplify the digi scrapping process. Let someone else do the page design work for you, then you can enjoy selecting the page ingredients to complete your very own masterpiece! Believe it or not, this layout only took me about 15 minutes to complete and I didn’t have to put much mental effort into it at all since I just followed the template design.

Check out our resources for making the most of digital templates.

MINIMIZE PAGE DESIGN:

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All I did for this layout was to enlarge a scanned copy of a postcard and add the story. I didn’t worry about a fancy page design, I just made sure the memory was documented. Everyone who looks through my scrapbook albums always comments on how much they like this page. I always get a kick out of that because it has to be one of the easiest pages I have ever made!

Helpful posts for simple page designs:

“CHEAT” ON JOURNALING:

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Kitty Designs 365 Inspiration 3.  Asian Artistry by Emiko Designs.  Font is Franklin Gothic

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the task of journaling but there are so many ways to simplify this part of the scrapping process. A page without words is definitely missing something special! Here are my favorite methods for “cheating” on journaling:

CREATE A SIMPLE MOSAIC OR COLLAGE:

I love using the mosaic maker from Big Huge Labs to create super easy layouts! There’s nothing wrong with a simple arrangement of photos printed up as a scrapbook page. Here are some links to help you make easy collages using several different programs:

USE A QUICK PAGE:

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Digital Design Essentials Jeepers. Century Gothic Font.

There’s nothing easier than using a pre-designed quick page! All you have to do is plop your photo in and you’re done! You can even alter them a bit by using only a portion. I moved the frame & clusters of the layered quick page on the layout above and combined them with other papers and word art from the kit. I bet you will be surprised to discover that all the pages in my post about Super Speedy Scrapping are quick pages!

The next time you are feeling overwhelmed and/or short on time, don’t let that stop you from digi scrapping. There are so many ways to simplify the process. Just remember to K.I.S.S!

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Posted in Truly Inspirational Posted on by Katie | Tagged , , |

How to get Santa to leave you a letter

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Do you want to know one of Santa’s secrets? He loves to leave letters for the people on his Nice list, but he runs a little short of time on his busiest day of the year – so he uses Big Huge Labs! Yes, the Santa letter tool is very handy and it only takes a few minutes! You can click on the image above to see what he wrote to me.

I sure hope Santa writes to you!

katie big

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Posted in Truly Inspirational Posted on by Katie | Tagged , , , , |

Making Custom Christmas Cards

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Custom Christmas cards and calendars are one thing that often bring people to explore digital scrapbooking. There are a lot of different ways a Christmas card can be created and customized using Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. In this post, you will find information for:

  • creating a card using a drop-in quick page card (including a tutorial for the beginner)
  • creating an infographic Christmas card (for the intermediate to advanced digi scrapper)
  • creating a card using a layered template (including a tutorial for the beginner)
  • product suggestions
  • inspiration and ideas
  • printing ideas (including a tutorial for uploading custom designs to Costco)
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I love creating Christmas cards! I love looking at all of the GREAT designs available. I’ve recently found though, that sending Christmas cards with a family photo on them is mostly a U.S. tradition. Here’s an infographic showing some of the history behind Christmas Cards (click to see larger image):

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Layered Quick Cards and Templates

First off, we have some layered template cards. I created a tutorial for making a card using a layered template similar to the ones below to help those that are new (I use One Little Bird’s templates in my tutorial). The tutorial also shows how to adapt the card to fit Costco’s Custom Card size for printing:

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Quick Cards

Next up are some super cute drop-in quick cards. I created a tutorial showing how to use cards similar to these. The tutorial also shows how to adapt these cards for printing as a Custom Card at Costco :

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Our team member Kim Lund (a.k.a. Miss Kim) contributed a card to this collection of free cards on Becky Higgins’ site. They come in 4×6, 5×7, and Costco’s 6×7.5

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If you really don’t want to do them yourself, CD Muckosky has an option of having her customize them for you to print at home:

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Infographic

I have seen a couple of infographic cards around and I love them! Here are some examples:

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Something like this could be adapted to a Christmas card:

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If you would like to create an infographic card, I found a Google Doc Template that has customizable infographic images. Once you are done customizing, you can export in a PNG or PDF to use in Photoshop.

The Daily Digi has a Christmas card board on Pinterest where we’ve assembled some ideas and inspiration for the intermediate to advanced digital scrapbooker that might want to make their own card from scratch.

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Printing

Most years, I have just printed my cards as 5×7’s and bought some 5×7 envelopes at the office supply store. You just can’t beat the 27 cents that Costco charges for their 5×7’s. Last year, I figured out how to upload my own design to the Costco Custom Cards that are 6×7.5 and include envelopes (I think non Costco members can order and have them shipped. See my tutorial for uploading a custom design here). I haven’t decided for sure what I will do this year…it might be a photo card along with an infographic.  I love the shaped cards that I found at Black River Imaging, but haven’t decided if that’s the direction I will go or not.

There are, of course, lots and lots of places to get cards printed. Persnickety is my go-to printer for layouts and they do cards as well at reasonable prices.

 

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Posted in Just for Beginners, SCHOOL of SCRAPPING, Truly Inspirational Posted on by steph | Tagged , , , , |

Gather Memories

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Autumn Falling by Kristin Aagard & Stolen Moments. Howie’s stamp font by Fontologie

 

As we head into a very busy time of year for memory keepers (holidays, family gatherings, parties, and more), it’s a good time to make a game plan for how you are going to gather up the memories you want to document. Life moves pretty fast in general these days, and it seems to kick into hyper-drive during the holiday season. It’s important to take a little time to plan and prepare so you don’t miss out on the fun memories.

Gather “THE GOODS”

We are lucky to have a lot of technology and memory keeping options available to us, now’s a great time to make sure everything is in working order and ready to use.

  • Locate your camera(s) and make sure the batteries are charged. If you have extra batteries on hand, put them in your camera bag, purse, or tote bag to keep them handy. Consider storing your camera bag next to your keys and purse (or whatever you take with you whenever you leave the house) so you don’t forget them.
  • If you have a camera on your phone, check out some apps to help you take great pictures. Remember, the best camera is the one that’s with you! Review this post on scrapping with phone photos and check out the picks of the week from The Digi Show episodes for some great suggestions.
  • For those who are traveling, round up your power and sync cords for laptops, cameras, phones, etc. so you will be able to have functioning technology on the road. It’s so nice to be portable!
  • Pick up some extra cds/dvds or flash drives to make sharing photos with friends and family easier at gatherings.

 

Document As You Go

Don’t count on memory alone during this time, you might think you will remember everything once it’s time to sit down and scrapbook the events of the season, but it’s hard to keep it all straight. Use the tools around you to record memories as they happen.

  • Carry a small notebook, or use an app or notepad feature on a smartphone to jot down notes about holiday activities.
  • Interview your friends and family using a smartphone voice recorder, a tape recorder, or a Skype session. You can transcribe the notes later on and you’ll have a wonderful audio recording of their voices. This is a great time of year to gather journaling!
  • Take pictures of signs and informational materials that will help you with journaling later on. One of my favorite tricks is to photograph my journaling.

 

Be Nice To Yourself

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking we have to do it all, believe me, I know that feeling! The holiday season often means that we’ve added a lot of extra activities and chores on top of our normal routine. For some, it’s a time where they miss lost loved ones. It can be a stressful time even in the best of circumstances. It’s wise to realize that there won’t be time and energy for everything.

  • Forgive yourself if digi scrapping won’t fit in the holiday schedule. It’s a great time to be taking pictures and making memories. Use this post as a reminder to focus on the parts of memory keeping that will fit in your life during this busy time.
  • Let go of some expectations. Maybe you won’t make handmade gifts? Perhaps you’ll order take-out instead of cooking sometimes? Maybe you won’t go to all the parties you’re invited to? Take some time to discuss the holiday priorities with your friends and family and make adjustments where needed. Consider asking each person to list the one thing that is really important for them to do during the holidays and make sure those are the activities that don’t get missed. The rest are usually optional.
  • Pat yourself on the back for making and keeping memories during this time. You are giving yourself and others in your life a wonderful gift by sharing your pictures through creating scrapbook pages. You rock!

 

If you have any tips that help you gather memories during the busy season, please do share them in the comments. And remember, that we will be here each day with do-able and fun ideas to help you scrap your precious memories!

katie big

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Posted in Truly Inspirational Posted on by Katie | Tagged , , , , , , |

Digital Scrapbooking Looks Like…

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Digital scrapbooking can take many forms, and as we always emphasize here at The Daily Digi, there is no “right” or “wrong” way to digi scrap. We love all styles and types of digital pages and we regularly encourage our readers to scrap the way that makes them happy. Today, I (Katie) thought it would be fun to show you several different layouts from our flickr gallery and SHOW you all the things digital scrapbooking can be. I love every one of them!

(all images are linked for credits)

I love the big photo background with smaller framed pictures on this layout by SharonS. Her clever placement of embellishments really add a great finishing touch to the page.

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I’m in awe of this page FILLED with tv show images by neeceebee and I love the perfectly imperfect shapes combined with the pennant banners.

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This page by Bethanny10 captures such sweet photos and I love the font she used for the titlework. Classic colors, clean design, and great journaling, make this page fantastic!

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Pages without photos are a fun way to document a memory and we have some serious Mario addicts in our house as well. Crystalbella_77 created such a fun and whimsical layout by using bright colors and shapes to illustrate the story.

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Green Horned Unicorn (Antonia Krajicek) makes great use of white space on this layout to give the page an uncluttered and peaceful feeling. The dark background with white and pastel accents really show off the beautiful black and white photo.

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Documenting the everyday events and memories is such a practical, and enjoyable way to digi scrap real life. I love how oaklanefarm was able to include a week’s worth of photos in a visually pleasing format and still have plenty of room for journaling and fun embellishments.

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How many lists do we make in life? Sarahpinklime shows us how breaking up the pieces of a list can be a creative way to digi scrap.

1. Path by Biology Building U  10. U of U Parking lot 11. Mimi Playing at Cafe Rio 12.Strawberries for  the Garde 13.Imogene on the Escalator 14. Mimi insisted on buckling 15. Maverick Gas Prices 16. University of Utah 17. Book Sculpture Detail 18. Book Sculpture @ Marriot L 19. Rearview Self Portrait 2. Warnock Engineering U of U 20. New Hair Cut 21. The Kittens Sookie and Pic 22. My Orange Poppy 23. The view from the  Front W 24. Our Street Corner 25. The Diapers I made for Mim 3. A Permit Parking U of U 4. I love these straws 5. Rearview Self Portrait 6. Carpool-Carson, Xander,  Dr 7.Self-Portrait 8.Holiday Oil  Gas Prices 9.Xander Messing Around Background CVW_SupplyTracker Layer 1 Shape 1 Shape 1 copy Shape 1 copy 10 Shape 1 copy 11 Shape 1 copy 12 Shape 1 copy 13 Shape 1 copy 14 Shape 1 copy 15 Shape 1 copy 16 Shape 1 copy 17 Shape 1 copy 18 Shape 1 copy 19 Shape 1 copy 2 Shape 1 copy 20 Shape 1 copy 21 Shape 1 copy 22 Shape 1 copy 23 Shape 1 copy 24 Shape 1 copy 3 Shape 1 copy 4 Shape 1 copy 5 Shape 1 copy 6 Shape 1 copy 7 Shape 1 copy 8 Shape 1 copy 9 TItle WW_EL_paper17a WW_EL_paper17a copy WW_EL_paper17a copy 10 WW_EL_paper17a copy 11 WW_EL_paper17a copy 12 WW_EL_paper17a copy 13 WW_EL_paper17a copy 14 WW_EL_paper17a copy 15 WW_EL_paper17a copy 16 WW_EL_paper17a copy 17 WW_EL_paper17a copy 18 WW_EL_paper17a copy 19 WW_EL_paper17a copy 2 WW_EL_paper17a copy 20 WW_EL_paper17a copy 21 WW_EL_paper17a copy 22 WW_EL_paper17a copy 23 WW_EL_paper17a copy 24 WW_EL_paper17a copy 3 WW_EL_paper17a copy 4 WW_EL_paper17a copy 5 WW_EL_paper17a copy 6 WW_EL_paper17a copy 7 WW_EL_paper17a copy 8 WW_EL_paper17a copy 9 WW_EL_paper17b WW_EL_paper3a WW_wa_today WW_wa_today copy WW_wa_today copy 2

The photo is definitely the star of sharongrey8’s layout, but if you look closely, you will see all sorts of creative details around the edges. Digital scrapbooking is a wonderful way to emphasize beautiful photography.

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Candid pictures can sometimes give us a better glimpse into someone’s personality than a formal photo. I love the filmstrip feeling of the photos along the edge of missbizibee’s page. The patterned papers are a fun way to illustrate the theme.

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Our memories are pieced together throughout our lives like a quilt, so I love the slightly wonky look of Lauren Reid’s collection of photos, papers, and embellishments placed on this page. The patterns are so whimsical and fun, and the layout feels lighthearted and joyful.

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I love seeing creations from other digi scrappers. I think it’s wonderful that there are countless ways to express and share our treasured memories. I hope you will find inspiration from one of the layouts in this post, or from one of the thousands of pages shared in our flickr group. Then take that inspiration and turn it into something you can share with others!

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Posted in Truly Inspirational Posted on by Katie |

Scrapping (and more) with Storyboards

A lot of bloggers (especially professional photographers) use storyboards to illustrate their posts. Storyboards are also a fabulous tool for digital scrapbooking and I know you will want to give them a try after seeing all the fun ways they can be used. Here are storyboard examples from some of my favorite blogs:

Lisa Leonard uses a storyboard approach to document her fun and stylish outfits

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The Finer Things blog uses storyboards to present several ideas centered around a theme.

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The Creature Comforts blog uses storyboards to share favorite finds.

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Jessica Tierney uses storyboards for color inspiration

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Tara is a team member here at The Daily Digi and a very talented photographer. She uses storyboards to put present photos to her clients, as well as for her own personal use, on her blog.

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Shopping for Storyboards

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Wendyzine has 2 great actions in her store for storyboards

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Gina Miller has oodles of storyboards in her shop at The Lily Pad. She uses them all the time on her photography blog (which is filled with incredible photographs!) Here are  few of my favorites:

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Lauren Reid has some clever photo boards for blogging.

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Wendyzine has this storyboard action for blog images.

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Here are some tutorials to help you create your own storyboards:

 

Now that you’ve been inspired by storyboards, try digi scrapping with one! I love to use this technique for a clean and simple style of layout. Here’s a storyboard I created.

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I think it would be great to just print it out “as is” and put it into a scrapbook album. Or you could treat the storyboard as a single image and place it on a layout like this:

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Layout by Katie. Mye DeLeon The Magic is Here.

 

There are so many possibilities! Hope you enjoy this fun way to tell a story with your own photos!

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Posted in Check it Out!, Truly Inspirational Posted on by Katie | Tagged , , |

Inspired by Eva Kipler

The following layouts were created using “Always There” by Eva Kipler and included in The Digi Files during July, 2011:

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Layout by SharonS, additional supplies: AlphaGiant: Heather Taylor, Scallops: Crystal Wilkerson, Font: CK Journaling
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Layout by Aaron. Supplies: “Always There” by Eva Kipler and included in The Digi Files #31; Font: JenLin.
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Layout by Karen. Supplies: “Always There” by Eva Kipler and included in The Digi Files #31; Font: FO Giggles and FO Printer Primer.
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Supplies: “Always There” by Eva Kipler and included in The Digi Files #31; Template by Kimberly Lund (The Daily Digi Newseltter Freebie); Font: Century Gothic; Lightroom Presets: Matt’s Nostalgic Effect (free at LightroomKillerTips).

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Layout by Kimberly. Supplies: “Always There” by Eva Kipler and included in The Digi Files #31; July Digifiles by Emily Merritt (template); Stitching by Pixel Cafe; Fonts: CK Ali, Hero.

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Layout by Tara. Supplies: “Always There” by Eva Kipler and included in The Digi Files #31; Modern Master 011 Simply Tiffany Studios (template).

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Posted in Truly Inspirational Posted on by steph |

Where does inspiration come from?

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It happens to all of us – the dreaded creative block. I (Katie) have been going through it myself lately, I’ve just had a hard time finding my “mojo”. I have a stash of tricks that I usually rely on when I’m needing some help in the inspiration department. I also asked our creative team to share what works for them.

 

LISTEN

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One of the biggest sources of creative inspiration for me lately is the Paperclipping Digi Show podcast. Even though I’m a frequent guest, I still go back and listen to past episodes over again. We cover so much in each show that it’s hard to get it all in one listen. Some of the ideas for this post come from PDS041 – Bombarded by Inspiration, where the topic was actually where to find inspiration. I always feel like scrapping after I record or listen to a digi show!

 

GALLERIES

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A screen shot of recent layouts posted in our Flickr group

 

Team member Heddy says “I browse galleries for recent posts, specific kits and even events (like ‘birthday’, ‘birth’, ‘wedding’, etc.). My favourite galleries are DigiShopTalk, MyScrapbook Art, Two Peas In a Bucket, Log Your Memory, and MeSoScrappy. I also ‘subscribe’ to my favourite scrapper’s galleries through my Google Reader. That way, whenever they post a new layout, it shows up in my Google Reader list and I don’t miss any layouts.”

Resources to help you:

 

LIFTS

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scraplift by Heddy, see credits here

 

Scraplifting is a great way to get ideas! All you need to do is pick a layout and use it to guide you with your own creation. Team member Lauren says “When I’m feeling especially uncreative, I looooove doing lifts, especially of paper layouts! Sometimes it’s nice to have that jumping off point, even if your layout ends up looking completely different!”

Resources to help you:

 

CLASSES

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I absolutely LOVE online classes! I think it’s so amazing that we can learn so much right from the comfort and convenience of our own keyboard! When I learn a new idea or technique, I’m anxious to try it out and it gets me scrapping!

Resources to help you:

 

BOOKS & MAGAZINES

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Even though we love our online sources, sometimes it’s just hard to beat looking through a beautiful book or magazine!

Heddy’s favorite inspirational books:

  • The Oral History Workshop by Cynthia Hart and Lisa Samson
  • We Dare You: Scrapbooking Challenges About Real Life by Kristina Contes, ee Meghan Dymock, Nisa Fiin, and Genevieve Simmond
  • 365 Days of Scrapbooking Ideas by Better Homes and Gardens
  • That’s Life: Finding Scrapbook Inspiration in the Everyday by Nic Howard
  • Paper scrapping magazines have lots of really great ideas that translate very well into digital.

Katie’s favorite inspirational books:

  • Life Artist by Ali Edwards
  • Page Maps 2 by Becky Fleck
  • Clean & Simple Scrapbooking (both books) by Cathy Zielske
  • Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
  • Martha Stewart magazines (not scrapbook related, but always inspiring to me)

 

CREATIVE TEAMS

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Team member Amelia says “I also find a lot of inspiration by either being on a creative team or seeing the layouts that creative teams do – they are a bit more focused than just looking through a gallery and I always come away with ideas!” Heddy also mentioned that “store previews are a huge source of inspiration for me!” I have to agree, I often decide whether or not to purchase a kit based on the CT layouts and I love to bookmark them for future reference. Sometimes I simply save the web image right along with the kit folder so I remember to use that inspiration when I scrap with the kit.

Resources to help you:

 

PRODUCTS & DESIGN

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Fabric swatch from IKEA

 

A trip to IKEA, a glance through a Pottery Barn catalog, or even a label on a jam jar can give me a creative idea for a layout design or element on a page. Great design is all around us! Why not use inspiration from the professionals who bring us beautiful ads and products? This is similar to scraplifting in that you simply use an item to influence your own creation. Steph has mentioned many times on the Digi Show, that when she sees a great poster, she immediately thinks of it in terms of a layout. Get out your own designer eye to look at the world around you!

Resources to help you:

  • Your favorite retail stores and websites
  • Catalogs and ads
  • Billboards

 

PHOTOS

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Pictures from Fast Photo Fixes

 

When I look through my folders of photos, I’m often inspired to do something special with them. Pictures make me happy and make me feel creative!

Resources to help you:

 

STORIES

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story card by Katie – credits here

Sharing stories can be just as inspiring as a trip through a gallery. Talk about memories with friends and family to inspire yourself to document them. Often, I feel like scrapping after reading something my Mom wrote on her blog, or listening to an experience that one of my children have told me about.

Resources to help you:

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After compiling this list of ways to find inspiration, I feel a bit sheepish that I have been lacking in that area. Can you imagine if our ancestors heard us complain about losing our “mojo” when we are surrounded by so much creativity and design? There really is no excuse, except for perhaps having too much to inspire us!

Where do you find inspiration?

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Posted in Truly Inspirational Posted on by Katie | Tagged , , , |