Tips for the Month of July 2015

Hi!

This is a Summary of the June 2015 Tips of the Week, I've written for Sunshine Inspired Designs (SID)'s blog.

If you need to refer for some more layout examples, I've added the link to SID's blog on her weekly tip of the week post.

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TIP No. : 10  Don't be afraid to break the rules.  You are the Storyteller and no one will tell it better than YOU.

This tip is on being yourself in expressing oneself.

Break away from all of the DO’s and DON’Ts. The rigid rules that sometimes limits your expressive ways to create more of what you feel and what you see.

Some scrapbookers work or chronicle only the What, When and Where with the right embellishments and papers for the photo sometimes forgetting the Why.  Just add journaling and written notes to adorn your layouts.

One may be on a Heritage Album project and it’s up to you if you’d like to scrap by telling the History from vintage to eclectic layout styles.

You could rather be a Humorous Storyteller by injecting lightness in your scrapping going for light to bright colors, injecting cheerful doodles on your layouts, with word arts and thought bubbles.

Scrapbook Layout Challenges on a themed or thematic challenge, to a color motif, to a quote or song topic or to any challenge topic that can be asked of, works well for those in an inspiration dilemma for an LO. Just go with what you feel, what each element or embellishment you add to your layout means to you and to the main story you are scrapping about.

This is more than having photos of or the memorabilia itself for paper layouts in form of ticket stubs, mini souvenir items to receipts added as inserts or clipped on to your LOs.

It’s forming a layout which captures the very story running in your head, what that photo means to you or just tell us why your chosen photo is significant to be documented in a layout. Just take to mind, you are the Storyteller of your Scrapbook layout and do scrap to your heart’s content.

Here are my layout examples from YEAR 2015 for Tip No. 10:

Halloween Party LO as Creative Team Member - Worker Bee for Scrappy Bee (2014); Creo by Lady Katutz LO as Creative Team Member for Sunshine Inspired Designs (2015); Happy New Year LO as Creative Team Member for Sunshine Inspired Designs (2015); and Julio LO as Creative Team Member - Worker Bee for Scrappy Bee (2015);

To read more and find more examples, visit SID's June 10th blog post.


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TIP No. : 11  To give your letters more dimension, outline them.

This tip is on the use of alphas.  Do you ever realize or remember while working your layouts that there are cases that your title or journaling lacks in depth or dimension.  Nope, I’m not talking of how the content of your title or journaling comes across.  I’m talking about the total look of your layout created wherein, your letters or font used lacks in the added thickness.  In other words they come in too flat for your layout.  Maybe your letters or alpha choice are too thin, making your title or journaling barely readable or the letters barely recognizable depending on the type of font utilized.

The best way to create your layout with letters for those instances mentioned is to have your letters outlined.  For those utilizing Adobe Photoshop, you may use the blending tool – Stroke, for added dimension.  It’s up to you to choose the color that would be reflected in your outlined letters.  Another way, is to re-create your alphas graphically with a thicker outline.  Others use shadows for added dimension. 

Do try any of the above-mentioned, for you to get a grasp of the dimensional digital technique you would like to utilize or you would choose for your future layouts.

Here are my layout examples from YEAR 2013 for Tip No. 10:

different outlined or thicker alphas at Design Team Member LO Cafe by the Ruins for InspiredbyDominic Designs (2013); Design Team Member - Administrator Digital Card: You are a Friend as Sweet as Honey digital card/postcard for the Filipino Scrapbookers (2013); Design Team Member - Administrator Handmade Card: Snow Angel for Kaboodle Doodles  (2013); and Moonpie Creative Team Member Digital LO: Last Breakfast at Modesto's SG for Crescent Moon Designs (now Charly Renay Designs) (2013)

To read more and find more examples, visit SID's June 24th blog post.