Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Fun Karaoke Night

Credits :
Sunny Daze by Mari Koegelenberg (white paper, frame) 
In My Happy Field by Jady Day Studio (tag, tosca pattern paper) 
Game collab by Juliana Kneipp (black newspaper) 
Musical You by Marie H Designs (star scatters) 
Music and Me by Meta Wulandari Designs (flying notes) 
Away We Go by Jen C Design (word bits) 
Bugging Out by Kristin Aagard (alpha freebie) 
Font : Burst My Bubble, Comic San MS

Shine Bright collab by Kristin Cronnin-Barrow and Juliana Kneipp

Shine Bright like a diamond! Reminded me of Rihanna a lot, LOL! This gorgeous new kit from Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Juliana Kneipp is all about being happy, being positive, and letting your light shine. The vibrant and fun color palette with a touch of glitter is perfect for all of your layouts.



Friday, April 26, 2013

Earth Day Competition

 Credits : 
Boyhood collab by Createwings Designs and Mle Card, 
Nature's Delight Word Arts by Pixelily Designs.


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Acha in her new purple batik dress

Credits : Just one more picture by Clever Monkey Graphics, Camera Shy by Lauren Grier.

Shopping with coupons form The Digi Dares

As the Darer's Pick of the Week on The Digi Dare #318, I'm entitled  a $10 coupon from EACH of the sponsors for this month! Wanna see what I've grabbed with those coupons?




Sunday, April 21, 2013

Juliana Kneipp : I Like This

If you're a fan of technology or have a Geek in your life, this is the kit for you! Full of everyday elements like washi tape as well as tech-inspired goodies like glasses, cables, disk, and tech-speak WA (like #lovethat, SHARE, CTRL, love my computer, and more)! Includes a whopping 98 elements and 19 wonderful papers, this is a tech kit you'll use again and again!


 

Ginger Scraps : It's Her Birhday by Trixie Scraps




Saturday, April 20, 2013

Juliana Kneipp and Traci Reed : Fuzzy Friends

Let feelings of warmth embrace you with Fuzzy Friends, a collaboration by Traci Reed and Juliana Kneipp. Fuzzy friends is a soft and cuddly kit dedicated to your little precious pets, your childhood memories with a lot of playtime, or the memories being made your little ones with their own fuzzy friends. In soft hues of primary colors, mixed in with some vintage goodness, a bit of eclectic and sweet all make documenting those fuzzy pages a whole lot more fun.

Includes 15 Patterned Digital Scrapbooking Papers, 5 Solid Digital Scrapbooking Papers, 1 Digital Scrapbooking Alphabet on individual .png files and over 80 digital scrapbooking embellishments.


Juliana Kneipp and Traci Reed : Fuzzy Friends

Friday, April 19, 2013

Ginger Scraps : Just Add Water by Luv Ewe and Blue Heart Scraps

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. Little children want to play. Rain, rain, go away...
Don't you just love the contrast between the bright colors of the rainbow with the nude color of the frame? I wish I was still a kid... sigh :).


Sahlin Studio : Storytelling

I love this friendship song by Bruno Mars and I thought this photo represents the theme perfectly. What do you think?


Storytelling by Sahlin Studio

Juliana Kneipp and Erica Zane : The Good Stuff

A digital scrapbooking kit by Juliana Kneipp & Erica Zane, The Good Stuff is packed with...well, the good stuff...fabulous colors, fun elements, a touch of vintage and a whole lot of awesomeness!

Packed with 20 digital scrapbook papers (plus a 12x12 newsprint edge overlay), more than 80 digital scrapbook elements and a digital scrapbook alphabet (saved as individual .png files), this kit is perfect for all types of pages! The elements include: 16 word art pieces, 6 word art tabs, 7 flowers, 6 paint spills, 6 ribbons, 5 buttons, 4 filler cards, 4 frames, 4 sets of stitches, 3 pieces of tape, 3 vintage ephemera pieces, 2 leaves, 2 butterflies, 2 journal cards, 2 scatters, doily, index card, banner, playing card, ruler, clipping mask, piece of lace, tag, ticket stub and a staple.



Thursday, April 18, 2013

Juliana Kneipp : Before you go to bed

If your child sleeps like a baby (or you've got a baby who thinks sleep is overrated!), then Before You Go To Bed is the perfect kit for photos of your precious one fast asleep or getting ready for bed! Filled with fun word art for either nap time or night time and vintage fun, Before You Go to Bed is filled with bedtime and sleepy elements that'll perk you right up!

I helplessly fell in love with the vintage children books featured in this super cute kit when I saw the Sneak Peak last week. I am so lucky to be accepted as Ju's new CT so I can't play with this kit freely without having to buy it. Yaay!


Simple Tricks to Improve Your Photos

Oftentimes I take a photo when the lighting conditions are less than ideal. Maybe there’s too much backlight or the kids insist on standing in the shade when the sun is so bright. The result is that the faces are dark, but the background is light.

There are a number of options for lightening dark shadows on your photos. In Photoshop Elements you can try one of the following:
1. Go to Enhance>Auto Levels. Sometimes the computer is just smart enough to fix it so you like it! 2. Go to Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Shadows/Highlights and play with the lighting by moving the arrow on the sliding bar.
3. Duplicate your photo. In the Layers Palette, select Screen from the pull-down menu. This will lighten the entire image but you can play with the opacity or erase portions of the top layer so that only parts of your image are lightened. Merge the two layers when you’re happy with how it looks.
4. Use the Smart Brush tool to lighten the shadows of a select part of your photo.


More : see this article from the Daily Digi

Little Storyteller

You might think that before I create a page I should have the photos or stories first right? But, it's not always the case. Like this page for example. I was deeply attracted to this STORYTELLER word art in this kit by Kristin Cronnin-Barrow and Jenn Barrette, I just decided to find a perfect photo and story to match it! Bizarre, huh?



Credits :
Picture Perfect 18 by Aprilisa Designs (template)
A Happy Family by Erica Zane (papers, alpha, chevron, love t.h.i.s)
Capturing Memories by Marie H Designs (camera, word arts : capture-memory-click)
Be Brave collab by Little Butterfly Wings and The Hidden Heart (smiley)
A Mom's Work is Never Done by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Jen Barrette (storyteller)
Addicted to List by Studio Basic designs (bubble speech)
Life Captured December by Pixelily Designs(sewingscale)

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Digiscrap Heaven

This morning after I woke up and automatically reached my Black Berry to check emails, I was excited to find an email from Ju Kneipp to announce my acceptance in her CT team! Like a dream comes true... I've been collecting her products and used them constantly in portfolio challenges at Sweet Shoppe Designs or my personal layouts. So eager to work with her creation every week!

Wait... my luck didn't stop right there... Last night before I went to sleep, I checked The Digi Dares and was totally surprised to see my layout announced as their Pick of the Week! Yaay... I am entitled for 40$ coupons from all the darers this month... yihaaa... To tell you the truth, I almos missed the dare because I only submitted it 2 hours before the deadline on Thursday 10pm ET (I thought I was already too late because in Indonesia time it was Friday 10.15 am, hahaha...).


To make things even better, when I looked at the winning layout at DST (I didn't know why I posted it on DST, I just did it without automatically thinking...:)), guess what? I got GSO from DST too!!! Can you believe that...

Three strikes in a day! Am I in a Digiscrap Heaven today? Lady luck surely works mysteriously... :).

Friday, April 12, 2013

The Hidden Heart : Be Brave

If you are brave enough to reach for it, then you probably will get it. Be Brave, a collaboration by Little Butterfly Wings and The Hidden Heart, pushes you to be brave, face your fears, take some risks, and enjoy the benefits from your bold move. In bright and encouraging shades of yellow, orange, and dark gray, Be Brave recognizes that taking the courage is the first achievement on the road to your ultimate destination.

It will surely be a delight to go back to your memory pages and think about your triumph over adversity because you were brave, or recount the story of your not so little one anymore, and how she is making waves at something she enjoys because she was brave to start it. This can also be the special message you want to impart to your most cherished one for being brave with you in taking the next steps together in your shared life. Whatever, it may be, go on, Be Brave, and enjoy smiling about it.

This collab kit contains 1 full alphabet, 26 papers (18 patterns and 8 solids) and 68 elements (frames, flowers, wordarts, buttons, brushes and much more).



Edeline Marta : You're Amazing

Edhish of Edeline Marta is opening her brand new store at Oscraps and this kit is her latest release there. Go check it out because she is currently having 40& opening sale!

You’re Amazing is primarily a boy-themed kit, filled to the brim with fun bits and pieces, to scrap about your little (or not so little) man on the go! The soft colours and versatile elements give plenty of options and make this a kit that can be used for so much more as well! The ‘go-to’ set of six fun patterned papers and six complementary solids have a contrasting edge design for added interest. The kit also includes a cute checkerboard alpha, perfect for adding that finishing touch to your pages with a co-ordinating title!



Ginger Scraps : Girasole by Snips and Snails Designs

Natural and earthy color kits have always been my favorite. Even though I've already collect some wonderful nature theme kits, I couldn't resist this one with big and bright sunflowers :).



Digi Dare #318

Okay – here’s the current dare from The Digi Dares hosted by Clever Monkey Designs:

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens … big copper kettles and warm woolen mittens … brown paper packages tied up with string … THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS. {I am inserting an apology here in the event you aren’t going to be able to get that song out of your head now.} Favorite things … that’s what this dare is all about. 

Do you have a favorite pair of jeans that fit just perfectly? Do you have a favorite movie you turn on when you need a pick-me-up? Do you have a favorite food? Or, perhaps you had a doll when you were young that was your all-time FAVORITE. We want to see what your favorite IS – or what is WAS … and we’d love to hear a few reasons you feel the way you do.

You have until 10:00pm (EST) next Thursday (04/11) to post a link to your layout in the comments here to be entered to win on this week’s prizes! Our Random Pick receives 2 $10 coupons from our darer/designers. And the Darer’s Choice will receive a $10 coupon from EACH of our sponsors for that month! So you have a chance to win up to $40 in coupons just for playing along! Remember to invite your friends and link us when you upload to Facebook too!"

Dare Flair :
Big bold title
Photo is optional
At least one paragraph of journaling
Add a splash of paint or masking of some sort.

And this is my take on this challenge :

Credits
Papers, heart, paint, W alpha, smile face, clock, butterfly, strong, keep going : Be Brave collab by Little Butterfly Wings and The Hidden Heart. Alpha O : A Happy Family by Erica Zane. Alpha A & R : Here comes trouble by Kristin Cronin Barrow. Alpha D : WAH by Secret Stash Alpha T, xoxohearts, this is my favorite, so much love : All in the Family by Traci Reed and Studio Basic Designs. Faves, my favorites! : Top 10 by Shawna Clingerman. You make me, smile : Remember to Smile by Kristin Cronin Barrow. Explosion of emotions, we got chemistry! : Got Chemistry? by Jady Day Studio and Megan Mullens. Love this : You are My Happy Tabs by Misty Cato.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

My Favorite Layouts

Today, when I browsed through my layouts in Ginger Scraps galleries, I just realized that I have posted more than 350 layouts. Awesome….! From those layouts, I decided to choose some of my favorite layouts that best represent the different styles and techniques that I have experimented during the 2 years of digi scrapping. Here we go….

Word Arts
I have to confess that I am a Word Arts sucker. Believe it or not, whenever I see a preview for new kits, the first thing I look for is not the embellishments nor the papers, but the uniqueness of the word arts! I especially love beautifully written quotes that can personalize my layouts to express my feeling better. Don’t know why, but looking at variety of fonts and colors that creatively formed the word arts never fails to deliver a sense of joy through my vein, hahaha…


Multiple Photos
As a proud mom-tographer or mama-razzi, not a day passed without at least one camera shoot. Being a perfectionist with a passion for detail, taking more photos from every possible angles is definitely BETTER! As a result, I always end up with multiply photos that desperately needed to be fitted in one layout. It’s not an easy job to do that, particularly with a long journaling to squeeze in, but I managed to do so most of the time. Yay…





No Photos 
Have I experimented creating photo-less layouts? Yes of course…. even though they only count for about 1% of my whole collection, hahaha… I think the key to great photo-less layouts is powerful journaling decorated by meticulous clustering of elements to make up for the absent of photos.


Fantasy Style 
This style is perfect to nurture my obsession of fairy tales. My kids love to hear bed time stories featuring their own adventures where they are the princesses or fairies or even pirates! That’s why the first technique I learned when I started digi scrapping is how to do extraction properly so I can extract their images and put them in a fantasy background. It’s so much fun to add wings on Acha’s back and watch her turns into a fairy…. 


Clustering 
Before I studied the shadowing technique from Tamara Allen’s workshop, clustering real elements such as flowers, leaves and foliage was really an issue for me. I used to droll in front of other scrapper’s layouts, wondering what were their secrets to have their clustering looked so three dimensionally touchable! But now that I knew the tricks, clustering has become a bliss….


Blending
This technique is my favorite so far, merely because it is so simple yet capable to create a magnificent effect. I like to blend a super big photo to a solid background as an accent to fill it up without overcrowding the page. It’s really helpful to collect different type of brushes to blur the photo edge and enable it to blend seamlessly.

 

Paper Stacked/Cut Out 
It’s a shame not to show off the collection of different patterned and solid papers created by a designer in the kit. The challenge is how to combine them harmoniously through stacking or cut out technique. I must be honest to say that wood grain and newspaper background papers tend to be my favorite but it doesn’t mean that more brightly color papers aren’t welcome to spice my pages up.





Well, there you go... some of my most favorite layouts which I hope can inspire you whenever you feel like loosing your mojo and need fresh idea. Dare to try new things and you'll be surprise of what it will take you... :). Happy digi scrapping!