Daws Glacier

Unfortunately, I'm home from work today b/c of my allergies. BUT on the plus side, it means I can play around in the craft room a little. And today I worked on this layout from our Alaskan cruise. We got up close & personal with the Daws Glacier, and it did not disappoint.

Digital Supplies Used

Program: Adobe Elements 6.0; Template: JS Temp 11; Paper: SBA April '09 Kit - Queen of Quirk pp 8, mfen solid 1, mfen solid 4, mfen solid 8, awolff bg 6; Misc: Michelle Coleman - criss cross stitching; Fonts: Cracked, CK Becky

Beautiful Glaciers

Today we're looking at the opposing layout for my Juneau spread. I focused on all of the beautiful scenery; it was pretty tough to narrow it down to just 10 faves!

Program: AE 6.0; Template: JS Temp. 03; Paper: KH - beige; Scrapdish - JB postcards; SBA - Jan. 10 awolff solid 4; Apr. 09 solid 4, solid 6 & tag 3; DD - KP traveler stamps Journey; MCO - antique brad; DP - simplicity word art 1

Birdseye View of Juneau

While we didn't get to mush huskies as we'd planned due to low cloud cover in the morning, we salvaged the day by taking a sea plane tour of the glacier fields. Stunning! I had tons of pictures and wanted to maximize the number of beautiful photos I planned to preserve for our album. So I chose a template that would highlight a particularly memorable photo while allowing lots of other photos from the day.

Program: AE 6.0; Template: JS Temp. 03; Paper: KH - beige; Scrapdish - JB postcards; SBA - Jan. 10 awolff solid 4; Apr. 09 solid 4 & solid 6; DD - KP traveler stamps day 4; Fonts: Title - Cracked; Journaling - Abadi MD Condensed Light

An Album Gone Digital

As a Christmas gift, my mom scrapped the pictures from our recent family vacation to Alaska. We went with my parents and my brother & sister-in-law, so there were lots of fabulous pictures to choose from for the album. So many, in fact, that it still leaves me plenty of pictures to scrap on my own. And that's why I decided to scrap the trip completely digitally.

I'm very much a novice at digital scrapbooking. I've done a few layouts here & there, but I found the process to be even more time-consuming than the traditional paper layouts, if that's even possible (for me, that is). That is until recently when I discovered the wonder of digital templates. Oh my. These toys have to be the best invention ever. What makes them especially nice for someone like me is that you're not "stuck" with the layout as-is. Assuming you've downloaded a layered template, you have the option to delete & add & move around, which makes them totally customizable. Now, don't get me wrong, I still love working with paper as much as the next die-hard traditional scrapper. But I have to say that I'm now hooked on the possibilities that lie in wait in the digital realm.

This is the cover layout I made for our Alaska book using a template by Jessica Sprague.

Supplies used: Program - Adobe PS Elements 6; Template - Jessica Sprague 04; Font - LDJ Miss Me (title), Trebuchet MS (journaling); Paper - Angie Briggs Tom Boy Kit lt. green & grey cardstock, Songbird Avenue April '09 Kit solid 6 cardstock; Ribbon - Anita Stergiou The Floriade Collection ribbon 04; Rub-on - House of 3 WordArt (relax)

FREE Digital Class

In honor of its second birthday, JessicaSprague.com is hosting a FREE digital photo editing class. Aside from the terrific free instruction given by Jessica (she's a superb teacher - just check out her video tutorials if you aren't sure!), you'll get some digital freebies too. What's better than a free class with free digital tools?! I sure can't think of anything! Hop on over to register.

Incorporating a Template

One thing that's important to remember about templates is that they do not have to stand alone. In this case, the template I used was scaled as an 8.5 x 11. I only have one album that size, but my travel album is 12 x 12. So what do you do? Quite simply, you resize or you incorporate. 

And here's how I did it. First off, I start with my layout. I loosely based my two-page layout on a sketch by Becky Higgins. If you have her Best of Becky Higgins Sketches for Scrapbooking book, I used the sketch on page 172. See how the template formed the basis for the right-hand page? All I needed were some embellishments and *voila* a finished page. The beauty of sketches and templates is that you use them as guidelines. So what you end up with may not look anything like the sketch or template that inspired your layout. Isn't scrapbooking great?! Such flexibility!

The details

Base: TLC - Shapes Slumber Party textured pumpkin cardstock

Cardstock: TLC - Circles Slumber Party cherry blossoms; SU - pretty in pink

Misc: TLC - Shapes Slumber Party die cuts, travel rub ons, pink floss; SU - filigree brads, whisper white dress up ribbon, pretty in pink flower brad, whisper white latte collection button; MM - jewel brads; Luxe - red flower; Prima - aloha petals; Imagination Project - save the date white circles small; DCWV - rub ons; gems; misc. flower; Zips

Using a Template

After deciding on the photos I wanted to use in my collage, I set about placing them in the template. Pretty cool, huh? You don't have to use photos in every space. You could use digital paper if you wanted to. I chose to use photos in every space b/c I wanted to give as much of the experience on one page as I could. But we won't be stopping with the collage. Check back tomorrow to see how I used this collage in my two-page layout about the cacao farm we visited in Kona.

The Wonder of Templates

Call me slow, but I just recently discovered the wonder of digital templates. Sure, sure. Some of you jumped on-board with these ages ago. The rest of us are a little slower. And mostly ... just a little leery of Photoshop. I mean, I can do the basics in PS Elements. But don't ask me to do anything complicated!

Then after seeing an article by Jessica Sprague in the January issue of Creating Keepsakes, I thought, "gee, maybe I'll give that a whirl sometime." It looks pretty easy. So I downloaded the template. And there it sat on my computer. For months. Until this weekend. When I thought, you know, I think I have a digital template that'll work for this page of photos I want to do. And I dug through my folders of digital stuff and *voila* there it was. But how do I use this sucker? Then I remembered the fabulous tutorial that went along with that CK article.

And that's the (short) story of how I got hooked on digital templates. And now I wonder why I hadn't leapt on-board eons ago?! B/c, I'm tellin' ya, these things a grrrrrrrreat!

{Finished page using template coming soon to a post near you ... on Thurs.}