Reflections on Year One of Scrapklutz Life

Has it really been a year since I began this blog? Oh wow, time surely has flown - and I have NOT kept my promises. I have not posted as often as I had wished and promised. Not sure why that happened. Could be laziness, could be dedication to my hobbies - or too much websurfing, but definitely not enough blogging.

Well, whatever it was, I need to get rid of it. I need to post more. As of yesterday I finally figured out how to post photos properly, so maybe I could post more of my work. I could also talk about my experiments with the SIL - something a year ago I never imagined I would purchase. I certainly do not regret buying the SIL, but it has taken me in a whole different direction and I have really not mentioned that.

I touched on switching up my scrapping style, but have posted nothing to show. What was I thinking? I fell in love with a new paper line, but nary a mention here on my blog. What was I thinking? Or is the question: what was I NOT thinking?

So many changes, so little that I have actually blogged. Not really what I started out to do.

Thus, I need to change, to work on being the blogger I had planned on being.

Wish me luck!

Color Select Studio ROCKS!!!

I LOVE Color Select Studio!!!! It's a program that I picked up at GASC and haven't really had a chance to play with. Well, today I finished titling all the photos from DS's BD party and decided to play around.

The absolutely best thing about CSS is that it automatically turns the photo B&W for you. No playing with hues, it imports the photo as B&W. (You can import it in color and then turn sections B&W - but I like the reveal better.) Then you choose your brush size and paint over what you want returned to its original color. In a matter of minutes, you have a masterpiece. Okay, well, the above photo is of a reptile - not the first choice for most people- but I think it turned out great. Makes the lizard pop! (Photo was from the party and what was at the top of my mind when I started to play.) The ones of the albino python are awesome, but probably too freaky for this blog.

DH thought this was a bit of a frivolous purchase because Adobe Photoshop does the same things. Yeah, after a few steps. You have to have layers and opacity and then remember to save it correctly. CSS is much quicker - except that you can only save in ttf or ttif. Our photos are all jpeg. Luckily, it only took me a few minutes to figure out how to put them in jpeg. Best part, I didn't have to call DH. I love being married to a computer guru, but sometimes I really need to figure out stuff on my own. And the kicker? CSS cost me $15 and so easy that DD & DS can use it.

There are all sorts of uses for this program. The photos I did today were to highlight some of the best reptile photos for the gentleman who brought the reptile show over as a thank you. DD did the Hidden Mickey Hunt at WDW and this will be a fantastic way to highlight the photos; leave all but the actual figure in B&W. I am anxious to try this with some Martial Arts photos and see how they turn out.

Oh, this is going to be so much FUN!!!

DT Ambivalence

Last year at this time I was nervously working on my submissions to for the Remember When Design Team tryout. I was so excited - and then thrilled and totally shocked when I was chosen. I had a lot of fun and was rather sad when I was not chosen for the next team. I know that those who were chosen truly deserved it and have showcased the newest QK dies in spectacular fashion, but my pride was a tad dented.

Now it is time again and I am feeling rather ambivalent about the whole thing. I still love QK, but I have been playing around with the SIL so much lately that I have not been using my dies at all. A big part of that has to do with the fact that I have been working on Martial Arts pages that require embellishments that QK doesn't carry.

Another part is that I truly feel that the DT needs to showcase the best of the best - and that is not me. I am an average scrapper, not showcase material at all. It was wonderful to be chosen, but my projects always paled next to the much more polished items of the other members. I had trouble incorporating the items that were sent to us from the TBC and I still feel guilty about that.

So, part of me feels like I should at least attempt my items, but I just don't know. I need to think about it. A lot. But not too much, the items are to be posted next week.

Okay, so the templates are a great starting point, but I have a major problem: my photos are not the same sizes as the templates. Of course, I only have four templates, so that doesn't give me a lot of variety to choose from. I have certain photos I have to use when I do Martial Arts pages (poses, action shots, receiving the belt/patch, and poses with the Black Belts) and they all need journaling, so I have had to create my own colorblocking.

I start by cropping the photos and matting them. Then I make room for the journaling, titles and embellishments. What ever is left over I make thin boxes for. If everything turns out, the pages turn out just as I envisioned.

I tried some patterned paper mixed in with the solid and it doesn't look too bad. Guess I just need to keep experimenting, playing around with papers until I find good mixes. I know it can be done because my Color Blocking books show that it can be.

Bye-bye Triple Mats!

My layouts have become boring. There, I said it. Well, actually I wrote it.

I have been looking at my pages, especially the martial arts pages for the D's (husband, daughter and son) and they are not at all exciting. Triple or double matting, the same font in all three books (QK Mini Indigo) and not very exciting embellishments. I have a Kanji Strength stencil and stamp and two sizes of that martial arts die from Delta Die Cuts (which is now closed and thus no more help in that area.) Let's not forget the QK Kimono - which is a pain to alter to make it match the ghees.

I had to do something. First, I need some fresh embellishments. I looked on line and found Kanji. I found Fire, Danger and Father. Those were easy to convert to .gsd files and they give a punch to the pages. Then I found more figures via Google images and converted them. Luckily Sherri had a fantastic sale on QK Rev dies and I bought the Chinese Lanterns. They are terrific - and can be used with the Kanji symbols and Delta Dies - thereby increasing my embellie options.

The triple matting had to go - too much wasted space and serious limitation on how many pictures per page. I am not creative enough to branch out on my own - that's how I got into this rut to start with. Luckily I remembered about the Deluxe Design's Colorblocking Books. I got the second one at GASC and the first one via ebay. I also picked up a few of their templates.

Long story short (I know, too late!) but they were the final piece to my scrapbook liberation. Looking at the books and playing with the templates (I only used the first one exactly), I have managed to make much more dynamic pages. I am able to get up to four pictures on a page, plus journaling and embellishments.

So, no more triple mats. Maybe no more patterned paper, either. I need to play with that since the two I have done with pp didn't turn out as well as those I have done with solid colors.

Of course, border dies are a whole 'nother matter.....