WOW…..what an amazing weekend!! Don’t you just love {inter}national scrapbooking day!! So many sales, challenges, crops, giveaways and freebies to be found around our fantastic community. Speaking of freebies…..we have a little freebie just for you and your desktop!! It comes in 4 different sizes and there is also one for you iphone!

Download the file HERE and simply add your photo behind the wallpaper, flatten the image and save it! Now you have some gorgeous kr digi goodies right on your desktop and iphone.

Ready for some digi inspiration? First I want to show you the page I created that inspired the desktop wallpapers titled Free Spirit. The background paper comes from Swallowfield, kr’s free kit that can be found HERE. I gave the paper a simple vignette to darken the outer edges of the paper to add some depth to the page. For the bingo borders at the top and the bottom of the page I simply created a template using a bracket which looks like this {click on the image to save the larger version to your computer for your personal use}:

I added the template to my page and duplicated it a few times so it was the same length of my page and merged those layers together to form one long strip. Now you can clip {create clipping mask in your layers palette in Photoshop} a paper or even the kr bingo cards as I have done on my page below.

{♥}

Lastly, I wanted to share a few other digi pages and a card using kr goodies we have discovered {click on the wee hearts to leave some love}:

{alice w ♥}

{baersgarten ♥}

{barb hogan ♥}

{hulagirl6 ♥}

{joscie ♥}

{karen c ♥}

{mabelm ♥}

Phewww….so many creative pages and a card…lol! We are always browsing the galleries for the wonderful projects all you kr fans are creating, we just love to see the different ways people use kr digital kits – hybrid or digital – we want to see them so come link us up in a comment so we can all see and leave you some love!

Thanks for coming by the blog today, I hope you all enjoy your freebies and the inspiration we have shared with you…….enjoy the rest of your week!!

Diana xo

I wanted to share how easy it is to make your own custom lettering blocks like the ones on this layout:

STEP ONE: Open a new document in Microsoft Word and follow the following steps:

1. Type your title.
2. Increase the font size to 18.
3. Put a space between every single letter and number.  You have to do this manually with the spacebar and arrow keys.
4. Change the font to something that you like.  I used “Cheapskate.”
5. Increase the font size if necessary.  I bumped mine up to 20 so that it was easier to read.

Print your title out.

STEP TWO: Cut your title into a strip, being sure to leave space above and below the title…

…and then put adhesive on the back of the strip.  Putting the adhesive on the back of the strip makes it easier to adhere and handle the tiny little letter pieces in the next step.

STEP THREE: Cut a letter off of the title.  You then need to decide whether to cut a little bit off of the top or off of the bottom of the strip.  Or you cut a tiny bit off of both.  You can see the original strip size next to some cut down versions in the photo below:

STEP FOUR: Using an ink blending tool, ink the edges of the letter strip with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  I think the easiest way to do this is to stick the letter to your finger and then run the blending tool around the edges.  Here’s a before and after photo:

Adhere the letter to your layout.

STEP FIVE: Repeat steps three and four until your title is complete!

I will admit that it takes a little while, but I think the results are absolutely lovely!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo, Julie

Hey there!
Happy hump day!
I’ve got another layout using the April kit to share today.
I was so inspired by Gigi’s post last week & I love her “She jumps” layout!
So I decided to make my own layout inspired by quilting!

Just like Gigi, I broke out out the square punch and punched a bunch of October Afternoon & Pink Paislee paper from the April kit.
I lightly inked the edges (to help the patterns stand out better against each other) and arranged them all over a piece of kraft paper to create the quilted background.
It’s super easy and fun!
And a great way to use your scraps!
You should try it!
:)
Thanks for the inspiration Gigi!
Have a great day!

One of my all-time favorite hybrid projects is the hybrid mini. They are quick to make and oh-so-cute! I especially love those that fit in the palm of your hand like this tiny mini book (“sweet day”) that I made about my girls enjoying some Valentine’s Days chocolates and other goodies.

Here’s how I did it.

1) To make the background pages, I used a clipping mask to cut my papers into a die-cut shape.

In Photoshop, place the patterned paper you want to clip on a layer above your clipping mask. Your clipping mask could be a purchased element you have in your stash or you can create your own shape using the Custom Shape Tool.  For example, let’s say I want my pages to be oval like the “hoop” in the Junk Drawer kit. I would open and drag the hoop onto a 8.5 x 11 document. Then open and drag a patterned paper onto the layer above the clipping mask. With the patterned paper selected, I would hit CTRL + ALT + G (in Photoshop) or CTRL + G (in Photoshop Elements). Repeat this with different patterned papers until you get something that looks like this. (For my mini, I used a clipping mask already in my stash.)

Alternatively, you could print out your papers FIRST and then use a punch or die-cutting machine to cut out your shaped pages.

2) Now it’s time to add your photos and the digital elements you want to print out. I opened the photos and other digital elements I wanted and dragged them onto my document. I re-sized them so that they will fit my foundation pages. For my mini, I used elements from Honeychurch, Schoolbox Alphas and bingo cards from Odds and Ends: Bingo Cards.

An easy way to “frame” your photos is to add a stroke. With your photo selected, hit EDIT >STROKE.  Change the width to about 20 pixels. Choose your color. I sampled the color from kR’s schoolbox alphas to get a vintage looking frame. “Location” should be “outside.

For my cover photo, I added part of my title “sweet” using Schoolbox alphas, which I cropped to show only one side of the alphas. Later, I would spell out the rest of the title “day” using tiny alphas stickers.

3) Once your document is filled with digital goodies, print it out on the paper of your choice. I used matte photo paper. Then cut each element out.

4) Now for the fun part! Assemble all your pages, adding bits from your stash like alphas, ribbons, trim, distress ink. Don’t be afraid of crumpling up your printed elements for added dimension or using pop dots. For the photos that I added a stroke, I distressed the edges a little with distress ink and a distress tool.

Then glue your pages back-to-back. Punch holes in your pages and bind your mini using baker’s twine and you’re done!

***

Credits:

Digital (all by Kenner Road):

Honeychurch

Odds and Ends: Bingo Cards

Schoolbox Alphas

Physical:

Kenner Road Garden Party Add-on

Matte photo paper: Epson

Tiny alphas: Making Memories

Distress ink: Ranger

Distress tool: Heidi Swapp

Hole punch: Cropadile

Other: Trim, staples, baker’s twine