Layouts for the Holiday Season

Can't believe it's already December and the end of another year. This year seem particularly eventful for me and in the digi scrapping area, I'm proud that I got the chance to be on the Creative Teams of several awesome designers, and had the chance to really take this hobby to the next level.

December is the month of festivities and reflections and there are just so many wonderful holiday kits out there. Here are some that I did as part of my CT layouts. 

These two layouts are done using the It's That Time of Year Again - Fusion Bundle by Created by Jill, available at The Digi Chick and Pickleberrypop. I love the bright bold colours and how it is different from the traditional Christmas kits. 

 

Here's another kit by Created by Jill, Merry Little Everything. It is a mini bits kit so all the elements are minis. I tried to do a white space layout, which I don't usually do as I like to have a lot going on in my layouts. Lol. I blended the photo into the paper and I think it turned out quite nice and I'm rather happy with it. Merry Little Everything is available at The Digi Chick and Pickleberrypop too. 

The latest kit from Created by Jill is the A Year in Review pickle barrel bundle from Pickleberrypop. This kit is perfect for those year in review layouts (obviously!). The bundle includes templates and I like that the templates are also made for this purpose, 12 placeholders for 1 photo a month, just like the layout I did below. 

And of course, you can also go off-topic, like this one I did for my trip to Geneva earlier this year. There are really so many ways to use the kit.

Here's a layout I did using Inside Pixels' Twas the Night Before Christmas kit. This kit is a more traditional Christmas kit and since I actually don't have a kit like that, I was glad I had the chance to work with it. The kit is available at The Digital Press. 

 

This is a layout I did using using the Santa's Coming collab by Sunshine Inspired Designs and Chunlin Designs, part of the Santa's Stocking collab at With Love Studio.

And another layout using Sunshine Inspired Design's Winter Time collection, available at both With Love Studio and Scraps N Pieces. This kit is super pretty and the colours and just so sweet.

And for the month of December, I was very lucky to win a guest spot on Two Tiny Turtle's Creative Team! Here are the layouts I did using her kits and templates.

Using Oh My Darling template:

Using Make Your Own Path 3 template:

Using Make Your Own Path 1 template and the Holly Jolly Christmas kit:

Using the Life is Crazy template:

The kits and templates can be found at Two Tiny Turtle's store at Sweet Shoppe Designs. 

Well, I'm not done with scrapping for December yet, so stay tuned for more to come!

How to get started in digi scrapping

When I first came across digital scrapbooking or digi scrapping for short, I was simply amazed by how wonderful the layouts looked and couldn't believe that they were done digitally! I knew that this was something I wanted to do and I couldn't wait to get started. However, I was also overwhelmed by all the resources and different communities out there and I didn't quite know how to begin. Fortunately I have figured out my way around and am now a happy digi scrapper.

So, I thought I would share some tips on how to get started in digi scrapping, and hopefully this will help those of you who are new to this amazing craft!

First of all, what is digital scrapbooking?

Well, simply put, instead of traditional paper scrapbooking where you make layouts using actual papers and elements, digi scrapping is the use of digital scrapbooking papers and elements, such as these...

... to make digital scrapbook layouts, such as this....

... using a photo editing software.

(The layout above is created using the Behind Every Good Kid kit by Jady Day Studios.)

Next up, how to get started in digital scrapbooking?

If you are thinking that in order to get started, you'll need to start investing in software or start buying a whole lot of digi scrapping kits, well you don't have to. There are a lot of free resources on the web, and you can make use of these resources to try it out, learn the basics, and get comfortable with digi scrapping.

Here are 3 ways how you can get started.

1. Master the Basics

There are some basic techniques that you'll need to know as a digi scrapper, and the beauty of the internet age is that there are A LOT of tutorials on digi scrapping. Here are some of my favorite FREE beginner tutorials:

Digital Scrapbooking for Beginners at Scrapaneers

This is a video tutorial so it actually makes it easier for you to visualize. What I like about this tutorial is that it is systematic, it starts from the basics all the way to creating an entire layout. And what I really like about it is that it comes with a full digital scrapbook kit, some quick pages and templates FREE, so you can start to practice right away!

"Getting Started" Tutorials at Sweet Shoppe Designs

There is a whole section of beginner tutorials at the Sweet Shoppe, and they cover many techniques and topics like choosing a photo editing software, making your first layout, using templates etc. However, the tutorials are not organised in terms of levels of difficulty, so you would have to explore a bit. I would recommend starting from this introductory tutorial, and this on how to make your first layout.

Tutorials at Pixel Scrapper

This is also another source of tutorials and what I like is that they are organised into difficulty levels so you can just zoom straight to the beginner level tutorials. There are also an introduction to the photo editing software Photoshop.


2. Download a Trial Photo Editing Software

You will need a photo editing software in order to put your layout together. There are quite a number of software that digi scrappers use. Here is a good introduction and overview of the various available software. The more popular ones would be Adobe Photoshop CS and Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Most of these software would have free trials, so download them and give it try and see which one you are most comfortable with. I have only used Adobe Photoshop CS so I can't comment on the rest, but in my opinion, I would suggest going for Adobe Photoshop Elements or CS as these are full feature programs and you would have more control over the effects that you create.


3. Hunt for Freebies

Now that you have learnt some basic techniques and gotten hold of a photo editing software, it's time to practice! And to do that, you will need some supplies - digital scrapbooking papers and elements. Most of the digi scrapping stores and designers offer freebies that you can download. As mentioned earlier, if you download the beginner's tutorial at Scrapaneers, you already get a full kit free. That is already enough to get you started. At Pixel Scrapper, if you sign up for an account (you don't need to pay anything to sign up), you can get a full collab kit free too. Take your time to explore the web and various digi scrapping stores and see what goodies you can pick up.

Here are some to get you started:

Sweet Shoppe Designs
The Digi Chick
Quality Digi Scrap Freebies
Digi Scrap Freebie Finder


I hope this makes it easier for you to get started. It really isn't all that overwhelming once you get into it! It's a lot of about experimenting and having fun and finding your own personal preferences and style.

And if you get stuck again along the way, just look at the numerous galleries out there to look for inspiration. Happy scrapping!

My First Freebie: Chipboard Frames

I made a set of chipboard frames for the designer challenge on Pixel Scrapper. This is the first time I'm designing something, so there is definitely room for improvement.

You can download the frames here.

Hope you guys like it!

Scrapping frenzy over the DSD weekend!

So DSD 2015 has just ended and in the Digital Scrapping world, it's a weekend (or longer) of sales, challenges, freebies, prizes and just digi scrapping FUN!

This year, I tried to participate as much as I could. Although I didn't get to complete all the challenges that I wanted to, I did get quite a bit of scrapping done, and stocked up on my collection of dig kits with some great bargains too!

So here's some of the layouts I did.

Here's a layout using Inside Pixel's latest kit "Celebrate". The pictures are from the Hubby's birthday earlier this year when Aly and I tried to bake a cake. By the way, the cake failed miserably! It didn't rise at all! Although it still tasted good (the only saving grace)!

"Celebrate" is available at Inside Pixel's store at The Digital Press.

Here's another celebration kit and it's from Created by Jill. I love the theme of this kit, it's about celebrating the every day, and I think that is something that we don't always remember to do, when we get caught up with the hustle and bustle of work and chores.

"Celebrate Today" is available at Jill's stores at The Digi Chick and Pickle Berry Pop.

And here are some layouts that I did for DSD challenges.

For this one, it was a template challenge by Two Tiny Turtles. I used the kit Happy Day by Blagovesta Gosheva. And the best part is I clinched a spot as a guest Creative Team Member on her team for the month of December! Yay! Can't wait for it!

And sharing one more layout, it's also for a template challenge on The Digital Press. I tried more experimenting with blending and paints, using the kit "She is Fierce" by Mummyish. And I think I really liked how it turned out!

Created by Jill: Confessions of a Shopaholic

I've got some exciting news! I've just been accepted as a Creative Team Member on Jill's team from Created by Jill! I love her artsy papers and kits and love how versatile her designs are. I can create both artsy and traditional layouts from her designs! On her team, we don't use templates, so I guess I will be challenging myself more, to think out of the box!

Well, here's my first layout that I did using Jill's designs, using the Confessions of a Shopaholic mega bundle.

This is the one and only photo I have of Aly in a Snow White dress. She begged to go into this kid's clothing store, and when I told her "no buying", I thought she would kick up a fuss like she usually does, but she actually she "ok, I just wanna try". So that was what we did and the store auntie was nice enough to let us just try and even for me to take a photo. :)

This mega bundle is available on both CBJ's The Digital Chick and Pickleberrypop stores. It's an amazing bundle with lots of embellishments, and even a free Add On. The collection is created for Digital Scrapbooking Day (or DSD as it's known in the Digiscrapbooking world) this weekend! Be sure to check it out while it's on sale! 

Experimenting with blends

I really love the art journal layout style but am always a bit afraid to try it. Hence, I don't really do many art journal layouts. So anyway, I've had this art journal kit in my stash for a while now (Sunday Afternoon by Studio Basic Designs) and haven't really got the chance to use. Lately I took a class from Tiffany Studios on blending, and decided to put some of the things I learnt into practice!

I love it that art journalling is about experimenting and here's the product of my experimentation!

New Kit from Inside Pixels: Spice of Life

Inside Pixels' new kit is a collab with KimB, and this has got to be one of my favourite kits to date. I love the bold, bright colours and the gorgeous patterns. It's really quite unique and I don't have any kit quite like that in my collection yet.

Here's my layout. I found some pictures of Aly messing up clothes that I had just folded. Well I was more amused than angry, LOL, and they work really well with this kit!

Spice of Life is available at the Digital Press.

New Kits from Inside Pixels

Hey guys! I finally got back to scrapping after being away for a short while. I was really it itchin' to scrap the whole time I was overseas! So it's good to be back.

And Inside Pixels has released three new amazing kits on The Digital Press!

The latest one, just released today is the "Happiness Is" kit, a collab with Amber Shaw. I love Amber Shaw too so I absolutely loved this kit! It is in my favourite colour - Pink, and it's got lots of adorable embellishments and word art and word strips. The kit comes in 22 patterned and plain papers, 100 elements and 3 alphas.

Here's my layout. I hardly have any layouts of Aly between her 1st and 2nd birthday so I dug up some old photos for these few layouts. It's amazing to see how much she has grown and I do miss her being a baby.

The kit is available at The Digital Press. You can also view the other layouts by the amazing ladies on the Creative Team here. 

Here's another layout I recently did using Inside Pixels "Birds of a Feather". I used a template by Akizo Designs. The papers in this kit are gorgeous and I used only patterned papers in this kit (except for the cutout border) and I really liked the way it turned out. I didn't have to use many embellishments and it already looked really nice!

The kit is recently released on The Digital Press although it was previously available on Inside Pixel's store. It also comes with coordinating Life Cards.

And here's the third layout I did using Inside Pixels' "You can do Anything" kit, a collab with River Rose. This kit is about being brave, and achieving your dreams and I thought it was just great for my layout about Aly learning to walk. 

The kit is available here at The Digital Press.

Freebie from Sunshine Inspired Designs: Bohemian Breeze

I stumbled upon Pixel Scrapper (which is a digi scrapping community) quite recently and I really love their concept. It's quite different and refreshing from other digi scrapping communities out there. And one of the things I like about Pixel Scrapper is the Monthly Blog Train, where designers share their creations based on a monthly theme and colour palette, and plus it's free!

For the September Blog Train, the theme is Bohemian Breeze and Sunshine Inspired Designs has a mini kit to share!

Here's the layout that I did. I realised that I haven't really scrapped many photos of my sister, so here's one specially for her!

You can get the mini kit through Sunshine Inspired Designs' blog here.

New Kit from Inside Pixels: Star Student

Inside Pixels' new kit Star Student is great for those back to school photos, or really anything to do with school! It comes with 3 alphas, 6 4x6 in Life Cards, 18 pattern papers and lots of school related embellishments!

For my layout, I decided to scrap about the handmade Teacher's Day gifts that Aly made. Read more about it here.

Star Student is available at Inside Pixel's store at The Digital Press.

DIY Teachers Day Gift

When Aly first started preschool, she took a long time before she starting opening up and participating in class. And I'm grateful for her teachers' patience and always taking the time to update us on Aly's progress and even Watapp us pictures that they took of her in school. So Teachers Day is on the 4 Sep this year and like last year, we decided to do something DIY as Teachers Day's gifts for Aly's teachers.

Here's what we did last year. We made accordion flowers, which I learned from A Happy Mum. 

This is the best photo I had as I couldn't get Aly to stand still! 

This year, I actually got my inspiration for the gift from our recent visit to the Dreamworks Animation Exhibition. There was an interactive section at the exhibition where you could make your own Thaumatropes. A Thaumatrope is actually a toy, which has a disk with a picture on each side. For the one we made, the disc was attached to a straw and when you twist the straw between your hands real fast, the two pictures will appear to blend into one. 

Here's the Thaumatrope we made at the exhibition.

So for our Teachers Day gift, we substituted the straw with a pen, decorated the disc and wrote a thank you message on it. 

We found these really colourful and fun looking pens at Daiso. 

First we cut out the discs. It would be better to use a card material, or something that was stiffer. The paper that we had was not very hard, so we stuck two together to make them stiffer. 

Next would be to decorate the discs. Aly wanted to paint them but you could really decorate them any way you wanted. 

After the paint dried, we used glue to stick two discs together, so that it would be stiffer. 

Then, we added stickers on one side.

And wrote a Thank You message on the other side. Aly wrote these with me holding her hand of course. Lol. I added some washi tape from my old scrapbooking stash and Aly added more stickers. 

And lastly, we made two slits at the bottom of the disc, using a pen knife/craft knife, and attached the pens to it.

And here's the final product! It doesn't look very neat, but at least you could tell that it was made by Aly, and well... it's the thought that counts!

Happy Teachers' Day to all teachers!