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March 2009
March 31, 2009
March 30, 2009
{cover stories no. 12}
I've got a fun one this week for you all. It's based on Keane's latest CD. Tripindicular, isn't it?
It makes a great clean and simple template. Grab it here --> (take me to the forum)
It's a great layout for highlighting body parts like eyes as I did here in this page about my daughter:
Don't forget to post your own creations in our gallery. Have a great week!
{storyteller} kellie mize
March 28, 2009
{inspiration} sunday: all about YOU
I want to know more about YOU!!!!
This week I hope to inspire you to create a page about YOU.
Try this challenge:
- scrap a page with at least 4 facts about you.
- Find and use a symbol that represents one of these facts.
- Use zero photographs.
My layout is titled "He Calls Me... Honeybunny"
I thought these new illustrations from Tiff Brady's brother were just adorable, and a perfect symbol to represent one of the facts about me. This layout was a lot of fun to make, and so easy with the beautiful products offered by our {wst} artists-in-residence.
I used the following products:
Upload a layout or project into our gallery {stories} on Sunday and you
will be entered to win a free kit. Hosted by {storytellers} Lori Potts
and Tania (aka lunafaerie}. Go to this forum to learn more.
{Share your link in that forum, links shared on the blog will not count.} I'd love to see your All About Me pages!!!
March 27, 2009
{focus friday}
Good afternoon all, and welcome to another {focus friday}! I apologize for my absence last week, a migraine got the best of me for a couple days!
What has struck me most browsing the stories this week are all the shapes. Y'all are so darn creative when it comes to using products in a million different ways! And that's one of the main reasons we love digital, right? :) And there are a ton of shapes in the boutique right now that you can use and abuse to your heart's content, such as Molly's brackets or other shapes, Em's new masks and of course Emily's paper blocks.
March 25, 2009
{writer's notebook} compost and transformation
It's spring, and like many of you, I've got big plans for my garden right now. I've started some seeds and ordered others, and my desk is littered with pieces of papers containing sketches for raised beds and small container plantings. I'm waiting for the soil to dry up just enough for me to get out and start digging. All this makes chapter 11 of Ralph Fletcher's book quite appropriate.
Fletcher uses numerous metaphors for the writing process and his writer's notebook throughout the book, but this is really the first time that he devotes an entire chapter to one of his comparisons. It's apt, though, as you'll see:
"While it may not be the perfect metaphor, it does suggest several crucial aspects of the notebook:
- Transformation. Like a compost heap, a writer's notebook is all about change, commonplace ingredients simmering in a slow hot stew until they get transformed into something new and valuable.
- Fertility. Nature's most extravagant spending sprees are connected to the fertility cycle...Compost heaps and notebooks share a fertility that is ongoing and mysterious.
- Randomness. Like the compost heap, a writer's notebook typically does not have separate compartments for particular kinds of entries. You just throw stuff in, whatever you've got.
- Wait time. The compost heap requires the patience to wait about a year for today's uneaten salad to transform itself into tomorrow's high-class soil. The writer's notebook often requires something similar. Pause. Hold. Wait." (p.59)
Sometimes letting our stories sit for a while in our notebooks is what we need -- it gives us the distance and perspective to look back at them, in appreciation, so that we can learn what we need to learn from them.
We encourage you to share your layouts with us in our {stories} gallery and to share your thoughts and ideas with us in our {tales} forum. Don't forget to stop by our shop this week, where you can pick up the most recent Book Fair kit, as well as a handful of favorite products from our designers, all marked down 45% for the next 24 hours.
write on,
{storyteller} aud
{storytime}
It's nearing the end of March already, how did it come in where you live? Ours came in like a lamb, so I'm assuming it will go out like a lion!
There are so many beautiful layouts in the gallery this week, many of them looking forward towards Easter and spring. Warmer days (in my neck of the woods) will be a welcome relief - we had a brief glimpse of spring this past weekend and I didn't realize how much I missed the fresh air until I was out in the midst of it. My favorite time of year is when it's finally warm enough to throw open all the windows at night and let the whole house breathe.
Without further ado, here are pages that really piqued my interest this week. There are so many talented artists sharing their pages with us in the gallery - it's hard to choose. But here goes!
What If I... by interplanetjanet
Chick Magnet by Emily Merritt
I Love Photography by Chengie
First Kiss by lisamars
Happy (almost) Spring!
{storyteller} peppermint
March 23, 2009
{cover stories no. 11}
I absolutely adore angled layouts which is why this movie poster caught me eye immediately. It's so graphic and cool.
It makes a great clean and simple template. Grab it here --> (take me to the forum)
Julie Ann joined the fun this week with a great zoo layout. I just love how the angle fits the giraffe's neck so well.
And how cute is this page about Val's sweet goof ball?
Don't forget to post your own creations in our gallery. Have a great week!
{storyteller} kellie mize
{storyteller} spotlight: julie ann shahin
I will be 39 years old by the end of the year (eek!)
I love my rawkin' husband of 5 years
I love brownies
rainbows
the color yellow
the beach
the sun
photoshop elements
collage
hybrid
being spiritual
facebook
vintage yummies
my camera
cupcakes, especially pink velvet with cream cheese frosting
my nieces and nephews
my car, a Geo Prizm
my blue bedroom
praise
giving
teaching
flowers
and all my scrappy friends!
Q: How long have you been scrapping and how did you discover digi?
I started scrapping in 2004.
I discovered digital in 2006.
Q: Why do you scrap?
I scrap because it is a passion
I love color
I love photography
I love art
I love writing
I love online sharing
I love my family and friends
and scrapbooking combines it all into one.
Q: What do you do while scrapping (listen to music, watch tv, enjoy the silence, etc)?
Most often enjoy the silence, and maybe take a Facebook break to play scrabble.
Q: What program do you use?
I use Canon Zoom Browser to upload my photos-
Adobe Photoshop Elements to digi & hybrid scrap
ACDSee Photo Manager to organize my photos and kits.
I want to learn to use Adobe Lightroom for my photos.
Q: What is your favorite accessory?
I often don't leave the house without a hat on. Nothing fancy, just a
hat to hide that fact that I'm too pre-occupied with scrapbooking to
spend a lot of time on my hair! LOL
Q: How long does it take you to complete a layout?
It often takes me a lot longer because I am either trying to make it
into a tutorial or class lesson. Normally, a layout could take a
half-hour to several hours. I always try to finish what I start in one
sitting, which I can do without kids.
Q: Once you’ve completed a layout, what do you do with it?
I share it online.
I try to print most of my layouts at size 8" x 8" to put in albums.
Q: What is your favorite digi item?
Templates
Q: What is your process for completing a layout?
Most often I will see a kit that I like and the inspiration will come
from that kit, or maybe it might be the template that inspires what
photos and kit. A lot of times, especially if I am using a template, I
will scrap in this order:
Template
Paper
Embellishments
Photos
Title
Journaling
Q: Show us your favorite layout of YOURS at WST.
This is one of my favorites because it's one of my best kept secrets that I am so funny. 
I like to laugh at myself, especially when it comes to cooking.
Q: What camera do you use?
I use an DSLR - Digital Rebel XT with a 28-135mm IS lens.
Q: Do you have any favorite post- processing tips or actions that you use?
I am looking forward to using Kathryn Wilson's Lightroom Presets as
soon as I have a moment to try out Lightroom. I downloaded the 30-day
trial and most likely will be buying it soon.
Q: What is the last book you read?
I usually read a lot of non-fiction books such as scrapbooking idea
books. In fact, Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom book just arrived today
that I ordered from Amazon. The last fiction book I read was the
Twilight Series, actually - no I read Marley and Me on the plane to
Florida. But you see, I hadn't read any fiction in years, until I heard
Emily Powers talking about Twilight - and then, I had to read them all.
I so admire Julie Ann for how prolific she is! Here is one of my favorite layouts of hers.
For more awesome inspiration from Julie Ann, visit her gallery!
{storyteller} laura
March 21, 2009
{inspiration} sunday: flair
This week I am inspired by flair! What does your flair say about you?
What is Flair and How Do I Get It?
If you are on Myspace or Facebook you can add the application called "Pieces of Flair". Flair are buttons that show your interests, designs, and personality. You can browse through the flair or design your own. You can add flair to your virtual corkboard background and/or send flair to your friends.
Our very own Emily Powers, has as her boutique banner, a few pieces of flair that expresses her personality as well.
If you want to get a screenshot of your flair on Facebook, it needs to be set on your profile in the boxes page. See below.
Click the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard. In Photoshop Elements, go to File --> New --> Image from Clipboard. Then I changed the resolution to 300 dpi. I cropped it and added it to my layout.
I challenge you to scrap your flair and tell us what it says about you!
Credits for my layout above:
DESIGN SIMPLE - Alpha Bundle by Emily Powers
Experiment 18 Template by Emily Powers
Classic Cardstock - The Collection by Emily Powers
Autumn Sky by Emily Powers (retired out of print)
Speedy Birdy Font by beAudacious Designs
Upload a layout or project into our gallery {stories} on Sunday and you
will be entered to win a free kit. Hosted by {storytellers} Lori Potts
and Tania (aka lunafaerie}. Go to this forum to learn more.
{Share your link in that forum, links shared on the blog will not count.}
March 18, 2009
{writer's notebook} A Place to Write Badly
How often have your journaled on your layout and then been disappointed with the results? Or do you find yourself leaving the journaling incomplete for days (or even weeks) before finally just writing something -- anything -- so you can call it finished? Sometimes the words just don't flow, no matter how many tips or prompts we use. That's where your writer's notebook can really be a useful tool.
In chapter 10 of his book Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer's Notebook, Ralph Fletcher gives some great advice on using his writer's notebook as a place to write badly.
"We need to allow ourselves to fail...All our later competence is built on early wipeout and disaster...Not many of use are brave or brazen enough to go public and let the world judge our early failed writings. That's where the notebook comes in. It gives us a private place to write badly...It's not that I try to write badly in my notebook. But I know I will be doing exactly that, just like countless other writers before me. If you read the notebooks of famous writers you'll find some wonderful writing, sure enough, but you'll also find pages and pages of stuff that is surprisingly boring and tedious. In a strange sort of way I find this comforting and even inspiring." (p. 56)
Rather than settling for journaling that doesn't satisfy you, that doesn't tell the story you know you want to tell, use your writer's notebook to work through your writing first. Put it all down -- the garbled sentences, the unorganized thoughts, the crossouts and misspellings and generic language -- and then work through it a time or two until you find yourself saying what you really want to say. The process may take longer, but I can assure you that you'll be much happier with the end result.
We encourage you to share your layouts with us this week. Post them in our {stories} gallery and then stop by to chat in our {tales} forum.
Don't forget to check out our Book Fair today. In addition to a fun new kit for just $2.00, you can also find selected products from our designers marked down 45%. But grab them now, because you won't find them on sale again for at least three months!
write on,
{storyteller} aud
