{crafty} Feathers and a Tutorial

This week Glitz Design is focusing on the current feather trend. Wild & Free and Finnley both have an assortment of fun feathers to choose from so I knew I wanted to pull elements from both of those kits. The woodgrain patterns from Dapper Dan were perfect to balance out the vibrant color from the other collections.

I knew I wanted to take this feather/bird image from Wild & Free and create a large cut out in my background. To do this in PS I opened the image and clicked on "Threshold" to turn the image to strictly black and white.

Next, you duplicate your layer and with the new layer selected click on ctrl + i to invert the image. With the inverted image still selected add a layer mask. Go back to your original image layer and select all and copy. Then hold alt and click on your layer mask from the duplicate layer and paste.

Next you can delete your original layer, the one without the mask, and you will be left with a black and transparent image that you can now use as a clipping mask. 

I open up my paper in a new window and paste my clipping mask over the top to decide on placement. The black area of my clipping mask is where my background paper will be so what I have done here is add black rectangles to fill in the area.

Next, select the shape layers and the feather layer and merge them together. Move the background paper above this layer and with it selected click ctrl + alt + g to clip your paper to the mask. Add your other paper behind it, and that's it! All that is left is to add a drop shadow to create depth. 

I hope that made some sense! I know there were more steps than photos but I tried not to make this too picture heavy. It does seem like a long process but once you do it once or twice it is quite fast. I'd love to hear if anyone has a different method of doing this!

Supply List: 
Glitz Design “Finnley” Full Digital Kit
Glitz Design “Wild & Free” Elements 2
Glitz Design “Dapper Dan” Paper Pack
Other: Valorie Wibbens Sprinkles V14 and By the Thread

Thank you for looking!

{crafty} Pinkfresh Studio

Have you heard of Pinkfresh Studio yet!? I had the honor of creating a couple layouts using her brand new washi designs. They were so much fun to play with and the quality was fantastic. Not to mention the cute packaging!

Head on over to the Pinkfresh blog to see more of these layouts!

{crafty} Focus on Memory Keeping

Me + memory keeping = EPIC FAIL. 

Isn't that the whole point of scrapbooking? And I do call myself a scrapbooker, even if I only get 1 or 2 pages done every month.

I rarely journal on my pages. Partly because I hate my writing and don't want to feel like I have ruined my page and also because, as of late especially, I tend to create my pages with more portrait type pictures that don't have a story behind it. See? Fail!

Keeping in line with my OLW this year I am striving to change this. I am going to be more intentional about scrapping pictures that really mean something to me rather than just the ones that show I can take a nice picture, as nice as they may look on a page. I would however like to spend more time using my DSLR this year and not rely so much on my phone for my photos. 

And just in case I don't quite get those memories on a layout, I will be focusing on other ways of memory keeping as well!

I absolutely adore this perpetual memory calendar from Mou Saha

My project list seems to be ever growing so the thought of even doing this right now completely overwhelms me. So instead, for this year, I opted to keep it simple and do the memory jar that is currently all over Pinterest. 

via Pinterest

I am using a standard size mason jar but I would like to get something larger. Once I do I plan on prettying it up since I have to look at it all year long ;-) At the end of the year I plan on putting each sheet on a D-Ring, add a cover and simple embellies and making a quick mini out of it.

I haven't been very good at journaling
ever since I gave up on keeping a diary in high school! The husband got me this journal for Christmas and I hope to use it as a sort of catch all. As a prayer/devotional journal as well as anything else I feel the need to write down. I would really like to end up with an eclectic mix of writing, art journaling, smash booking, whatever I feel like throwing down on paper in a given day.

And lastly! I am committing to Photo a Day. We'll see if I can do it for the entire year but I'm willing to take it a month at a time and go from there! I also plan to create a layout to recap each month.

I am very excited about the changes I want to make within myself this year, and memory keeping is just a portion of it. I'm just praying that I can stay focused and not lose sight of how important memory keeping is.  

So, how do you remember those little moments that can be so easily forgotten? Project life? Journaling? Something completely different? 

{crafty} SMB HoliDAYS

I'm up on the Social Media Butterflies blog today with an Advent Calendar! Be sure to check it out, along with all the other HoliDAY projects this month!

{crafty} Holiday SMBiGBlogHop

Welcome back! We are so happy to have you back for the November edition of our Social [Media] Butterflies blog hop! This month we are spreading Christmas Cheer with a Holiday Hop. In the weeks to follow check back with us as we each share various Holiday projects from December Daily to Home Decor.

You should have come here from Shay's blog, if not head back to the Social Media Butterflies home base to start from the beginning.

My layout is the start of the Holiday season for me, using pictures of our newly put up decorations in the house. It's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

SUPPLIES USED:
Mister Huey's Plum Thumb and Gold
Crate Paper Sleigh Ride Washi Stickers
Chic Tags
Background paper from SC Crack the Whip
Echo Park Season's Greetings
Charcoal POW 
Silhouette Cameo
Stamps from Scrapperin


Be sure to hop along for a lot of great layout inspiration!
Suz
Monica
Corinne
Shay 
Amanda 

UP NEXT -->Jenny
Kristin
Ellie
Mary Pat
Trisha

{flashy} Photo Share

I have a couple of frames in the house that I have been thinking of swapping out with new pictures. I had a few in mind already but as I was looking back at my pictures, I realized I totally neglected my camera this year. I am terrible about capturing everyday moments from anything other than my phone, and on my phone they usually stay.

Since I am going through my small collection of photos I thought a blog share was in order. It's been a while for that too! Some of my favorites from this year...A few from Cambodia

look at those feet! these kids live in the dirt, it was rare to see any wearing shoes

this little girl was so precious

one of the nicer homes we saw in the villages

I snapped this from the van as we drove by on our way to a village

I just adore this picture! Taken at Remember Nhu.


Back at home, a few macro shots.

and of course some Instagram pics

Pike's Market in Seattle

Space Needle, of course

View form the Space Needle

A nearby park where I run...when I run

And most recently, on the road to a friends house on a beautiful fall morning

{crafty} July's Social Media Blog Hop

If you joined us last month you know that this blog hop was inspired by the connections made through social media. Each person participating will create a new project that was inspired by one of the others on the team. That inspiration can come from an IG pic, a quote they posted, something I saw on their blog, online galleries, whatever I choose!  This month however is a little different! Inspiration is flooding the scrapbooking world right now with Summer CHA just recently coming to a close. Join us as we share what inspired us from CHA and the projects that resulted. The tweets and instagram photos were pouring in during CHA and the new product coming out is simply gorgeous! Studio Calico, My Minds Eye, October Afternoon, Crate Paper. SO. MUCH. GOODNESS.

"Be Happy" by Tina Walker

This layout for My Minds Eye caught my attention. I love the color palette and the overall design of the page. One thing I noticed on this layout and really as a recurring theme at CHA is instant pictures! Everywhere you look you see polaroid images, instagram pictures, cell phone pictures, photo booth strips. It is most definitely a trend right now, and a fun one at that.

For my layout I loosely based the design on my inspiration piece but I really wanted to play up the Instagram factor. I used wood veneer polaroid frames colored with Copics and used a hashtag to start off my title. I love how this layout came together for me! Green and purple has always been a favorite color combination of mine, throw in a little grey and I'm in love! I think most people would use a title like this for layouts of scenery and flowers, but to me this is just as beautiful :-) You can't really tell in these pictures but Mt. Ranier is actually in the background of the Seattle skyline. It had been many years since the last time I got to enjoy the view from the Space Needle and this day in particular happened to be a gorgeous one with clear skies. A beautiful day indeed!

Want to join in the fun?  Scraplift any of the projects you see, go back here and link up your project to the main post. You never know what prizes might be handed out along the way :-)  Would you like a chance to win a goodie bag FILLED with awesomeness from CHA? There are several ways to enter!

• Tweet about the blog hop, tell us your favorite project using the hashtag #SMBiGbloghop  
• Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite product from CHA is.
• Follow my blog and leave a seperate comment letting me know you did.
• And continue hopping! You gain another entry for each other blog you comment on!

The giveaway will close at Midnight EST on Wednesday and winners will be announced Thursday on Shay's blog

Welcome Post [On Shay's Blog]
Suz / SuzMannecke

Sabrina / vixendeity

Erika / erikabardo

Angel / akochmcelroy

Kristin / rukristin

Margrethe / margrethe_

Amanda / mandadej  <------YOU ARE HERE

Shay / sbookinshay29 <------NEXT STOP

Monica / MonicaB

Mary Pat / click click

Caz / cazhancock

Melissa / click click

Trisha / trishacakes