Quick note: what up: design Team

Hello, I have a quick note before the sleepy meds (aka my blood pressure medicine) kicks in and makes me sleepy.  I just got word that I will be helping someone get their Close to My Heart business off the ground.   This means Design Team.   So this means at least once a month (?) You will see something that is all close To My Heart (CTMH) products.   I am glad to be helping out.
I have to be totally honest here.   I was going to start selling Stampin! Up products soon, but being on someone's CTMH's design team may actually convince me to sell Close to My Heart instead of S!U.   Stay tunes as I do this,  she will be sending me product starting Monday. 

Obsessed with Scrapbooking: Two New Layout Based Cricut Cartridges Released Today!

My cartridges -copyright 2013 by P.Lynne Designs 

On this blog I am showing you, I see that Cricut is starting to finally listening to the consumer, and not having just images in their cartridge system.   They have been doing this for about a year, starting with the project cartridges (I have one which is the Mini book cartridge.)   You can only make oh so many image and font carts with doing a whole lot of repeating, and they got rid of the lite carts before I could even get started.  (Please do not get me started about what Provo Craft and Walmart did 3 years ago, I am still having issues with that move)
Do not get me wrong, I still love my many machines and the brand, but to me, Provo Craft still has a lot of growing up to do, and from what I can tell on my end, that growing up process is slow and steady.   I am still need to do 2 years worth of updating to get my Imagine to talk with Cricut Classroom (CCR), while my E2, 5 (Expressions 2, 5th Anniversary) is swimmingly happily working with it.  (Is that even a phrase, "swimmingly happily?")  E1 is waiting in the wings for the day that I have a cricut project in which all 3 machines are on, simultaneously, or E2 or Imagine decides that it is time to die.  (End of Rant-- You can go back to your regular reading)
Anyway, I am loving this new attitude that Provo Craft is taking.  The best news of all is about trying out cartridges before buying them.  I said it in the last post about Cricut, and I am saying it again, What a God sent.   I have 23 physical carts, 4 on the E2, and 1 I discovered they pre-loaded on the Imagine (You do know this?  Right? I discovered while playing around with it one evening last year).  It is not a true cart, but is helps to have some basic shapes on the darn thing, as much as it costs on HSN (Home Shopping Network) when it debuted.  (Got mine secondhand for $250 less two years later).  The process is simply:  If you have CCR loaded into your computer or Laptop.   Sorry, but no love for the Ipad, I tried it, and the software needs Flash to work it, and I do not think Apple is going to let it happen soon.   I have looked at the cartridge, "The First Few Years, on the CCR software, and I love it.   If you have a little one, it takes you from age 0 to 5 years, thus the first Few years.   There are some basic shape on the cart as well.   This does not have to be for baby, though.  It can be for the first few years as a couple, in your new home, or even with your puppy.
Well take a look at the review this blogger gives on this cart and the cart, "When I was a Kid."  I will try to make a layout based on the first one within a week before having to buy it.   In the meantime, Read the article, and give her some blog love with a comment.   Come back, and let me know you did.   Have a blessed day.

Read Related Link:    Obsessed with Scrapbooking: Two New Layout Based Cricut Cartridges Released Today!:  

Share the Memories Freebie Kit | MyMemories

Get a freebie here from share the memories:  Share the Memories Freebie Kit | MyMemories:

Some of the ways you can use this kit are:

• Page elements
• Homemade cards
• Mini Books
• Altered items (like boxes, bags, and book markers)

All you have to do once you download them is print them from your printer.  

Want more freebies?  just sign up for a free subscription.

Tip: How to use brochures and maps in a scrapbook page...Part 2

Paper choices

Yesterday, I show up to deciding what photos to use, and how large to make your layout.  Today will be all about paper choices, embellishments, and putting it together.

Paper choices is just a matter of cardstock or pattern paper for background paper.   The trick here is to use the photo as a color reference.  If not, the photo will clash with your color choice.  I am looking at my photo, and I really so not see a whole lot of colors that can clash with it.  There is the red of the brick, greenery is green, the sky is almost white, and the buildings are beige-like.   This is great, just what I have hoped for.
I went with a beige cardstock for a background, but I did not stop there.  You will just have to see the finished product at the end of the post.  Now let's put it together....

Step 1:  paper.  At this point of your little project, layer any papers on the background paper.   This is the part where you can play around with your brochures and other items if they are made of paper.  I plot mine almost in a collage-type fashion, but I did not overlap except in one tiny area. At this point, If you have any paint or stain mists (like from Glimmer Mist or Lindy's Stamp Gang), now is the time to use it.



Step 2:  Place your photos.  I have only one, so I put it sort of in the middle of the page.
Step 3:  Embellishing:  If you have any embellishments, put them now, but not too many.   You do not want to take the main focus off the photos (if you have any).  Also do not be afraid to copy the back of the brochure, if you only have one, or you plan on using it more than once, as long as you use it for your own personal use.  In other words, do not sell anything on the brochure or the brochure itself, Ebay sellers.  Yes, obey the copyright rule.
Step 4:  Journaling.  After after everything has dried and you have done you last bit of arrangements on the layout, write about it.   If you are telling a story, answer everyone's curiosity, by taking a journalist approach.  Answer the who, what, when, why, and how questions.  another approach is what I did, labeling, which just answers the who or what questions.   Always remember to date it, even if it just the year.   I put the year, but I let the photo answer the "when did you take the photo" question.  

Step 5:  Enjoy your masterpiece.  You have earned it.  Now you are ready for the summer.  now I have one more step into Layout Land....DON'T FORGET THE CAMERA, THERE ARE MEMORIES TO CREATE!

Have a blessed day.

Related articles

• Tip: How to use brochures and maps in a scrapbook page...part 1
• Disney scrapbooking part 2: ideas on how to set up the album
• Disney scrapbooking

Tip: How to use brochures and maps in a scrapbook page...part 1

When most people travel, they bring back with them a ton of brochures of places they have been to.  While this is a good thing to show the family what they have been missing while you have were away having fun, it can be clutter, unless you do something about it.

In this example I am going to use my 2004 trip to Disney.  You got that right, 2004, and I collected tons of brochures and maps of the parks, which have change a lot since I was there.   

Box of 2004 brochures and maps

They have been in a box waiting for me to do something to them since that trip.  See the welcome home folder? I was at the time a Disney Vacation Club member, so that was my welcome home folder with all the goodies me and my family received on that trip.   I have the membership card sitting next to me, also ready to be put in a scrapbook for my viewing pleasure.  Now a word from the organization experts about this sort of thing:   "If you have not used it in a year, toss it, give it to charity, something, either use it or lose it."  My words, their thoughts, and they are right, but I did not toss it in 2005 like I was supposed to. The only proper way is to use what I want and toss the rest away.  After all, I will be getting new ones in December, including and hopefully a new DVC Card.

Now you can go about this two ways (there are more, but for now, let's stick with two ways):  scrapbook with or without photos.  If you scrapbook with photos, make sure you have photo friendly paper behind the photo, since the brochures are not printed on that kind of paper.  This is great when you have people or characters in the photo or want to highlight something special (baby enjoying her first Dole Whip).  You can always get archival mist, but that can be a bit on the messy side, and it might make the colors in the brochures run together.   If you decide to go this route, make sure you test first.   The second way is without photos, and this is for when you did not take any, they turned out horrible, or you want to keep something like a Smash book.   For this example, I am doing a layout with photos, because I found them.  (Do not ask, just know that I found them, LOL)

Step #1:  Gather your photos.  I would start by separating the majority of them by scenery, areas of the park, or themes.   like this

Do not let this pile fool you.   It is only temporary, if you let it.  The photos are not going to deteriorate that fast, but you do have to do something with the pile of photos.  if you are not going to work on them for a while, get a photo-friendly envelope, which are available in most places with a photo kiosk near by (such as a drugstore or a local scrapbooking store (LSS)).  As you can see, I wrote down where I took the photos and the date of the photo.   Since it has been so long, I placed the year on to the slips of paper.   A paperclip or rubber band will do until you can put them in envelopes.

Back to the layout...

I decided for the purpose of this demonstration to go with this photo:

We were about ready to ride the train around the park, and I decided to snap this picture.  It was the perfect shot, and I am titling the layout, Walk down the Middle of Main Street USA, after the song by the same title.

To me, this started my day (even though we had been to Epcot the day before)

Now that I have choose my photo (and feel free to choose as many as you like, just do not over crowd your background paper).  I decided to choose to scrapbook around this one.

Step 2:  Will it be one page or two?  Oh and while I am at it, what size will it be?

The beauty of scrapbook albums is you can use pages as an one or two page layout spread.   I am usually a two spread layout girl myself, because I want to get the most bank for my buck with two pages.  This time, I want to challenge myself and so a one page.   This is great for a layout for one photo.  Since you will be using your brochures and maps as well, you can easily have one layout for the photo and those materials and the other for just the brochures.

Well that is the end of this post but not the end of this layout, stay tuned for part 2 where I will show you how to choose your paper, style and other goodies.   Have a blessed day

Related articles

• Disney scrapbooking
• Disney scrapbooking part 2: ideas on how to set up the album
• Planning your Trip? Take it from Disney....Its free.

Wishing you Sunny Days....Thinking of you card.

I am back on track to show you what I made to share.  This time it is another Heartfelt Creations card, that will not be on my Etsy shop, P.Lynne Designs for copyright reasons.  I made this card to go with the theme, Thinking of You.   The teal blue card blank has paper from Recollections pack, Floral Gardens, which has become one of my favorite non Prima, non Graphic 45, and non DCWV paper pack.   I love how the colors of this pack are muted, and this is the first 8.5" x 11" paper I have ever liked.  I tend to gravitate more towards 12 x 12 stacks.

The digi-stamp is from Heartfelt Creations, but any stamp will do.   The sentiment is from the same Heartfelt  Creations collections.  I colored the bird with my Copics Markers.  There is a sentiment on the inside of the card as well.

Have a blessed Day.