Sneak Peek x2

That's right, another sneak peek!!

Sneak Peek!

Hi!! It's Kassie(kass_23) here to bring you a sneak peek of Chelle's Creations fun new products coming to ScrapMatters tomorrow! These are just fabulous!!

Basic Template Start

Hi Everyone! Jenn (jk703) to give you a tutorial today! Woot! So excited to share a tutorial for basic template use! These instructions should work well for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users! I heart me some templates, and they are just a great starting point for many of my layouts! Plus, they are a great time saver!!! So here we go....


Templates -- Basic use.


First and Foremost... with any template that you use, follow this rule:
Click on File, and Save as. By saving your template with a new name, you preserve the orignal template so you can use it over and over again, and it is in the original form!


I have decided to start with the background basics with Chelle's Askew Templates from the DSD Grab Bag! Love the style! If we can get to know the background and clipping, it will be a great start!





OK! We've got a template ready to go! Next, have some papers on standby to be added in a bit. First, we will be adding a background paper, which is the darker grey on the template above. I've decided to use the Happy Papers for my background! You can find it HERE!





Scroll in the layers palette until you see the Background layer. Click on that layer to highlight it. Check that you are in Move Tool mode. If not, click on the move tool. You will be placing your paper ABOVE this background layer! (Select, Copy and Paste with Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+V or Drag and Drop works well too!)


Your chosen background will become the background of the template! Presto Chango, lol!
Below, you can see that I now have the white, yellow and red star background behind all the blocks! Also, you can see that my background layer is ABOVE the previous background layer.





For every layer that you want a paper on, you will have to click on that specific layer, and then bring your paper in. When you have your paper in above the shape, you are going to "clip" the paper to the shape layer. Here is how:


Open your paper and have it layered above the shape you'd like to clip it to. It should look like this:



When you have your screen similar to this you are now going to clip the paper to the layer (shape). Here is what you will see if you right click on the red background paper:

Choose Create Clipping Mask which is about halfway in the menu. By clipping the paper to the layer, it will automatically make the paper the EXACT shape of the layer below. See here:





Now... you can duplicate the red paper for every layer that you want red paper. To duplicate, right click on the red paper, and choose duplicate paper. Then you will find the layer that you want to clip it to, and click and drag the new red paper above and clip. Just cause that seems confusing... here are some photos. Duplication of the red paper:



and after moving/clipping to multiple layers, it will look like this:

When you have completed the clipping of all the layers, your page will look something like this...but with the papers you chose! Boy, that is a lot of moving and clipping, lol!





By knowing how to move and clip in a template will allow you the basics of template use. In my opinion, being able to move and clip can allow you to use any template, and then learn how to change it up and make it yours!


Design Change:
Re-sizing all the layers for the paper blocking pieces. Select all layers, and with the Move Tool selected, and the apect ratio set, you can make those squares larger or smaller. Deletion/Hiding of layers is another great way to mix op the template and change it. is an example of smaller, and then larger with a twist:






Now all you have to do is bring some elements in, and your photo! Add some shadows, and make it shine! I hope this gets you off to a great start with templates.


Next time I'm up for a blog post, I will delve a bit deeper into templates, adding the elements, and alphas! So much fun!


Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great day!
Jenn (jk703)

Tuesday Freebie

I just love using the Stacked series in my LOs, they cut down on so much time with pre-made strips or blocks of paper. Just fill them with paper or photos and clip to each layer, and walla! Add a few embellies here and there and you're done!

Here's your freebie for this week, a QP made by yours truly, Sam. I used Stacked: straight and Happy paper, elements, and frames. Click on the preview to download. Enjoy and come visit us again for more features from Chelle's CT!

**Link fixed**

Chelle's Creations is thankful for her fans and it's time for another RAK!

Hi everyone, Janine here again with another RAK from Chelle's Creations. Chelle is very thankful for the fans of her work, and so she is letting me give away two copies of her amazing Thanksgiving themed kit:

With Thankful Hearts

So what do you have to do for your chance to win? All you have to do is tell me in this time of thankfulness something you are thankful for.

This contest will be posted several places and you will only be entered one time regardless of how many places you post so please only choose one place to enter (places to enter are linked below). Two winners will be chosen from the entries from all the different sites this RAK is posted.

You have until Friday night November 19, 2010 at 10 PM Central time to post with something you are thankful for so lets remember all the wonderful people and things we are thankful for during this season and you just might be one of the two lucky winners. Winners will be announced on Saturday November 20th, good luck everyone and I can't wait to see your entries!

Here are the different places you can go to enter (please choose just one):

ScrapMatters

DST

DSA

Saturday(?) Standouts!

Hello everyone!

Stacey here with your Saturday Standouts.....just a little bit late! We have got some gorgeous pages in Chelle's gallery and here are just a few that stood out at me!

Planting the Garden by goldengirls2


(stuck on) Grizzly River Run by WenRob

Lost teeth by Shari! Love this 2 pager...check out the individual pages HERE and HERE!

so besure to put your LO's in Chelle's gallery and you just might get featured on the blog!

Hi there folks! It's Bre, one of Chelle's Creative Team members, and I'm here to show off one of my favorite kits the Chelle has ever released: With Grateful Hearts! With American Thanksgiving only a few weeks away (how? HOW did this happen??? lol) it is the perfect time to reintroduce you to this versatile and beautiful kit!!! Take a look:


Seriously, How cute is that turkey??? And those colors? Perfect for use all year round! Check it out in the shop HERE.

The CT had a great time playing with this beauty. Here is my layout:



And here's a few more from my fellow CT'ers. Hope they inspire you to pick up this gorgeous kit!!!

Kelli:


Virginia Jen:


Chelle:


Krisi:


Chelle:

New Release Friday: Alphas!

It is Friday and we have another bunch of new releases! Chelle is releasing a couple of new alpha sets!  First up is Newsie Alpha.  A very versatile alpha.

Next up, Hangin’ Alpha!  How much fun is this!  Totally playing with the pennant trend and completely adorable.  I want to put this on all my pages.

And a bit of CT inspiration:

And Chelle also has a fabulous new CU item too.  These are pretty cool.

And that is it!  Have a fab weekend!

Sneak Peak

Heather here, with a sneak peek of some very fun products Chelle has coming out tomorrow!

How To...

Hi Cara (aka colson) here today with the first installment of "How To." ...How exciting!! My topic today is a skill that eluded me until I figured it out by accident. (Isn't that the way the best things are discovered?) Today I'm going to show you how I recolored/retextured Chelle's Batter Up Alpha from red to green. Now I know there are many ways to recolor things, but this one gave me the best results for my page.

First, here's my finished lyout with a green alpha. How did I get it that way? Well hold on to your mouse... I'll show you!

Here's the layout with the Alpha placed as I want it, but it's red. Now red would still look pretty nice on this layout, but I really want it to be less obvious - I think green will fade it back a bit.

So, I open, place and size a paper (the color I want the Alpha to be) on the layout. We'll work on the "S" first. Make the "S" layer active by clicking on that layer on the Layers Palette. Using the Magic Wand tool, click on the red part of the "S". You'll see dancing ants around it.

Then, click the paper layer on the Layers Palette (leave the dancing ants active!)



Once the paper layer is active, hit the Delete button. What you should have left is a letter shape in the color you chose. Now if your new paper letter layer is below your Alpha, you won't see it yet. Trust me, it's there... it's just under your Alpha. all we have to do is move it. First, let's click Select -->Deselect to get rid of the dancing ants. Then go to the Layers Palette, grab and drag your new paper letter layer above the Alpha letter you've recolored.

For good measure, we're going to clip the new paper letter to our Alpha so they stay together. To do this, right click on the paper letter layer and select "Create Clipping Mask". It will appear in your Layers Palette like my photo above.

And Viola!!! You've got the first letter done. Just complete those same steps again for each Alpha letter and in no time, you have a unique recolored Alpha. I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and found it helpful.

Try this technique with an alpha and a paper and link us up here so we can leave you some love. Thanks for joining me!

Tuesday Freebie!

Hi! Fran here with your Tuesday Freebie! I had fun making this cluster for you. I used Chelle's Stacked: Wonky (boy does the CT *love* that set!) and Chelle's DSD grab bag kit, Happy (still available) in making this. You need Chelle's bag, especially if you are a Disney lover!! Just sayin. ;)

Here is a preview of my cluster.

And you can download it HERE! Hope you enjoy it!

Product Flashback

Good Monday morning! Hope y'all are recovering from your DSD/weekend festivities. I know ScrapMatters had a TON of amazing things taking place to keep you jam packed all weekend and Chelle was right smack dab in the middle of it all.

I'm here to take you back in time to an "oldie but goodie" fave kit of mine, Ticket to Ride. This is an amazing kit that Chelle released last year.

The image is linked to Chelle's shop at ScrapMatters. Chelle also has this bundled with her super fun word art too! The best part? They are both 40% off right now with the DSD sale. Heck...EVERYTHING in Chelle's shop is 40% right now (except grab bags). So, what are you waiting for? Head on over and get to shopping!!

I'm sure you've got plenty of fair photos from the past month or so. I know my hard drive is packed full of 'em! Need a little bit of inspiration to get ya ready to scrap?

Take a look at this fun page by Amber (jeffsamber). She also used Chelle's awesome Wet Paint Alpha.

How about this fun page from Dolores?

And here is a page I created last month using Chelle's super fun new Stacked: Wonky.

Now, you've seen some great inspiration...head on over and get to shopping. With this awesome discount, you can't pass it up!

CT Sunday Spotlight

Krisi here today to spotlight one of our guest CT members this month - Linda (scrapporreia).  It was fun to read the responses to the questions I asked her... and she picked out some fun kits and layouts!

If you are looking for the blog trains... they are down below this post.

1. How long digi scrappin?
I’m still a newbie - I started as an avid spectator in about April 2010. I scoped the sites that my friend Jenn (jk703) suggested after I saw one of her paper scrapped books. It was soooo awesome. I bought a TON of stuff and downloaded every freebie that I could find. Then I spent the next 2 months ‘organizing’ my stash. Only to find out that once I made a page, I’d need to credit it, so I RE-organized my stash. Then Jenn said, Scrap already! Lol
I did a challenge to give me some guidelines and learn sort of what to do on page. That was about mid-June and I’ve been hooked ever since.

2. What program do you use?
For work I use the whole Creative Suites but for digi-scrapping, I use PS CS3. I recently saw CS5 for PS and drooled. Had to get a napkin. I’ve been using PS for over 15 years and did some in-home tutoring on the side, so I’m an addict. I love Illustrator, too and use that for my word art. I recently used InDesign for my first ever hybrid I did last week – So fun! I’m a Quark girl so it was a bit of a learning curve with the keyboard shortcuts.

3. What kit are you dying to use of Chelle's, have you already used it?
I bought Chelle’s Ho Ho Ho kit back in the Spring/Summer.
I saw this Visit with Santa layout by Kendallt that I loved and had to buy the kit.
I had so many Summer photos to scrap that its been gathering virtual dust until the Winter holidays rolled around.

4. What is your favorite layout using Chelle's stuff? I have so many its nearly cruel to ask me to narrow just one.
I love Playtime with Elmo by Breeoxd. She spot colored Elmo back into a BW and elements (especially the streetlamp) were so cute and fit perfectly with the image. I love that she used a yellow and white paper to offset the red.

I also love this One More Story layout by KeepScrappin because I can soooo relate and I love the colors- how she accented the dark blue with the crumpled yellow strip and how she used the elements – the books were a nice touch, too.

5. What is your favorite tip or trick related to digital scrapping?
The best advice I ever got (in my mere few months) was from a veteran scrapper who told me to stop concentrating on the CT requirements or the Challenge limitations and scrap for me. Being new, I thought Challenges and joining CTs would help me learn more about scrapping and give me guidelines and ideas of what to do, how to do it, etc. While she agree that getting involved with the community would make it more fun and I’d learn quickly she cautioned me to make sure every page I do is one that I would like and would put in my albums.
Ever since then, I’ve heard her in my head when I approach a new page, and I think my pages look better because they are more ME.

6. Can you tell us a little known fact about yourself.
I’m lazy. Given the choice between laying around and watching TV or running all over town doing a million things. I vote for laying around. Lol.
The reason this surprises people is because I bake a lot – often making foods that the neighborhood kids can decorate & take home, I cook a lot and love to entertain, I do crafts with my son, and activities like organize treasure hunts for him, make sure we take him outside as much as possible. I learn new things like making balloon animals and face painting so that every day can be a carnival. So, while I’m delivering homemade dumplings or marshmallows my friends all think I love to keep busy and be on the go.
Actually, I love being lazy, too!

Thanks Linda for allowing us to get to know you a little bit more!

Don't forget that Chelle's DSD Sale and Dino Dig are still going on.