by Linda | May 1, 2013 | DIY printables
The Pixel and Paper Series highlights digital techniques and products for scrapbookers like you and me. I believe that everyone should consider digital elements to be a part of their scrapbooking toolbox, so let’s learn together what the possibilities are. Each week, I’ll be sharing the opinion of a real-life scrapbooker to reveal how they use digital in their scrapbooking. Each post will also offer a freebie download to help you get started on your pixel and paper journey. Enjoy!
Introducing… Lisa Truesdell
I have heard and seen the work of Lisa before, but was truly introduced to her through Two Peas In A Bucket and most recently bought her e-courses there as well. I love to watch her videos and check out her projects for inspiration, so definitely wanted to hear her take on the digital versus paper divide in scrapbooking. She blogs as gluestickgirl and shares a lot about her process, from traditional scrapbooking to project life.
Lisa says:
I am very much a tactile scrapper, so I like to find ways that I can bring the digital side into the physical world. One of my favorite digital products are printable journaling cards and accents – I love that I can buy a set & print them out no matter what time of day it is. Total instant gratification. I’ve also had a lot of fun recently experimenting with photoshop brushes of stamp designs – they’re a great way to add a little something to a photo before you print it. And let’s not forget the Silhouette Cameo. Being able to create a title or a fun accent from any font or image that I have on my
computer is just too cool.
Instant Gratification
I think Lisa hits on a beautiful point regarding digital tools – it’s nearly always instant gratification! When you need something, you can quickly check online, download and print – wahlah! Pretty cool huh? There’s also the matter of multiple uses given the nature of digital products. In a sense, the possibilities are endless.
I know that Lisa often uses digital frames and digital journaling cards for her photo printing and project life scrapping. You can see great examples of her scrapping style that is very tactile and paper – even though she uses digital tools as well.
via Lisa’s blog
I hope you have enjoyed the entire Pixel and Paper Series as I wind it down with this post today. Ultimately, digital is simply another tool and perhaps one day we will no longer segment ourselves as a digital or paper scrapbooker.
We are simply all memory keepers who care about documenting our lives and sharing.
Whether it be with old fashioned pen and paper or with the latest social media technologies – the important thing to remember is to open yourself up to possibilities and have fun along!
by Linda | Apr 24, 2013 | DIY printables
The Pixel and Paper Series highlights digital techniques and products for scrapbookers like you and me. I believe that everyone should consider digital elements to be a part of their scrapbooking toolbox, so let’s learn together what the possibilities are. Each week, I’ll be sharing the opinion of a real-life scrapbooker to reveal how they use digital in their scrapbooking. Each post will also offer a freebie download to help you get started on your pixel and paper journey. Enjoy!
Introducing… Kelly Purkey
Kelly is a graphic designer and scrapbooker who inspires through her website by sharing her documentations of life – from travel to good eats to designs and of course, scrapbooking projects. I really love her modern style and love to model her use of typography and fonts in her projects.
Kelly says:
I think that paper scrapbookers can definitely use digital tools to add in their scrapbooks! I frequently use Photoshop to add text to my photos before printing. I’m a huge typography nerd so I love this ability to add cool fonts and words right onto my photos. It ends up saving me time (in not searching for letter stickers that I want to use) and money on supplies.
Typography Design Using Fonts
With all the fonts available to us these days, paid and free, there are so many possibilities to spice up our scrapbooking projects. I love how Kelly uses digital lettering on her photos – a very easy to add titling, captioning – that little something to your imagery.
via Kelly’s blog
It’s no surprise that her stamp designs also include beautiful word art pieces, great for cardmaking and scrapbooking. I totally love how they can be used as titles or embellishment in your projects.
via Kelly’s blog
Try It For Yourself
Inspired by Kelly’s work and mention of typography, I’ve created this digital word art sentiment for you to play with. Use them in digital scrapbooking, alter them digitally and print them out for your paper projects as well. What ideas do you have? Enjoy!
Download BTP_TypographySampler
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by Linda | Apr 19, 2013 | DIY printables
The Pixel and Paper Series highlights digital techniques and products for scrapbookers like you and me. I believe that everyone should consider digital elements to be a part of their scrapbooking toolbox, so let’s learn together what the possibilities are. Each week, I’ll be sharing the opinion of a real-life scrapbooker to reveal how they use digital in their scrapbooking. Each post will also offer a freebie download to help you get started on your pixel and paper journey. Enjoy!
Introducing… Steph from the Daily Digi
Steph is the owner of TheDailyDigi.com, host of TheDigiShow.com and most recently started up CapturingMagic.me. She’s been in the industry of scrapbooking for a long time and she defines “digital scrapbooking” as anything using technology to document memories. I love all the information she shares, from tips to techniques to picks and reviews. It’s all about inspiration and motivation to document life. I had to ask her about the digital versus paper divide…
Steph says:
My definition of digital scrapbooking is different than most. I define digital scrapbooking as any kind of memory keeping that involves a digital or technology element. Blogging, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, typing, smart phone photos, etc. If you are grabbing journaling or photos off Facebook to include on a layout, then you are a digital scrapbooker! If you are using your smartphone photos, then you are a digital scrapbooker. The lines that used to pervasively divide the digital scrapbooker from the traditional scrapbooker really started blurring about 3 years ago. Those lines continue to blur as technology becomes more and more part of our everyday life; something that we rely on. As these methods of memory keeping are becoming a standard, using Photoshop to add text to a photo to print and put on a traditional paper page, becomes less intimidating. Figuring out how to use that super cute font with my electronic cutter seems like a doable task.
Some of the tools and techniques that digital scrapbookers often use, are looks that traditional scrappers want as well. Fun filters on photos; adding frames, borders, or words to a photo before printing. Adding personalized text to a journaling card. Using a journaling card that was created digitally because you can adjust the colors to coordinate with everything else, but not have to run out or wait for something to be shipped.
The brilliant thing about all of the choices and options is that there are SO MANY OPTIONS! None of them are right or wrong; only what works best for YOU! What makes your memory-keeping-heart, sing the most is what you need to do, because in the end, it’s only the memories that matter!
It’s All About Options
I love Steph’s point of view, especially her broad definition of what digital scrapbooking can be. With all the choices out there, I think that many of us might be scrapbooking without knowing it. These days with social media, we are all capturing and archiving our lives in one way or another. Why not take the next step to recognize this and share it? Because I know that one of the most rewarding parts of scrapbooking is sharing the memories with friends and family… you can relive the beautiful moments together.
For a mountain load of inspiration and scrapbooking goodness, do check out TheDailyDigi.com, TheDigiShow.com and CapturingMagic.me by Steph. I’m sure you’ll gather inspiration information and be on your way memory keeping with technology!
Try It For Yourself
I thought it would be fun to create some designs that are social media inspired, given the fact that we all document a part of our lives through social media streams. I hope you will find the imagery fun to use in your scrapbooking, online and offline!
Download BTP_SocialMediaSampler
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by Linda | Mar 25, 2013 | DIY printables, my creative journal
Sometimes I want to scrap a photo and don’t have much to journal… it’s just a feeling, you know? That’s why this design – the smallest things take up the most space in my heart – sort of says it all. It’s probably easy to gush about my kids, but it’s not always something I want to write out. Our beautiful little boy… it was enough with the word art, clean and simple design. I created the word art as a free printable the smallest things take up the most space in my heart and made a scrapbook page with it.
It might seem like such a plain layout to so many scrappers out there, but I like it just the way it is. I was tempted to write something in the blank white space, just because… but realized that there’s no need to add more. We scrapbook for ourselves, so why force it to look a certain way or be more complete or specifically designed? In the end, it’s not what matters the most, right?
I thought it would be nice to share this word art I created as a free printable as well. It’s a free image download, you can click on the color version or black and white version to use for your personal uses – I hope that it helps you to scrap and create something fun.
Click on images to get the full-sized versions
Enjoy! If you like my design printables be sure to sign up for my email newsletter for more freebies and the latest updates!
by Linda | Mar 20, 2013 | DIY printables
The Pixel and Paper Series highlights digital techniques and products for scrapbookers like you and me. I believe that everyone should consider digital elements to be a part of their scrapbooking toolbox, so let’s learn together what the possibilities are. Each week, I’ll be sharing the opinion of a real-life scrapbooker to reveal how they use digital in their scrapbooking. Each post will also offer a freebie download to help you get started on your pixel and paper journey. Enjoy!
Introducing… Ali Edwards
If you are a scrapbooker, you probably know Ali Edwards as one of the gurus in the industry. Seriously, there are so many people that follow her blog and have journeyed along with her scrapbooking story. There’s no doubt that her philosophy, techniques, designs and thoughts have impacted the industry and community of scrapbookers. From projects like December Daily and One Little Word to a multitude of products and published books (Amazon link)…
Ali is definitely what you could call celebrity.
I was immediately attracted to Ali’s design and style, but also her philosophy and thoughtful process of scrapbooking. It’s always interesting to follow along her process and join in with the various memory keeping projects she embarks upon. She offers a lot of information on her website and even an intro to digital scrapbooking. I always find myself inspired and wanting to scrapbook and I suppose that is why so many follow her blog. So I had to ask Ali about how she personally uses paper and digital tools…
Ali says:
Just about every layout/project I do incorporates both my computer and paper scrapbooking products. I love that they work together so very well in helping me to get my stories told.
My process ususally begins by opening my photos in Photoshop before printing. It’s there that I add my digital word art, frames, or journaling directly onto my photos. From there I print my photos here at home (either on an Epson PictureMate Show printer or an Epson R2000 over-sized printer) and then add them either to Project Life or to a cardstock paper layout.
I also print out digital Project Life journaling cards and add those to Project Life.
Digital and paper go hand in hand
I think that Ali is a great example of a scrapbooker who uses everything around her to create in her own unique style. From digital to paper, techniques, inks, sprays, various products, graphic design… it all goes together and gets interpreted through her lens.
via Ali’s blog
If you take a look at her layouts, you’ll notice how much variety there is and often you can tell what is digitally printed by her at home or what is manufactured product.
via Ali’s blog
The idea is that digital and paper go hand in hand. There’s no reason not to use the digital designs and tools at your disposal!
via Ali’s blog
Try it for yourself
I recently created a piece of graphic word art for a layout about my newborn son, so decided to share it with all of you. It’s definitely a bit in the style of Ali Edwards, in terms of being a graphic clean style. You can use the color version directly or alter and color using the black and white PNG file. In fact, it would be cool to clip different pattern papers to various parts or use a digital cutter perhaps to cut the design out? Have fun and happy memory keeping!
Download BTP_TheSmallestThings
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