December 2018 Pixel Scrapper Blog Train: Retro Holly Jolly

I haven't participated in the Pixel Scrapper blog train in quite some time, so I'm excited that I finally have something to contribute!  This month's theme is Retro Holly Jolly.  I'm not sure I've captured that feeling, but I hope you can find some use for what I've made.  You can find the links to download the papers and elements below the previews.

Retro Holly Jolly Papers

Retro Holly Jolly Elements

Download the papers here.
Download the elements here.

I hope you enjoy scrapping all of your Christmas memories this season!  Please be sure to check out the wonderful contributions from the other designers at Pixel Scrapper, they really knocked it out of the park with this train!  I'd love to see what you create if you're able to during this busy time of year.  Leave a link below so I can check it out.  May you have a Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!  Thanks so much for coming by!  

Pixel Scrapper Blog Train: Enchanting Autumn

This month has been quite busy for me, so I didn't get much done for this month's blog train at Pixel Scrapper.  

I did manage to get some papers done, however, and I hope you can use them with the other creative offerings on the train which you can get here.

Download the papers below the preview.

Download here.

Thanks so much for coming by!  If you use these papers in a layout I'd love to see what you created!  Please leave a link and/or a comment,  I really appreciate knowing what you think!

Have a Crafty Day!

Oh Happy Day! The Pixel Scrapper Blog Train is Here!

Hello digi scrappers!  The Pixel Scrapper blog train has returned, and freebies await you...  (If you don't know what a blog train is, see this post.)

This month's theme is "Keep It Moving".  My favorite (and only) exercise is the simple act of walking.  I enjoy walking owner-less dogs with my friend Betty, and I also love to walk my dog every night with my 14 year old son.  Since I started walking regularly I've felt the benefits both mentally and physically.  I have more energy and feel more positive, not to mention I'm missing a few pounds and I'm not looking for them!  I thought walking fit perfectly into the "Keep It Moving" theme, so I went with it.

Hopefully you can use these papers and elements to tell your story, and if you do, please leave me a link so I can see your creations!  And don't forget to check out all of the other amazing blog train contributions on the Pixel Scrapper forum.

Download my contributions below: 

Download paper pack 1 here.

 Download paper pack 2 here.

 Download paper pack 3 here.

Download the element pack here. 

Happy scrapping to all of you.  And remember I'd love to know what you think and I'd love to see what you make so leave a link in the comments!

Thanks so much for stopping by and Have a Crafty Day!  

Hello Again! A Digital Scrapbooking Freebie for You! Links UPDATED!

Hello there! If you're into digital scrapping, stick around, there's a freebie in it for you.

As much as I love paper crafting, I've grown to love digital scrapping even more, so much so that I'm trying my hand at designing some things.  Along my journey I've found a wonderful site called Pixel Scrapper.  It's a great place to learn as well as pick up some freebies that the talented designers over there create. It's also a relaxed environment for newbie designers like myself to dip their foot into the design pool and see how it goes.  Every month they host a blog train.  What's a blog train?  It's an event where designers spend their time creating digital goodies and share them freely on a blog or in the forum at Pixel Scrapper.  For the month of August the theme is "Back to Nature", and everyone who participated has graciously created free digital scrapbook papers and elements with this theme in mind.

As for my blog train contribution, this will be the very first time I've shared anything I've created with anyone.  I am both very excited and scared to death! I hope you can use what I've spent the last month creating.  I'd love to know what you think as well, both good and bad, because it's the only way I can learn.

The Back to Nature theme brought visions of mountains to my head when I first thought of it, and I wanted to focus on the beauty of nature and not so much camping and s'mores.  I'm not sure I accomplished this, but you can take a look at the previews and decide for yourself!

My heart is beating fast as I type this.  Yes.  That's how nervous I am! 

My design name is now Cindalia, as I did not think icraft2create was appropriate.  If all goes well I'll start another blog with this name.

You can download these files here and here. 

Once again, I hope you can use these papers and elements when you're telling your story.  I would also love to know what you think, so please leave a comment.  I would love honest opinions, as I really want to learn so I can improve!  Thanks so much for sticking around!

Have a Crafty Day!

Happy 1st Day of School!

Several Cool Hours Of Ongoing Laughter!!

It's the first day of school in my area, so I made a set of cards for the three of my children who are going back.  My son told me about the acronym "Seven Crappy Hours Of Our Lives", and I knew I had to come up with something better!  Honestly, none of my kids appreciated these cards, but I had a blast making them!

It feels so good to get back into crafting mode, as well as on a schedule again.  I've been quite sick for several weeks, and finally I feel like I'm on the mend.  I've never gotten such a nasty cold in the middle of August!

How about a calendar?  Yup, made a calendar for September, with you guessed it, a back to school theme.

Once again I printed it out at 8in.x8in.  Last month I made a stand to put my calendars on in this post.  So far it's working out well and I don't miss having a larger 12in.x12in. calendar.

I found a great place to learn Photoshop techniques called Digitalscrapper.com.  They have plenty of free videos, and you can also sign up for Premier which gives you even more videos as well as digital goodies!  This is where I learned to create folded corners, which I tried out on this calendar.  It's an easy technique, but I want to practice a bit more.

Of course with today being the first day of school, I had to take some pictures of my two Middle Schoolers getting on the bus.  They did not want any part of it, but how could they deprive their mother of a scrapbooking opportunity?  I had already made a layout using files from SVGCuts.com.  Making a digital page this way is so quick and easy!  I put this layout together much the same way I did the one in this post.  Now the memory of my daughter's first day of Middle School and my son's first day of 8th grade is on a page.

I decided to include the countdown calendar I made from a previous post in this layout because I wanted to try blending two photos together.  Believe it or not, that was the most time consuming part of creating this page.

That's it for now.  Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions.  Until next time.....
Have a Crafty Day!

Items Used:
 Acronym cards:
 Lunchbag digital paper from Sassy Designs
 Kraft Solid digital paper from Weekend at Home Kit by Kate Hadfield
 Georgia-Pacific white cardstock
 Bebas (Font)
 SNF Sketchy (A+)
 Advert (Font- Are you ready...)

 September Calendar:
 Off To School digital kit from Fancy Pants
 LD Writer's Cramp (Font(colored in)- September, 2015)
 Arial (Font- Numbers)

 Layout:
 Make The Cut
 Miss Baker's Classroom SVG Kit
 School Rules digital collection by Lori Whitlock
 LD Charming Bold (Font-Middle)
 LD Chalky (Font-6th & 8th grade)
 LD Hand (Font- Journaling)




 

Flip Calendar Day: August

Happy August!

An August calendar with a new twist, at least for me.  Since I'm in flip calendar mode, I thought I'd make one for my monthly calendar.  I used to print one 12"x12" calendar every month, but it seems like I'm always running out of ink in my wide format printer!

First, I created my calendar in Photoshop at 12"x12".  Once it was completed I reduced the size to 8"x8" which made it possible to print on my regular size printer.

Digital calendar

I then proceeded to make the flip calendar much the same way as the countdown calendar I made.  Since it's much bigger than that one, I had to use two 12"x12" sheets of cardstock and glue them together to form the base as in these pictures:

I scored each sheet at 8.75", folded them and glued one flap on top of the other.  Using my Cinch binding machine, I punched binding holes in the top.  I put patterned paper on the front and backside of the base.  To sturdy up the base I put additional pieces of the same colored cardstock on the interior of it.  Then I bound the top with O rings.  This is how it looks:

I used a removable 8"x8" page protector for the calendar, so I can take it off at any time, or add another if I wish.

I decided it need a little something more, so I added some embellishments and a removable journal card.  The journal card is held on with magnets as I did on my countdown calendar.

Magnets work like a charm!

I can add important dates on the journal card, or anything I want. When the month is over I'll stick it inside the page protector with the calendar.

Thanks for checking out my calendar!  I've made one more, but I'll take a break from flip calendars....for now.

Let me know if you plan to make one of these.  They really are a lot of fun! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.

Items used:

Photoshop
Cinch Binding Machine
Zutter movable 8x8 page protector
.75" Zutter O Rings
DCWV Sweet Tangerine Stack
Bo Bunny Key Lime and Barefoot&Bliss Digital Collections
Milkshake Font by Laura Worthington

Have a Crafty Day!
 

Back 2 School is Coming! (Perpetual Countdown Flip Calendar Tutorial)

Already?

I know, I know.  The kids don't want to hear it (at least mine don't!).  It's that time again. Time to get back to the books and get your study on!  With this in mind, I thought I'd create a countdown, so the kids can mentally prepare and be ready bright and early on that first day.

This flip calendar is a spin off of the Christmas advent flip calendar I wrote about in this post.  The main difference between them is the size.  I chose to make this one much wider so it would stand up better.

Creating the base:

You'll need a 5"w x12"h piece of sturdy cardstock (I used Silhouette chipboard) for the base.  Score it at 5", 6" and 7".  Cut two pieces of patterned cardstock to 5"x5".  If you have a binding machine, you can punch your holes in the base and the patterned pieces, then glue the patterned pieces to the base.  You can always use binder rings to bind the top of your base if you don't have a binding machine.

Score at 5", 6", and 7"

Creating the numbers and rectangles:

Create 20 rectangles sized 2.25"wx2.875"h with numbers 0-9.  I used Photoshop to make a grid with guidelines for cutting.  Any software such as Silhouette Studio or Make The Cut can also accomplish this task.  When placing your numbers be sure to leave enough space at the top of your rectangles for binding holes.  I could not fit all of the numbers on an 8.5x11 page, so I put the nines on another sheet. 

Make sure to print and cut two sets and don't forget number 9!

Create your "weeks until" rectangle sized 4.75"wx1.75"h in the same way, then print and cut it out.

If you don't want to go through the process of creating a computer generated document, just cut your rectangles with your paper trimmer and add stickers for the letters and numbers.

Punch your binding holes into the numbered rectangles, making sure not to put too many at a time into your binding machine.  I found out the hard way that doing so will jam your machine!

You may want the ability to use days or months instead of weeks until an event.  To solve this, put a magnet on the front of your calendar and another on the backside of the front to hold the bottom piece in place.  Surprisingly, the magnets will hold it quite well.

Two magnets holding bottom piece in place.  Yeah, I know, terrible picture!

Since you may want this to be an all occasion countdown, cut a rectangle of chalkboard vinyl or dry erase material and put it on the "weeks until" rectangle (you can also laminate it) so you can write whatever occasion you want, then adhere it to the base using magnets or glue. 

How about Christmas?

Then again, you could make the entire rectangle from the chalkboard vinyl and forget about the magnets.  Yeah, that might be easier, huh?

Binding:

If you're using a binding machine, place the back on first, then the front, and finally the numbered rectangles as shown in the picture below.  Make sure your numbers are in the correct order, but even if they aren't, this is a perpetual calendar so it's not the end of the world.

  

The "ugly" side

Bind your O rings according to your machine's directions.  

Now it's time to enjoy your new countdown flip calendar!  But don't enjoy it too much, your kids won't appreciate it!

Here's how mine turned out:

Sorry to break it to you kiddos!

You could use this countdown for any occasion, not just for taunting your kids with a back to school reminder!

I had a lot of fun creating this back to school countdown, and I hope you enjoy making one too!  If you do, please leave a link in the comments.  I'd love to see it!  Got questions?  Ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer.  Thanks for sticking with me and checking out my countdown calendar!

Items Used:
Photoshop
Silhouette Chipboard
Textured Basics Paper Pad by Craftsmith
Georgia Pacific White Cardstock
1/2" O Rings by Zutter
Cinch Binding Machine
Bebas Neue (font)

Have a Crafty Day!
 

April Calendar

Happy April Fool's Day!  Can't say I'm the sort of person who likes to play jokes on people, nor do I care to have one played on me, so I rarely participate in the festivities of this day.  Of course, with April comes more spring like weather, and that means rain.  Rain to provide ample water for the beautiful flowers.  I've already got daffodils in my yard, courtesy of whoever lived here before me, since I didn't plant them.  And what do you need for rain?  The same thing my April calendar has plenty of, clouds!

Rain, rain DON'T go away, keep watering the flowers!

I actually don't mind the rain with the warmer temperatures.  I can't wait to see the flowers bloom!

To make the clouds for the calendar I selected a cloud from the background paper using the magic wand tool, right clicked, chose layer via copy and filled the cloud with white.  Next I duplicated the cloud several times and lined them up to form the grid.  I also now have the cloud shape that I saved as a .png file for future use.

I chose not to line up the numbers since I wanted them to look random, like they were floating on the clouds.  This made creating the calendar much quicker. 

The raindrops are actually another paper from this collection, I just selected the white background with the magic wand and deleted it, then I changed the blending mode to multiply.

So, what do you think, should the rain go away or stick around?  Let me know what you think!

Hope your day isn't too tricky and Have a Crafty Day!

Items used:
Photoshop
Splendid Sunshine Collection by Echo Park
Aishart Extended (font-days, month, events)
LD Woodland (font- numbers)
 

A Calendar for January

I know it's been too long since I was here last, so let me wish you a very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Instead of crafting and blogging I've spent a lot of time getting the chaos creative clutter in my craft room under control.  Since creating digitally only requires the space my computer takes up, I was still able to finish my January calendar.

Chilly!

You might guess that it was verrrry cold when I made this calendar.  In fact, in the twelve years I've lived in my area I've never experienced such low temperatures!  I feel lucky though, as we've not had any snow yet.

I made the template for this calendar back in December using Make The Cut.  I used the basic shapes that are included in the software to create the chevrons and the hexagon grid.  After exporting everything to png, I imported the shapes into Photoshop and clipped some papers from the Keepin' Cozy collection from Echo Park to them.  I created the numbers for the days the same way I created them for my December calendar.  I find it to be way more efficient than doing it in Photoshop.  Making templates ahead of time in Make The Cut also makes the process faster.

I'd love to find an even quicker way to design and create my calendars!  I did come across a site called timeanddate.com, which will create some cool calendars you can use to create a planner or even hang on a wall.  Of course you can't incorporate your own papers and such, but they do offer a lot of options to customize them, and it's free.  I like free.  I'll definitely be using them to create a planner for this year.

Do you like to make your own calendars or are you content to buy them at the store?  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear your ideas!

Here's what I used:
Make The Cut! Software
Photoshop
Keepin' Cozy Collection from Echo Park
LD Handwritten Greetings Font (Days, events)
LD Hot Betty Font (Month, numbers)

 Keep warm and Have A Crafty Day!

Calendar Day: December

It's hard to believe December, the last month of the year is here!  This year has gone by so fast, my head is spinning.  

To create my December calendar, I was inspired by Carina Gardner's calendar templates in the Silhouette store.  I decided to create my own in Make The Cut using a doodlebat from Lettering Delights.  Here's what the template looked like:

Here's the finished calendar:

I clipped two papers to the template and changed the blending mode and opacity on the top paper layer.  I added the ornament to each shape opening and applied a Photoshop style that I found for free online (can't remember where!).  I applied that same style to the month and year letters but tweaked the color a little bit.  I used Make The Cut to create the number grid, which sped up this tedious process (it's my least favorite part of making calendars!).  By typing each week of numbers into the text box with right justify selected, I was able to position the numbers on the ornament template rather quickly.  Gotta love the versatility of Make The Cut, it's not just for cutting!

So, that's my final calendar for 2014.  Now to get the ink for my printer so I can print it out!

Here's what I used:
Make The Cut Software
Photoshop
Lettering Delights:
Christmas Village paper pack
Christmas Village graphic set
Peppermint Holiday graphic set
Christmas Ornaments doodlebat
LD Colorado Slab font (December, numbers)
LDJ Jingleberry font (2014)

Have a Very Merry December and Have A Crafty Day!  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble 'til you wobble!

I hope you are enjoying a very Happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family!  I am spending this year at my mother's house where I'll be enjoying her delicious food!    Have a great day!

Files Used:
Giving Thanks graphic set
Fall Forget Me Nots paper pack
Harvesting Memories paper pack
LD Handwritten Greetings font
LD Colorado Slab font

November Calendar with Reflections Fall by Lori Whitlock

November, the month of gratitude has arrived.  What are you thankful for?  It took me a little time to make this calendar, as I started out using a totally different set of papers than what I ended up with (I thank my very honest daughter for that! LOL).  So without further ado, I present my November calendar.  (Normally I don't speak like Shakespeare, I'm just in that sort of mood!)

As I mentioned, due to my daughter's honest opinion about the paper I started with to make this calendar, I changed up everything.  I'm glad I did.  I love the browns and the elegant feel of this paper by Lori Whitlock for Echo Park.

I used my own grid from my August 2014 calendar and resized it a bit to fit on this page.  To make the flourishes of the paper go on top of the lower left square and the borders I used the magic wand tool to select the flourishes, then right clicked and chose layer via copy.  Voila!  The square and borders are "sandwiched" between the paper and the flourishes.

I took the opportunity to use Aaron Script, a font I purchased at Mighty Deals a while back but hadn't used.  I love the elegant feel of it, and I didn't even use the extra swashes that came with it.

So that's my elegant November calendar, hope you enjoyed it!  Try using the magic wand tool, and see what you can do!

Supplies Used:
Photoshop
Reflections Fall (Element Pack 1 & Paper Pack)
Aaron Script (font)
Arial (font) 

Have a Happy November and Have a Crafty Day!

Double Calendar Day and Back To School Luncboxes

Phew.  I made it through the first month of school.  What I didn't make it through was posting here during that time!  Getting used to a schedule after a lazy summer makes transitioning back to a routine a little rough on my kids (not to mention me!).  And now that they're all settled in, I can return to getting my craft on!
  
First up is my September calendar which is now irrelevant, but I thought I'd post it anyway.  Take a look:

I decided to mix it up a bit by using mini chalk boards for the grid.  Other than that, there's not much to say about it!

Next up are some lunchboxes I made for my kids from the Miss Baker's Classroom SVG kit from SVGcuts.com.  I wanted to show them my sympathy for their not so sweet return to the books.

Back to school got ya down?

Sugar and chocolate are the answer...sweet!

These were so quick to put together, and on each one I put something relating to that particular child.  The computer, piano keys, treble clef, turtle and monkey are all free files from SVGCuts.  You may notice that the turtle one (for my son "turtle boy"), is upside down.  I found myself wondering which way to put the paper, and thought it would be best if it was right side up when my son was going to open it.  After that decision I googled "lunchboxes" and discovered the images on them were the other way. I knew turtle boy wouldn't notice, so I didn't fret too much but I decided to make the other three "properly".  My kids enjoyed the candy and didn't pay much attention to the lunchboxes, but I had fun making them.

And finally, my October calendar:

Spooky!

 I went "off the grid" for this one which allowed the haunted house in the background to be more visible.  Using the black and purple papers from Lori Whitlock's Happy Halloween Collection I played around with the blending modes to get a more grungy effect.  Although the purple paper appears to be below the black, it's actually above it.  Have you ever played with blending modes in Photoshop?  If not, try it sometime, it can change the look of your papers which makes them much more versatile.

Supplies used:
September Calendar
Lori Whitlock's School Days Collection
LD Foundation (Font)
LD Chalky (Font)
Learning Curve (Font)

Lunchboxes
Miss Baker's Classroom SVG Kit
Computer, Piano Keys, Treble Clef, Turtle, Monkey SVGCuts Freebies
DCWV Summer Dream, Edumacation, &Generation Tech Stacks

October Calendar
Lori Whitlock's Happy Halloween Collection
LD Frightmares (Font)
LD Castle (Font)
Burnt Type Alphabet (LD)
 
Thanks for checking out my creations!  I'll be posting some Halloween creations soon. Until then....

Have a Crafty Day!

How To Fill The Blank Parts of Doodle Style Fonts With Color in Photoshop

Back To School?  Ugh!

Fonts.  I have hundreds of them on my computer.  I think I'm obsessed, but that's not important, OK?  What I am interested in is finding fun ways to use them in my crafting. When I saw a doodle font by Lettering Delights that had the blank areas colored in, I was intrigued.  Knowing I have a few fonts like that, I wondered how to fill in those empty spaces with color to get that same effect.  I set out in Photoshop to figure it out, but I didn't have much luck at first.  So, I headed to my trusty Make The Cut!, because I knew I could separate the pieces simply with the click of my mouse.  This method worked, but I really wanted to know how to do it in Photoshop because I knew there had to be a way.  I forgot about it until I stumbled upon a site (while looking for fonts, of course!) called We Lived Happily Ever After, and guess what?  Yup, there was a tutorial for adding color to blank graphics in Photoshop. The very thing I wanted to do but wasn't looking for at the time.  The method described in the tutorial worked fine, however, I thought I'd come up with my own tutorial which addresses one problem I encountered.  If you'd like to fill your doodle style fonts with color, read on:

You don't necessarily have to type your letters in black, it's a matter of preference, really.

Here's where I ran into a problem, I didn't have contiguous and anti-alias checked.  It's important that you do, I discovered.  (Don't ask me why!)

Make sure you have all the areas you don't want colored selected before choosing "select inverse".

Once you have the areas you want colored selected, you can do whatever you want to color them in.  I really love using the gradient tool, it gives a cool effect.  Here's some other examples I created using the gradient tool:

Pretty quick and easy!  I'm so happy I can do this now, and I can't wait to use some colored doodle fonts in my layouts and cards!  Much thanks goes to Hannah at We Lived Happily Ever After!

What do you think?  Are you going to try this?  If you have a question leave it in the comments and I'll do my best to answer it.

Fill your doodle fonts and Have A Crafty Day!

Fonts Used: LD Outline 1, LD Oogly Googly