Creating a Digital Project Life Layout

New Project Life Tutorials are on the site!! And as always, they are FREE! See how easy it is to create a digital project life layout in less than 10 minutes! :)

Everyday Life / Project Life 2013

If you are thinking about starting a digital Project Life album for 2013, you might want to check out our new products! :) Everything is 25% off too! Each title/journal card design comes in all 30 colors so it's no problem matching any photos in your layouts! :) Plus with the EDL Brush Collection you can add extra embellishments to your journal and title cards! :)

Click this link to watch video tutorials of how to create a digital project life layout in less than 10 minutes!!

Click this link to go to our Everyday Life Products!!

Project Life Pages

I know many of you are really overwhelmed with your scrapbooking. I feel for you. I've been there... and I still have guilty feelings when I fall behind. I worry that I will forget these everyday moments with my kids if I don't get them recorded. It's a fact that I have trouble remembering things from last week... let alone years ago. :)

What I really want is to sit down with my books (when I'm old and grey) and re-live some of these wonderful memories I get to live today. :)

Here are some things I've learned about scrapbooking/documenting your life:

#1. Photos are awesome, but they aren't the whole story. When my oldest daughter was born, I took TONS of photos. And I scrapbooked everything you could think of. I have a layout of her eating toast... another with her holding a toothbrush... yeah... I know. :) Here's the kicker... I have NO journaling.  It's a huge book full of layouts of her doing anything and everything, but no journaling to go along with it. So although I had some significant reason for scrapbooking her eating that piece of toast... I can't remember now why I did it because I didn't write it down. :(  Even if you just write like you talk (as I do... as you can tell I'm sure.) One day, you will be happy you did.

#2. If you are behind... start with RIGHT NOW and work your way back. It is so much easier to keep up with the present, then to start in the past.  Let me tell you why. Let's say you are 3 years behind on your scrapbooking. So you go back to 2009 and start. That's great, but by the time you get to scrapbooking Thanksgiving of 2012 (that just happened last week and you could write a novel on), it's now 2015 and you are trying to remember what you did that year... see the problem? Things that were in the past are already mostly forgotten, start with today and get these memories recorded while they are fresh on your mind, then work backward. :)

#3. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Oh my gosh this one makes me laugh. Back in the day, I made this layout that was TO DIE FOR... haha (or so I thought)... turns out, today... it's not that hot. LOL. In fact I look at it and chuckle wondering what I was thinking. :) All that matters is your photos and your journaling. Take the pictures to help tell the story and write about it. That's all that matters. :)

Now this brings me to Project Life. On my site, we call it Everyday Life but it is the same concept that Becky Higgins came up with. :) Basically, take your photos and get them in a book. Take it "back to basics." Your scrapbooks should be about the photos and journaling. Period. One day, you will be grateful you did it this way, and guess what... it's SUPER EASY. :) I have no problem staying up to date with my book. And!!! You can do it however you want! :) If you want to take a photo a day, great, if you want to scrapbook your "week", awesome. If you want to put all your favorite pictures in a book with captions, do it. You are free to do whatever you want! :)

Here are some of my layouts from these past few weeks:

I am a digital scrapbooker, so all my layouts are done on the computer (which I love). But you can also do this same thing with Becky Higgin's products. :) The choice is yours, but I totally recommend the system. It works. :)

By the way, this is the perfect way to get you started in 2013!! We are releasing an all new Digital Everyday Life kit for 2013!! It's awesome and it has everything you see in my layouts and much more. :)

Our Holiday Card

I was trying to figure out how to schedule in a family picture before Christmas... realizing that I just didn't have time.  So this year I decided to do a little something different. :) Here's what we came up with:

I saw this idea on Facebook but I think it originated from Photographer Jason Lee. :) I loved the idea!! It really fits our family. Our little red-head is a fire-cracker and he really would do something like this. HaHa! I love that we can do a not-so-traditional holiday card... and for the first time, the kids had fun making the card. :) (Disclaimer: the kids were not actually taped to the wall. :)

Here's the back:

 

I figured we would stick with the duct tape and stick some across the back of the card. :) I hope this helps inspire some creativity for your holiday card this year! :)

Digital Scrapbooking Actions for Photoshop & Photoshop Elements

Oh Happy Day! I'm so excited to announce our new Action Set for digital scrapbooking! It is truly amazing and I can't wait to get some tutorials up on the site to show you. :) First though, you must be wondering what is new? Well, I'll tell ya... our Insert Image Action is all new and now resizes your photos! So you only click once where you want your photo to go and the action does everything else for you! It honestly can't get much easier.... (trust me, I've spent the last five years teaching people how to use Photoshop Elements to scrapbook. :) Lol. :)

Here's a basic run-down of our new Signature Scrapbooks Actions:

SS Insert Image: (SS Stands for Signature Scrapbooks)

• Lets start with a cute Photobook Template first, ;) like this one from our site. Lets say you want to use it "as is" and insert your photos into it. Simply click on Photo 1 and run the action.

• A window will open that is asking you to browse to the photo you want to put into Photo 1. Simply browse to your pictures and click on one.

• Here are a couple of WONDERFUL tips!! For Mac users, you can click on any image (in the browse window above) and hit your space bar, this will show a huge preview of the picture so you know you are getting the one you want. Plus, you can just use your arrow keys on your keyboard to move to the next ones, the preview window stays there and rotates pics! :) It's sweet. For Mac users using iPhoto, simply click on the Photos link in your sidebar and your iPhoto Events will load.  For Windows users, if you need a larger thumbnail, just click the thumbnail viewer button and chose the largest option! :)
• Once you click on your photo you want, simply hit enter on your keyboard, (or click the open button) and watch as the action does all the work for you!

• Next, simply click the Photo 2 spot and run the action. Guess what? When your browse window opens this time, it will be in the exact folder you took your last picture from!! AMAZING right? Now you can just grab another pic for your layout and continue. :) Then click Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5 and Photo 6!!! You'll end finishing your layout in under 5 minutes! SS Insert Image is awesome. :) I just can't say it enough. ;)

Now, lets say you get your photos put into your layout, but they are looking a little dull... well SS Photo Boost is the perfect fix. Simply click on the photo you want to boost, and run the action. You will go from the layout above, to this one below... No more editing each picture before you scrapbook. With our actions you can edit your pictures right on your layouts!

There is also a SS Lighten Dark Photo action that will brighten up dark photos. Again, you can use it right on your layouts. Of course if you want to use our actions for your regular photo editing, you are welcome to do that too. :)

Another great feature... you can use our actions on ANY templates from ANYWHERE! If you like to get your templates from a certain site, it's no problem. Do you like to design your own? That's great too. The actions work with ANY of them. In fact, you could simply open photoshop, draw some boxes on an empty document and the action will insert anything you want into those boxes; paper, photos, etc. :) Your possibilities are endless.

For example, lets say I want to change this layout above and make it a template for my daughter's first day of dance. First I click on each picture I inserted and hit delete on my keyboard. It's really easy to switch out pictures... hitting delete is super fast. :) Next, I click on the brown flower paper and click the SS Insert Image Action, again a browse window opens for me to select an image, but instead of picking out a picture, I go get a different piece of paper. Then I click on the dark brown backing paper and run the action... the same folder with the paper pack I picked the first piece from opens again so I select a coordinating paper. Then I do the same for the red circles and possibly the background paper. It's as easy as clicking once on the object I want to change and clicking play on the action. :) 

Here is my result:

It seriously only took me 3 minutes to change this layout. :) I  L-O-V-E this action set. :) It has sped up my scrapbooking soooo much. ;) Now, should we insert pictures or do you get the idea? :) Yeah... lets do it because we can and it's fast... :)

Here's another take on the same layout... using the actions to switch out the papers to a new paper pack. 

You get the idea right? Endless possibilities. :) Here are all the included actions:

For Photoshop Users, you get:

• SS Insert Image
• SS Insert Image - Custom Resize (This one lets you resize your photo to whatever you want.)
• SS Insert Image - No Resize (This one will insert without resizing at all, ideal for paper.)
• SS Insert Element
• SS Insert Paper
• SS Photo Boost
• SS Lighten Dark Photo
• SS Create Jpegs (This will split the above 24x12 layouts into two printable 12x12's)
• SS Open Template (This will open your psd templates.)
• SS New 24x12 (This will create a new blank 24x12 document to create a layout from scratch.)
• SS New 12x12 (This will create a new blank 12x12 document to create a layout from scratch.)
• CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE DETAILS ON THIS ACTION SET.

For Photoshop Elements Users, you get:

• SS Insert Image
• SS Insert Image - Custom Resize (This one lets you resize your photo to whatever you want.)
• SS Insert Image - No Resize (This one will insert without resizing at all, ideal for paper.)
• SS Insert Element
• SS Insert Paper
• SS Photo Boost
• SS Lighten Dark Photo
• SS Create Jpegs (This will split the above 24x12 layouts into two printable 12x12's)
• CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE DETAILS ON THIS ACTION SET.

Ready to buy? Here's your options.... buy the Action set by itself or buy the Combo Pack. The Combo pack lets you have unlimited downloads of our Photobook Templates on our site. The combo pack is $34.99 and the actions alone are $19.99. So for an additional $15, you get over 80 (at $1.99 each) Photobook Templates for FREE!! This is an awesome way to jump start your scrapbooking. :)

Click here for the Actions for Photoshop CS users

Click here for the Actions for Photoshop Elements users

Click here for the Combo Pack of Actions and Free Photobook Templates for all users

Photographing Lightning

Last night I was sitting with my family, visiting and watching tv, when I noticed lightning going on in the far mountains. I kept glancing out there every once in a while, especially when there was one extremely bright... but it wasn't until everyone decided to go to bed, that I decided to get out the camera. :) I got all my stuff together and headed outside. It was such a rush to take pictures of something so beautiful and dangerous. I was all giddy when I captured the picture above! :) The only reason I finally went to bed (at 2:20 am) was because I had run my camera battery dead. :)

Now, I'm no expert at taking pictures of lightning, but here is what I do to get the shot. :)
1. I get my tripod. There really no way to get a good picture without one.
2. I switch my lens to manual focus and I look through my eye piece to focus the lens. (Sometimes I keep looking through until I see some lightning, that way I know if it's focused.)
3. Now I switch my camera to Manual Mode so I can change the Shutter to Bulb. This allows the shutter to stay open as long as the button is held. (This is important because sometimes you need to leave it open for a while (3 to 30 seconds) to capture a strike. It would be very hard to wait until you see lightning to click the button. Be careful that you don't leave the shutter open too long though. In my case last night, the sky was still pretty bright from the city lights so 10 seconds was the most I would leave it open.)
4. Now I just aimed my camera at the "most active" lightning spot in the sky and kept taking pictures. :) I use a trigger release so I don't have to touch my camera. It plugs into the side of my Canon and has a cord down to a button. Sometimes when you keep touching your camera to push the button, you wiggle it.... but it's not necessary to have one.
5. Some final tips... If you capture lightning right after you have pressed the button, don't keep the shutter open, release it. The lightning is so bright that it will expose properly. Here is an example of a pic that the shutter was held open for 10 seconds:

You can see that the lightning was too bright so there is not much detail left. (When I took this picture, the shutter had been already open for 8 seconds before the lightning came so the clouds and sky were already getting lighter and lighter... that's why the actual lighting is too bright.) However, I still really like this picture. :)

I hope this helps you get some pictures of your own! Feel free to comment if you have other questions! :)

Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

• [   (Left Bracket): Makes brush smaller.
• ]   (Right Bracket): Makes brush bigger.
• Shift + [ (Left Bracket): Makes brush softer.
• Shift + ] (Right Bracket): Makes brush harder.
• Control + u : Adjust color, saturation, and lightness of layer.
• Control +Shift+ U : Removes Color (B&W).
• Control + L : Adjust photo levels.
• Use Arrow Keys to nudge a layer in any direction.
• Using the Move Tool, move the cursor outside the corner bounding box until the rotate arrows appear, click and rotate.
• Hold “Shift” when drawing shapes or using the cookie cutter or shapes tool to constrain proportions.
• Control J copies duplicates the layer your clicked on.
• Holding ALT when you click and drag on a layer will also duplicate it.
• Control + (plus key) will zoom in on your layout.
• Control - (minus key) will zoom out on your layout.
• When using the Brush Tool. You can press any number on your keyboard to change the opacity of the brush. AKA: If you want 50% opacity, you press 5 on your keyboard, 35% opacity is 35 on your keyboard.
• When using the Move Tool, you can quickly change the opacity of the layer your clicked on by pressing any number on your keyboard. If you want the layer to be at 60% opacity, you press the 6 on your keyboard... 40% opacity would be a 4 on your keyboard.

I have a sheet you can print with most of these shortcuts. Click here to download the pdf.

GIVEAWAY Time!

We're giving away our new Action set for Photoshop CS+ or Photoshop Elements plus FREE Photobook Templates for LIFE on our site!

The Photobook Templates alone are worth over $100. Not to mention the countless number of templates we'll be adding in the future!

All you have to do is go to our Facebook Page and "like" and "share" the post!! It's that easy!

Contest will close on Friday (February 8th, 2012) at midnight (Mountain time).

Good luck to all!! :)

Organizing Your Photos

I've had a lot of people ask me how I organize/store my photos so I thought I'd make a post about it.  I know this system works because I use it, and has worked for me for many years. :) It may not work for everyone, but maybe it will inspire your own ideas that work for you.

I take A LOT of photos, especially since I'm doing our Everyday Life project (take a photo a day).  My system for organizing photos has been tweaked over the years until I've finally found something that works. It's so frustrating to have digital photos and not be able to find them.  First of all, I unload my camera card often... usually every other day or so. I would hate for the camera to get lost or for the photos to get accidentally deleted. I put the new pictures in new folders according to the directions below.

First, in my Pictures Folder, I have sub-folders that are by year. That way I can keep track of my 2010, 2011, 2012 pictures by their own folders. Inside each individual year, I have more sub-folders. Now, if I take some pictures at Christmas, and name the folder "Christmas 2012", guess where the folder goes? It alphabetizes the folder and puts it toward the beginning of the folders. If I took some pictures in January about going snow tubing, and I name the folder "Snow Tubing"... guess where that folder goes? Toward the end. That default system is not good for me. I wanted to have my January folders listed first, and the December folders listed last within my year folder. I wanted to know that if I was looking for a picture taken in December, I would scroll to the end of my folders, and find the pictures taken in December. Now, the reason for the numbers... I put a number before my folder description so that I can put the name of the folder whatever I want. The computer will store the folder in numerical order. So back in 2009, I started with folder 01. It's full name was "01 - January Pics." The next folder was "02 - Brooklyn's Birthday." Her birthday is in February.  Today I am at folder number 614. The number DOES NOT matter. It just keeps them in order.

I've seen people who go in and rename each and every photo. Wow. If you have the time to do that, great. I do not. I name the folder something I know I can find and know that the pictures inside it will be what I'm looking for.

Now... this is VERY IMPORTANT.  Backup, Backup, Backup. Even though I unload my card, and put my photos on my computer, I also plug in my external drive and back them up. Your photos should ALWAYS be in at least two different locations at all times! I can't tell you how many times people have told me they've lost their external hard drives and all their photos on them. Don't let that happen to you. If they are in two places, if one fails, you have another to use. I personally have three backups. I have them on two hard drives and DVD's. (Not the DVD's you play in the DVD player, but used for storage.)

Here is my DVD photo storage case. Each DVD has photo previews on them so I can easily find a photo I'm looking for. It also has the date range of the photos so I know which disk pull for a photo taken on that day. I can't tell you how nice it is to have this case of photos.

No matter how you do it... I can't stress enough how important it is to BACKUP your photos!

Favorite Fonts List 3

Here is the last list of my favorite scrapbooking fonts. :) Just click on the name of the font you want and it will take you to where I downloaded it. :) Happy scrapping everyone. ;)