Monday, March 23, 2015

RAK for Baby Boy Kit

Hello Scrappers! I'm giving away a couple partial Sweet Baby kits to Painted Ladies Journal followers. This was an original Becky Higgin's "Sweet Baby" kit. Most of the papers are reversible, meaning one side is girl and one side is boy. I've split this up into a girl set and a boy set. There is about an 1" stack of 4x6 (cut down to 3x4's, as need), coordinating stickers, chipboard and photo corners. Here's how it works. First, these two RAK's are for US residents, only. I'm so sorry, international friends. I'll be sure to focus on you all at a later time. 

1. Like us on facebook, here: https://www.facebook.com/Paintedladiesjournal
2. Follow us on instagram, here: https://instagram.com/paintedladiesjournal/
3. Follow us on Pinterest, here: https://www.pinterest.com/PtdLadiesJournl/
4. Comment on this blog post (provide your name and city) for a chance to win the BOY KIT. (Go here for the Girl kit)

I will pick a random winner on Saturday, March 28th at 9PM CST. 

RAK for Baby Girl Kit

Hello Scrappers! I'm giving away a couple partial Sweet Baby kits to Painted Ladies Journal followers. This was an original Becky Higgin's "Sweet Baby" kit. Most of the papers are reversible, meaning one side is girl and one side is boy. I've split this up into a girl set and a boy set. There is about an 1" stack of 4x6 (cut down to 3x4's, as need), coordinating stickers, chipboard and photo corners. Here's how it works. First, these two RAK's are for US residents, only. I'm so sorry, international friends. I'll be sure to focus on you all at a later time. 

1. Like us on facebook, here: https://www.facebook.com/Paintedladiesjournal
2. Follow us on instagram, here: https://instagram.com/paintedladiesjournal/
3. Follow us on Pinterest, here: https://www.pinterest.com/PtdLadiesJournl/
4. Comment on this blog post (provide your name and city) for a chance to win the GIRL KIT. (Go here for the boy kit)

I will pick a random winner on Saturday, March 28th at 9PM CST. 

Monday, March 16, 2015

Some additional Travel pages

I will occasionally share some additional Spain vacation albums on the blog.  My album will be a mix of kits - but in general will be on the more masculine end of the scale since I have lots of building pictures and my sons don't enjoy lots of flowers...Publishing keeps me accountable and I love to share the great experience we had!


Just Jaimee's Bryce Storyteller Collection - Pre Made pages Ready-To-Go-12-x-12-Pocket-Page-Templates-Weeks-10-14-Storyteller-Bryce-Add-On.html


Detail of right page




Using Just Jaimee's Bryce Storyteller Collection - Quick Pockets & Frames from The Lilypad Quick Pockets & Frames from The Lilypad




Monday, March 9, 2015

Project Life Disney Album: Part 2

I'm back with another post about my Disney Project Life album using Sahlin Studio's Project Mouse. This time I'm going to be sharing 3 things I think you might also like to use. Two of the three items are free. Yay, free stuff.

First Item: In my previous post, I hastily mentioned a very helpful, amazing PS/PSE action that I'm using. Actually, it's a script that you, too, can install. Here's how it works: You create your digital 12x12 Project Life layout and if you are going hybrid, like moi, you want to print individual 4x6 pieces to put in your physical pocket pages. Now, the easy way to do this (note: I did not do it this way, of coarse) is to then save the file as a jpg so that it's all one layer, run the script and waa-laa, it sends (6) 4x6 jpg's to the same folder where the original file resides. Neat. Easy-peasy. Done and done. Ok, I'll stop dragging on, go here and download it. Anika's blog has some good stuff. She also has a video for the simple way of using the script. She's an engineer and as far as I'm concerned a genius. I haven't explored her whole blog. Probably more stuff we want there. Start following her. You'll thank me. You're welcome. Oh, and she's a PLJunkie Creative Team Member. Since there are over 10,000 members in the facebook group, I'm guessing you know what I'm talking about.

Back to that nagging question that I know you all are asking (or not, but I'm sharing anyways). What is it she is doing and WHY ON EARTH not do it the easy way? Well, the short answer is that I'm a complicated woman, people, like most creative types. The actual concrete answer is that since I'm doing two types of books (refer to previous blog post), I have certain needs. It might be less complicated to just tell you "I'm complicated". For my parents' Shutterfly book, I want the straight-forward- stitched-template-with-rounded-corners look.
Shutterfly Version with rounded corners
Then, for my hybrid album, I want square corners. This means, it's now a several step process. Here it is:
  1. Create Shutterfly version with rounded corners  
  2. Save it. In fact, just upload that to Shutterfly now as a way to back it up, just in case the unthinkable happens. I won't even say it out loud. Bad juju.
  3. Save as new file. Adjust the 12x12 layout so it fills the page edge to edge with no rounded corners. I undo all the masks and turn off the stitch pattern to make it work.  (Turn on the grid to help line it up, but don't sweat it. Don't try to get it perfect because you will be trimming them down anyway)
  4. After getting them squared off, I put any journaling cards together and photos together. That way, I can print journal cards on cardstock and photos on photo paper. It's just smart. 
  5. Now you save again as a jpg. 
  6. Finally, you are ready to run the script on that jpg. Go to File, Automation Tools, and (if you've installed it) it will show up as "Save 12x12 to 6x4" 
    Print on cardstock

    Print on photo paper
Second Item: All of my Disney Album templates are the stitched grid pocket pages designed by Traci Reed. Love them. They just look great with anything. It's like the little black dress of digi-scrapping. This is the set of templates that I am using in the Shutterfly book version. My co-blogger, Luly Gonzalez, (sidenote: I thought I made that word up, "co-blogger", but I didn't. Apparently, it's all the rage. So, go find a best bud and get co-blogging. It's a hot new thing. At least, I'm trying to make it a thing. Pass it on.) Luly, she's my co-blogger, remember? She introduced me to Traci Reed (well, not LITERALLY, but you know, her stuff.) Check it out. Good stuff.

Third and FINAL item: Another freebie. Our first day, if you noticed by the pictures or because I probably already said it, was at Epcot. I found some free fonts that matched the rides we did and places we visited there. Super fun to use. Go grab them right HERE. (And btw, WDW Prep School is a brilliant resource for planning a trip to the happiest place on earth)

Fun Epcot Fonts in use.
Our next day was at Animal Kingdom, so come back soon to see what I'm using for those pages. Fun safari stuff. 

Holly Genc




Tuesday, March 3, 2015

European Vacation Album and FINISH in action!

Just Jaimee Hunter Ready to Go templates at The Lilypad
So as we talked in a previous blog post setting goals is definitely a way to motivate some or overwhelm others… luckily I am in the former camp.  I have some pretty big goals and big scrapping  goals for this year - a few of which I will share here with you on the blog.


First - I want to document my fabulous trip to Spain that I was able to take with my family over the Christmas holidays - we had planned for this for over a year.  I want to document this journey while it's still fresh in my mind and I can add in all the details that get lost in my albums when I finish projects months or years (usually years) after the events have happened!  I am using a combination of Pocket Page protectors (Traci Reed Stitched Grids - Sweet Shoppe Designs) and Just Jaimee Storytellers products.  I am guest posting in March - and I cannot wait for everyone to see all the great products that Jaimee has lined up!!! I love Just Jaimee's Storyteller products - they are so incredibly versatile.  There are tons of patterned & solid papers, 2 templates, 2 pocket templates, a million elements, pocket cards (all sizes, journaling and filler cards) and even cut files, alphas…I could just go on!  Can you tell I'm in love?? Jaimee's design style fits so many different design sensibilities - I have loved every Storyteller kit and it helps me push myself in different directions.   She has just started a subscription at The Lilypad which offers the whole kit for a great price Just Jaimee Storyteller Subscription.  I also love all the add on's for every month like planner pages and pre-designed templates with all the elements placed for amazingly quick and fun pages.

Here are a few more examples of the pages I've completed to date:
Spain Album cover
Just Jaimee Storytellers Collection - Hunter
New Years Eve
Just Jaimee- Storytellers Hunter Collection - Pre-designed pages Hunter collection.  
Aren't these amazing?



I will focus on the two facing pages matching, but not worry about using different kits throughout the album.  I have a few selected kits in a folder with shortcuts in a folder on my PC, that way I don't have to continuously look in my stash to find the kits I want to use.

Here is the screen shot of @Spain folder - inserting the symbol keeps it at the top of the feed.  I can add to the shortcuts as I find more kits that I want to use or that I buy...
I'll be posting additional pages as I complete them for my album.




Monday, March 2, 2015

Embellishing Becky Higgins PL App pages

Last time I talked about how I was using Just Jaimee's Storytellers Kit for working on my Spain vacation album.  Now I will share I also use Becky Higgins Project Life app pages and how I embellish to get 75% of my page done on the go.

First up here is the page exported directly from the app to document some of our transportation modes and the apps that helped me get through our trip since I am the primary trip planner.

I could have added a a journal card instead of the filler card and been good to go but since this trip is once in a life time I wanted to add a bit more to make it "fancier". I like the look of stitching on my pages so that I can add a little depth to the background.  There are many great options - my favorite are Traci Reed's Stitched Grids from Sweetshoppe Designs is a great option.

Here it is with the grid and a great travel alpha

Finally a couple of small embellishments and text - and done! I love that there are so many options with digi scrapping - super fancy or very simple with a lot in between.

Final version with some text added and a few simple elements - from Just Jaimee's Quinn Storyteller's Collection.
Simple but effective.