Sketch Today

Hey everyone, it's Pam here! I love creating sketches along with layouts. My design team position at GCD Studios allows me to make sketches for their blog and magazine. The sketch used in the magazine is either used as is, altered, or flipped by three different scrapbookers. This time I went with altering the sketch. Here is the sketch for July. You can see PaperCut's July Issue here. It is a great issue!! DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT at the GCD PaperCut post.. they are giving away a collection to 1 person!

Here is my layout which is altering the sketch.

I altered the design of the layout for my interpretation of the sketch. 
I chose to change the circles to layered flowers and bring the up the 
from the bottom just as the sketch. My photos also were flip flopped 
with the largest photo to the left instead of on the right. I stitched 
my title on the bottom and added a few pretty butterflies to my page.

Have a nice Monday :)

Winner, Winner

Hi everyone!  Nancy here today to announce the winner of the color challenge sponsored by The Sampler Kit Club.  Jill Rugg, please send an email to nkeslin@yahoo.com (me) and I will make sure your prize gets right out.

Thanks for playing with us.  And be sure to look out for more challenges coming soon.

Hugs.

Nancy

EASY WAYS/understand your digital camera in manual!

Hey everyone! It's Pam here today and I am going to be talking about learning how to use your camera in manual. Here is my background on my schooling and how it relates to to how I will go about explaining it to you. I got my degree in biology and I went to one year of Optometry School. I did well but my heart was not into it so I dropped out. Your SLR is very much like your eye.. did you know that? I am going to explain things in terms of your eyes that I think will help and I also created a few helpful rhymes! I have a digital Rebel T3 fyi. I am only going to talk about a few settings b/c I don't have as much experience with the others.

First of all don't be afraid to use your camera in manual mode. Even though all of those letters and numbers seem confusing, it all really makes sense when you understand it in a way that relates to you. The eye is an amazing design. You can control so many things without even knowing. You blink quickly and your pupil changes sizes all within very little time which makes seeing a great experience. So as you read my explanations, try to relate as much as possible to a camera. Also, here is a good sites for more technical terms and explanations of each setting: http://www.ehow.com/about_6702474_use-manual-settings-digital-camera_.html
or http://www.slrphotographyguide.com/camera/settings/


Tv or Shutter Speed Mode
Imagine if you will you are watching someone running outside. Or go practice for a second. Now blink your eyes every half second. You well get snapshots of instant images (if you close your eyes, you will see black and white images on your eyelids -from your retina). Now stare at something for a few seconds and try not to move your head. You are really controlling your own shutter speed. Sounds weird huh? Blinking is shutter speed. Why is this important?? With a camera you may want to get those photos of sports, people running or for instance my dog, Ollie who is a Whippet. He can run at up to 35 miles per hour!! When you keep your eyes open for a few seconds you will be able to see the running water in a river.  So the higher the number the faster the blink, the more you want to use this for action shots. Low numbers can be excellent for things like capturing sparklers or fireworks since the lens can be set to blink very very slow.
Here is something I made up to remember it: Dial high in Tv when you are trying to catch Ollie.  

Here is photo example of a high Tv or Shutter Speed of my actual dog Ollie in action. He is probably going at least 15 MPH. I used the number 1/1800 (meaning way less than one second since it is 1 divided by 1800 seconds). That means that there is a lapse of a tiny fraction of second from when the shutter opens to it closes. I got a pretty good shot of him going "whippet fast".

Here is a photo of low Tv or Shutter Speed of me playing with sparklers. You will need a tripod for photos like this unless your body is made of some sort of material which allows you stand perfectly still ;). I used the setting of 2" for my photo (meaning I had two seconds to make a heart while the lens was open capturing everything).

 

Your camera will go from 1/4000 (or maybe higher) down to number 30" (the symbol " represents seconds). That means that you could possible keep that shutter open for 30 long seconds. Wow, huh? Try not to blink for 30 seconds. :)
Photo/site example of Tv and how it works.


Av Mode
I am not going to go into the technical terms of this. You may also want to note that Av is also called F-stop (please visit this site for more info). Today, I am just going to help you understand it (the only thing I will talk about is depth of field as it relates to Av). First I will talk about low Av numbers. Lowering the Av actually makes the size of the aperture (or think of your pupil) increase.  When you go to the eye doctor you might have gotten your eyes dilated. Eye doctors do this so they get your pupils really large and they can see in the back of the eye much easier than having to deal with small pupils (can you imagine trying to see through a tiny hole to the back of the eye, trust me, it's hard work). The doctor is essentially lowering the Av number of your eye. Also, when you are in the dark or low light your pupils will get larger. Why? To let as much light as possible to be able to see what is going on around you.
A large Av is related to small aperture (or small pupils). You also experience this. It is a bright, bright sunny day and you go outside. Your pupils are going to shut so small sometimes it may be a bit uncomfortable. Look in someone's eyes outside, you won't see much black, but you will see those pretty colors of the Iris. :)
Back to a large Av number or a large aperture and how it affects your depth of field.  Think of depth of field as when you are focusing on an object, at what point or distance does everything else in the background get blurry.  Here is a great example.  So back to the eye doctor and getting dilated. After you get dilated, you can hardly see much clearly and everything is sooo blurry right? Your pupils are so large and so much light is getting in to your vision it messes everything up. Basically the doctor has messed with your depth of field among other things. You might be able to focus sort of okay on something right in front of you but everything else is soooo blurry. This actually works to your advantage with a camera. You can blur that background for a great portrait shot. When you use a small Av number, you have a small depth of field ...
Using large Av numbers is great for capturing scenery when there are gorgeous mountains in the background and you want lots of them to be in focus. This is when the aperture/pupil or opening of the camera is very small.  This affects the depth of field in a different way. It actually expands it and makes the distance of seeing things clearly larger.
Here is a good way to remember it: Lower the Av, the background will get blurry. So, this is an inverse relationship. When the Av number goes down the aperture gets bigger. Also when the Av goes down so does the depth of field.

Here is an example of a low Av number of 1.8. My son made this lego creation for a lego contest. We still don't know if he won yet :). As you can see the object is in good focus but the background is super blurry.

I cannot find a high Av photo that shows a good example so please refer to photo for an example here, it's the one on the left.


Manual Mode
The M on your camera refers to full manual mode which allows to you use both the Av and Tv together (along with other functions). This gives you so much flexibility. Let's say you want backlighting from the sun. Your camera likes to try to figure out how take the photo based on how much light is present.  So, when you are trying to take photos with the sun, it will automatically try to compensate for extra light by changing something else. You can get past this by using manual mode. This takes tons of practice. I would encourage you to work with both Av and Tv separate first to master them and then move on to full manual.


ISO
This is not a top button on your camera (found on the backside instead) but is very important when working with Av, Tv, manual and so on.  ISO refers to the speed of the film b/c old cameras used this feature. It is important to learn how to use this. This can be used in any function and I change it often when I use my camera in manual.  Sometimes I just keep it around 200 or 400. Basically, the thing to remember is to use a low ISO in high light levels.. and high ISO in low light levels. A very high ISO will also produce grainy images. You can use this rhyme to remember: Use high ISO when the light is not so nice-o.  Here is a photo I just took yesterday using my ISO. I forgot to bring my tripod and so I chose to work with a low Av number (remember big aperature) and a high ISO of 3200. This allowed me to catch the image without much blur but with the glow sticks in focus.

White Balance
This is also super important to use in Av, Tv, manual and so on. It should say WB on your camera. When you are working with automatic settings, your camera always adjusts to the type of light present. When are in manual mode, your camera doesn't do that. Instead you should be controlling it. I always check to see what white balance my camera is on. When you click on white balance you want to go to the closest type of light used. This will insure that your photos don't come out too blue or too yellow. If you forget to change it for every light you might get odd results. For instance, if you have it set for Tungsten light and you are outside, your color will be off. 


I hope this has helped you with your camera and understanding how it works and why. Have a great weekend!

Will miss these contributors!!

Hi all, I just wanted to let you know that Vicky and Lisa will no longer be blog contributors. We will miss them so much. They have contributed so much to the blog are so very talented!! I meant to announce on Tuesday and it slipped my mind.
Best of luck to Vicky and Lisa! Everyone will miss you!!

Travel Journal Smash Style

It's summer time in many parts of the world, and that means vacation time. Hi, it's Cathy here today to share how I create journals for our travels. These little beauties really help me with my scrapping, and my memory!

Whenever we travel, I always take a notebook to keep track of my thoughts. I jot down things we did, places we visited and laughs that we shared. These notebooks come in handy when I finally get around to scrapping our trip (usually months or even years later!). I can read through them and be reminded of all those wonderful moments that I never wanted to forget. Some of them I only remember because I did write them down!  :-)

Lately, I've been making my little travel journals a bit fancier. Instead of the little lined notebook from the office supply shop, I've been making personalized journals for my trips.  It's fun to do ahead of time when you are excitedly anticipating your vacation.

This little book was really easy to make. I designed it in Photoshop using digital scrapbook elements.  I printed it on a piece of 8.5"x11" canvas textured paper in landscape orientation (Simply folded the cover in half lengthwise to create the album).  I painted on a few coats of Mod Podge Hard Coat decoupage medium. The nice part about the Hard Coat variety, is that it dries with no tackiness and, once it is cured (only takes a few days), you can actually wipe it with a damp cloth to clean it!

I used 3 hole punch graph paper (turned landscape) for the paper inside the journal. I would have preferred to not have the 3 hole punched type, but it was what I had on hand.  I like to use graph paper in my journals. Not only does it give me lines to write on (if I want to), but it also makes it easy for me to sketch things in perspective if the mood so moves me.

To create the "binding" for this journal, I simply punched 2 holes through the cover and inside papers, then tied some twine through the book. Doesn't get much easier than that!

For a little added "bling" I strung some beads where I tied up the twine.

This next travel journal is a bit more involved.  I created this one as a Smash type journal. I created the cover using digital scrapbook kits and elements. I printed the covers out and decoupaged them to chipboard. I also used the Mod Podge Hard Coat on this one, so I would have the nice finish that is easy to clean.

This book is larger, it measure 9" tall x 5.75" wide.  Inside I used a combination of graph paper, pocket pages and envelopes.  In the pockets, I've prepared some elements that I can use to title or accent my journal pages.

The pockets and envelopes can also be used to keep memorabilia and ephemera that we collect on our trip.

I don't put photos in my journals. For one thing, I don't have a way of printing my photos when I am away.  I also don't want to take time away from enjoying my family and vacation to be scrapping.  But I do make notes in my journal of  photos that I really like or I know I want to scrap later.  When we get home, I'll have everything right together in my journal to help me get to scrapping all my photos.

I'm really enjoying taking the time to create these more personal travel journals. It gives me just that little bit more incentive to make sure I journal about our travels.  And then, when we do get home, and reality returns, even if I don't get around to scrapping the photos for a while, I at least have a handy, and attractive, journal to read and reflect on our trips.

Designer Showcase: Red, White and Blue

Happy Birthday America!  To celebrate, our Designer Showcase this week has the theme red, white and blue!! It's Cathy here to share all the wonderful creations with you, so let's get started!

First up today are 2 really wonderful pages from one of our brand new contributors!  Anupama created this page all about a birthday.  I really like how edgy her page is. It is filled with texture and dimension. It looks and feels intriguing!

On this second page of Anupama's she framed her photo beautifully using a wonderful masking technique.  I love how she has brought out the gorgeous blue color of the water in her photo by framing it in red, and then adding blue accents to her page.

Marlene shares a totally red, white and blue page. She has taken a treasured photo and dressed up patriot style.  That multi-pointed star mat, made of the star paper, is perfect for this!  Marlene also use a really neat little trick to balance her page, she used offsetting strips of light blue paper in the upper left and lower right of her page. Neat idea!

Next up are two pages by me.  This one was done using Pam's 4th of July template.  You can grab it right here. I changed it up just a bit to fit in more photos. Such a great template design for capturing your July 4th celebrations. 

This is one of the very first digital pages that I ever made.  I enhanced the photo to leave color in the flag to make it stand out. I used some brushes to create the look of fireworks behind my title.

Nancy has shared this beautiful page with us. There is so much to love on this page. Nancy has done a great job of using a design triangle to create a layout that gives focus to her photo, while keeping your eye moving about her page so you don't miss a single detail!  I really like the clusters of flowers. Most of all, I like how Nancy has balanced the cuteness and maturity on this page. Reflects the emotions of her daughter growing up!

Wow, that's what first came to mind when I saw Lesley's page about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  Her photos have captured the emotions of the memorial.  I like how she stacked the photos, starting with the top one that has information about the memorial, then the statue of soldiers, and then the very poignant photo of the memorial with the reflection of visitors in it. Very moving. Her choices of patriotic papers and embellishments really adds to the powerful feeling of the page. She continued the color scheme in the mats of her photo to tie the look together.

July 4th and summertime are filled with great celebrations, picnics, barbecues, and family get-togethers. All events that have lots of photos to go with them. Cindy has shared 3 layouts with different ways to showcase all those great photos. In the top page, Cindy has done a great job of blocking her photos, I love how she does that! The thin red frame around the larger block is really eye catching. I also really like her added word art pieces.  The double pager also uses that great blocking technique. On this one, Cindy let her title block and journal block extend beyond the boundaries. Very nice way to spice up her page.  In Cindy's 3rd page, she has some great photos that she set slightly of kilter and then added some varied strips of paper beneath. A neat way to show off that handsome guy!

Oh my goodness!  Dolores brings on the cute charm with this page. What a darling photo of her dog all ready for the holiday!  I love the layout of this page. The vertical design takes your eye right to that awesome photo and then allows it to float down the page taking in all the elements and details.  I like how Dolores stacked circles and stars behind the photo too and then repeated that in a smaller version at the bottom of the page behind the word art.  I wonder how long the dog stayed with the flag in it's mouth? It looks so content, and ready to cheer on a parade!


I hope you've enjoyed these samples of using a classic red, white and blue color scheme.  

WELCOME our Newest Contributors!!

As you know I put out a call for a few new contributors and I was blown away by the talent I got in my inbox. I seriously was nervous b/c I could only add three people and there were so many great scrapbook artists and ideas! Let me say that I honestly wanted to add everyone.. but that is just not possible. Thanks for all those who sent me emails, you guys are amazing. I went over and over the applicants and chose three scrapbookers whose ideas fit what the blog needs. So, it's time to announce the new faces of the blog.

Anupama Choudary is our first newest artist. Her neat style and attention to detail really caught my eye. I know you will love her ideas coming soon! Here is her bio and two layouts she created. Also please visitg Anupama's blog here: http://www.scrapbooksfromindia.blogspot.com/

Hi, my name is Anupama Choudary and I live in India. I am married to an actor and we have two children - a girl aged 6 and a boy aged 4. I am a trained Interior Designer and did my Masters Program in Business Administration. However, I am an artist at heart and found my true calling when I accidentally discovered scrapbooking while net-surfing in early 2010. Scrapbooking is an art form alien to India and my biggest challenge lies in getting supplies shipped here. I started Once Upon A Time in 2011 to make artist-edition scrapbooks

and frames on order. Participating in online challenges and blogging have opened up my world and I now have beautiful friends from  Puerto Rico to Stockholm to Sydney! 

I started scrapping in the shabby-chic style initially but am finding myself drawn to mixed-media more and more lately. I am thankful to be a part of IFS and hope to inspire & be inspired, in turn, on this creative journey. 

 ____________________________

Gael Spence is our next contributor.  Her beautiful layered style and use of techniques was evident in the work she sent me. Gael has lots of neat ideas to share with blog readers. You can see her work at her gallery here at scrapbook.com. Here is Gael's bio, photo and two pages!

My name is Gaelene (Gael) Spence and I’ve been scrapping for about 8 years and love it. 

I live in Tasmania, an island to the south of mainland Australia. 

I have a wonderfully supportive husband, Ron who has just upgraded my scrap room to include lots of more storage. 

We have 2 adult daughters who are now living in Melbourne, which is an hour flight from us.

Over the last few years Ron & I have been bitten by the travel bug and so a lot of my LO feature photos from our trips. 

My style changes and it really depends on the photos I’m working with at the time.  I love to try different techniques and textures.

I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a contributing artist at IFS.  

  ____________________________

Last but not least is our newest contributing artis, Ina Bela . She creates really gorgeous cards and altered items that will really inspire you in the coming months! You can see more of her work on her blog here: http://inasplacecardsandcrafts.blogspot.com/
Next, is her bio and examples of her work! Enjoy!

 My name is Ina Bela.From Dominican Republic.
Am an Interior/Graphic Designer.
Am a reliable person.A little shy at first.Peace lover.Honest,trustful and a little bit emotional.Romantic and idealist.
Love cats,Nature,sunsets.
I enjoy the beach,music, dancing and going to the movie.
My hobbies are photography,puzzles,reading,tennis,volleyball and scrapping.
I've been doing crafts since 2010 and I love making cards most of all, things with paper,felt and foam.
Also my favs things are fashion design,jewelry design,history,architecture and anything related to design.Am a creative person.

 
Again congrats to all of our newest contributors!!