Author: The Digital Press

January 2, 2016

Create A Vision Board

Have you set any intentions or resolutions for 2016? I have been a big goal setter in the past years and close to never pulled through the first month of the year. Last year was different. I achieved most of what I envisioned at the beginning of 2015. What did I do differently? I did not only jot down my goals, I also made scrap pages about them and made my goals visible.

This year I want to achieve even more and decided I would make my vision boards hybrid and hang them in our gallery.

A vision board is tool used to help make your goals more clear and visible, to be able to focus on them on a daily basis. It’s a canvas for your desired future life with images that represent what you want to see, feel, do and be in your life.

Sounds intriguing? Good! I will show you what I made, hybrid and mixed media style.

I got out my “real” canvas and planned out on what I wanted to do on which goal. For this one I decided on the “A New Me” kit by River Rose. I printed three paper pieces, tore the edges and glued them to the canvas with my structure paste. After it dried, I painted some gold paste on. I got my cameo a workout with printing and cutting elements and an older photo, that shows me when I was at my current (hopefully to soon be) goal weight. I arranged all the pieces before I glued them to the canvas and added some washi tape.

It was the first time I did hybrid on a canvas and I love how it turned out.

Here’s a pictured outline of the process with my second canvas. I used “Fresh Start” by Mari Koegelenberg for this one. I was printing and ripping the paper, getting structure and color paste on it and added the print and cut embellishments.

And here’s the full layout.

I did several canvases for my goals. I also made one with my one little word for 2016. I used “Midnight” by Sahin Designs.

I enjoyed the process of doing something mixed media style. I also found, that it’s not as time consuming as I thought. It takes more off time when waiting for paste and color to dry, but it’s sweet to come back to a layout from time to time to add something new.

Now it’s your turn! Visit us in the challenge forums and show us your own vision board creations!

Alina About the Author: Alina enjoys sitting in front of her large computer screens too much. Apart from that she loves walking her dog and watching sunsets while being amazed of life in general. She is married to her best friend. Tries to manage the needs of her two cats and her dog and badly fails when they all want their cuddle time at once. Everything else is scrapping, taking photos and currently crafting. Having said that, she needs a bigger craft room.

January 1, 2016

Renew Your Resolutions For 2016

I am so happy to be joining you here on the blog this January 1st, 2016 — and to be able to wish you a very Happy New Year! And wow… I wonder what this new year will bring to all of us? 🙂

I am busy renewing my resolutions for this year… both in my private life and in my “scrap life.” Sometimes you have to look back and see the points at which things went wrong or could have been better, in order to plan for the future. So now that it’s January 1st, here I am to reflect on this past year and set goals for 2016!

Here’s how I have decided to document my goals for 2016…

Putting goals down on paper is a great way to document them so that they can’t be forgotten or dismissed. But for those of us who love to scrapbook in order to document our memories and lives… what better way to document (and hold ourselves accountable to) our goals than to put them onto a scrapbook page?

Regarding my scrap-addiction, my intentions for the coming year are as follows:

Look through all the old scrap-goodies on my hard drive and see what can be deleted, as my style has changed over the years.
Look for kits that I can re-use; I love to use older kits or parts of older kits.
Again, I will try to do one page a week for the 365-project; I have not been able to complete this any year since 2008, but I want to try again!
Spread more love in the galleries… knowing that if we all left 10 comments daily, the gallery would receive sooo much love.
I really want to do some hybrid pages… I sometimes see hybrid projects that I really love, and I want to give it a try!

Further, I really intend to have some scrap time for myself. Over the years, whenever things were extra busy, I did not find the time the scrap. Whatever happens this coming year, however, I intend to stop doing other things (housekeeping?) but I will not stop scrapping! I love it, as it helps me to relax… and I want to keep it that way. In order to simplify, I have already given up my little bakery/cake decorating… and now, as for me, scrapping is very important!

So… what are your intentions/resolutions for 2016?

As you think about your own goals and resolutions in the coming year… please join us in the TDP forum for a fun resolution/goal-related challenge!

About the Author Miranda is a mom of two teenage boys, aged 13 and 15 years old, and is also a fur-mummy for her 2 Bernese Mountain Dogs. She lives in the South of the Netherlands, close to the beach where she loves to walk with her dogs. In real life, she is HSE-responsible for few companies in the construction industry. She loves to bake and decorate birthday cakes and wedding cakes… loves to read Danielle Steel novels… and has been digiscrap-addicted since 2007.

January 1, 2016

Renew Your Life

Happy New Year! Here at The Digital Press, we can hardly believe it’s 2016. Seriously, 2015 flew by for me — was it that way for you, as well?

Now that it is January, most people look into setting resolutions or goals for themselves, for their families, and maybe for their jobs or hobbies. For me, January is a month of renewal. Taking down the Holiday decorations starts it all off, as I look around and assess what I can remove (in the way of home decor) to create a neater & more streamlined space. Then I also look at other areas of my life to see what I can do a bit differently to change things up and keep them fresh.

Therefore, in January 2016 our word of the month here at TDP is going to be RENEW. This word can mean a myriad of things: maybe you are renewing an old passion, or maybe you are renewing your life through resolutions, or maybe you are renewing your scrap stash… there are many ways you can view the word RENEW.

Browsing around the web, I found some fun inspiration images to kick-start your thoughts on renewal…

[ sources 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ]

Each month, we like to encourage you to step out of the box with regard to our challenges. Below, you will find the list of upcoming challenges for the month of January — each of which focus on our theme of RENEWAL. For more information about our challenge system, please read this information post in the TDP forum.

The handy image you see above can be saved to your computer for reference throughout the month, as it features our schedule for January. 🙂 It was made by the ever-talented Alina from TDP’s creative team, using the brand new store collab, Resolved, which was released today and can be purchased for just $4.00 for the first 4 days of the month!

We cannot wait to see how you implement our Word of the Month into your daily lives and memory-keeping!

About the Author Rachel Alles is on the creative team here at The Digital Press. She is fortunate to share her life with her loving husband, Doug, and her two blessings: Madeline and Maxwell. The three of them are her main source of inspiration for her pocket and traditional style pages. When she’s not scrapping, she enjoys anything Disney-related, learning more about photography (and attempting to turn the dial off “Auto”), and dabbling in home decor projects.

December 29, 2015

Tutorial Tuesday | Simple way to add video to your memory keeping

I love photography as much as the next person (or even more, as much as the next scrapbooker! LOL) but even I have to admit that sometimes, still pictures don’t do life justice. Life is in constant motion (and sound) and there are situations where a video is the best way to record those memories.

And here comes the scrapper’s nightmare: how to use those videos in our memory keeping? Even as digital scrappers, videos can’t (yet) be integrated into scrapbook pages.

Well, QR codes to the rescue! You’ve most definitely seen those graphics around. QR codes work like barcodes and you can create your own to link to any internet page that you want… a video for example. Tadaaaaa, problem solved! To use a QR code you have to scan it with your smartphone and there are tons of free apps to do so.

Now what video to add? I’ve been using an app called “1 second everyday” along with my photographic P365(-ish). This app, which is free and exists for various platforms, helps you record (as its name implies) 1 second of video every day. Sometimes it’s a bit too short so you can extend it to 1.5 seconds, but usually it’s enough to capture the essence of a moment. Then the app mashes all those seconds either by year or month. You can also choose a custom timeframe and create your own mini-movie (of 30 seconds max for the free version).

I create my movies to match my PL/P365 pages, which are two-pages spreads for 2 weeks, and I use QR codes to link to my videos. I’ve uploaded those on youtube (through the 1SE app) and set the viewing rights to private, so only me or someone logged in my youtube account can see them. Since I really really like you, though, this time I’ve left it public so that you can scan the QR code and see the video. 😉

Here’s my most recent page, covering the first half of December, using the fabulous collab Dear Santa by Anita Designs and Sahin Designs:

And here are the two pages separately:

You’ve probably noticed my very own QR code on my left page and here it is again (in bigger size) so that you can scan it and see my 1SE video for December 1st to 15th:

How to create a QR code? Well, that’s pretty easy. There are lots of sites that do that, just look for “QR code generator”. I personally use unitag.io which allows me to personalize the colors (background and code itself), but there are tons of other options. Just make sure you can download the QR code once it’s created, and that it’s a high enough quality/resolution if you intend to print your LOs.

Finally, even if 1SE is a fun app to record everyday moments in video, you can use QR codes in many other ways. Here are a few ideas of links to add to your LOs:

the video of a moment or event, for example the birthday kid blowing his/her candles or the midnight kissing during your NYE party. Just edit in your program of choice (or in Youtube) and upload it to your favorite platform.
the trailer of the movie or TV show you talk about in your LO
the video of your favorite Christmas song or the latest track of this artist you love
the playlist that you keep listening to over and over again (for a “currently” LO, for example), etc.

I hope those tips will help you add video to your memory keeping. Don’t hesitate to comment or post in the forum if you have any question and feel free to add your ideas if you think of other ways to use QR codes!

About the author: Chloé is in charge of PR and communication for her small town by day, “by night” is a digiscrapper and a photographer whenever the light is beautiful. She lives with her man and fur-babies in a small town of Alsace (in the northeast of France), where she loves to read, watch good TV shows (TWD being her absolute favorite), and just hang out with her friends — no matter if they are close by, online, or away in her Swiss hometown.

December 25, 2015

Simplify Your Scrapping Goals for 2016

Simplify Your Scrapping Goals

I don’t know about you, but for me it seems that with every year, things are picking up speed and happening so fast, time is just zooming by. 2016 is just around the corner. Seriously! Like in just over a week this year will be over and we’ll be figuring out how January has arrived already. I still cannot believe it. With the end of one year and the beginning of another, it is the perfect time to set aside a few minutes to think about our delightful hobby and what place it will take in our lives in the months/year ahead. And although I’m a horrible one for making/keeping goals, I think it is important to at least think about them.

What goals do you have as far as scrapping in 2016? Will you document weekly/monthly (like Project Life)? Create mini albums by theme? Scrapping for a main album? Just flying by the seat of your pants? No matter what your project, I’m going to share a few tips on simplifying your scrapping goals. Hopefully you’ll find one useful.

Be sure to upload and back up your photos. If you set aside a specific day (eg. the last day of the month), you can be sure you aren’t going to miss your photos and/or scrap opportunities.
Keep a to-scrap list. Whether you use a good ol’ fashion notebook, a planner page, or an excel spreadsheet, make a list of things you really want to focus on and/or scrap this year. Take a few minutes to scroll back through all of your photos and stories that need to be told. Jot down a few key details (which photo/story, ideas for a title, a kit you might have in mind, etc.). Sometimes I buy a kit because it is adorable, but that means that I’ll push another project aside because it doesn’t match the newest acquisition. With a to-scrap list, at least I will keep everything on ‘paper’ if not in mind. The to-scrap list is also a wonderful thing if you are on a creative team (or two, or five… lol)

If you are on a creative team, whip yourself up a quick sheet to track what you are working on, what needs to be done, where you need to post, and what social media you’ll be using. It really helps to keep things straight and to ensure you are doing the best for your designer/store.
Speaking of stores, look at challenges as a great way to get your scrapping done. Fit the challenges to pages you want to create, even if you have to think about the challenge in a creative way. Most challenges have a degree of flexibility built in to them. And challenges come with benefits like store discounts, so if you scrap a page you have on your to-be-scrapped list and you finish a challenge, it is a win-win.
If you do a bigger project (a themed album, Project Life, etc.), choose a main font (or two), stick with one format, a particular title card, or pick a color scheme to keep consistency in your project and save you time/energy while you are at it. Keep it simple.
Templates, templates, templates. Some people don’t like the idea of using templates because they feel that somehow it is cheating or that their creativity doesn’t show through. I totally disagree. You can tweak a template all you want, but it gives you a quick base to start with and when you want to get pages done and finish some of your scrap goals, a template can be a good friend. And if you are working on a bigger project and use a set of templates from one designer, you can flip, rotate, mirror or whatever, but it allows you to add to the consistency of the finished project while simplifying.

I hope that you found something useful here, and that you are excited for the year ahead and all of the fun scrapping that is coming up.

Come on over to the forum and check out the challenge associated with this blog post.

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!!

About the Author: Kimberlee is a lover not a fighter; a stay-at-home gran, a poet, and a lifelong learner. She grooves on saturated colors, Tuesday dance parties, optimism, glitter and sunshine. She colors outside the lines. She is a dreamer. She is a collector of moments. She is all about the story. Kimberlee completed her MFA in Creative Writing and recently finished her M.Ed. in Instructional Design.

December 22, 2015

Tutorial Tuesday | Five Inexpensive Hybrid Gifts

It never fails — someone unexpectedly gives you a gift. You heart rate jumps, and your mind races, and you think, “oh no, I need to reciprocate — and FAST!”

Well, today’s Tutorial Tuesday post will show you some really great, fast, and inexpensive gifts that you can make using items you might already have on hand. Albums, notebooks, frames, and jars are all the perfect mediums for hybrid crafting! Today, I will show you how I transformed these items into terrific customized gifts… and quickly, to help you deal with surprise gifting emergencies!

The first item you can use — JARS! Jars are so easy and fun, you can fill them with anything… candy (my favorite), sewing kits, a candle… you name it, and it will probably fit in a jar! The only thing you have to worry about is a nice little band to go around it, and a focal point. For the example shown below, I used Dunia Design’s 25 Days Kit to create this adorable little candy jar. I made a 2″ band in Photoshop using 2 complementary papers, and printed the band… along with that cute snowman and a sentiment. The top of the jar is covered in a cupcake liner, but could have easily been another paper from the kit. All I had to do at the end was add a button and twine, and that was it! Easy-peasy!

The second item we’ll use today — FRAMES! Craft stores have all kinds of DIY frames, and the one I used (shown below) cost me just one dollar. I loved the elements in Mari Koegelenberg’s 12 Days | Full Kit, as well as the bright colors. Using white acrylic paint, I whitewashed the frame, and then let it dry. While it was drying, I measured my frame, and set it up in Photoshop exactly how I wanted it to look (what can be easier than that?! …and the benefit is, you can save your project to print & use again & again). After I set it up, I separated all of the elements for printing. Setting it up this way allowed me to print only what was needed, which cuts down on ink! I popped a couple of the trees up with dimensional adhesive, then outlined some of the elements with glitter glue.

Item number three to share with you today — HOME DECOR! This is probably one of my favorite types of projects. For an easy and yet elegant project, search online for quilt patterns! I found this awesome tree and converted it into a template. All the gorgeous papers in Scotty Girl Design’s Season of Joy Collection popped in my mind, and I knew it would be the perfect digital collection for this project! Again, I set up my design in Photoshop first, and then I printed, trimmed, & adhered it all to a cardstock base. I also added a few elements from the collection, and adhered them with dimensionals. Finally, I added a nice frame, and it was all finished!

My fourth project use another great/inexpensive item — NOTEBOOKS! Shown below is a little notebook I snagged in a dollar bin somewhere (and I won’t pretend that I bought just one!). To use it for this hybrid project, I first measured the notebook and then made (in Photoshop) a little panel to adhere to the front, using Project Twenty-Fifteen | December Kit by Laura Passage and a few physical supplies like buttons. If you have a note-taker in your life, this would be a fine gift!

Finally, the last item we’ll look at today — ALBUMS! This cute 4″ x 6″ album was also a dollar store find. I loved all the journal cards in Twenty Five | The Collection by Mari Koegelenberg, so I decided to use them to make this ready-made album. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t love this for Christmas (or any other day of the year!); all they have to do is add their own photos. 😉

Here’s a look at the inside; journal cards and patterned papers combine to make a fun little album. Just set up a Photoshop template for the size of your pages, and mix & match to your heart’s content. If the recipient is a little bit crafty, you could even print out & trim some elements for them to add for themselves!

All in all, these five projects cost me less than a total of $20 (not including the price of the digital products used), and now they are ready and waiting in case I forget to shop for someone and/or get an unexpected gift!

Want to give this a try? We would LOVE to see your hybrid holiday decor – please share it with us over in the hybrid gallery and/or our The TDP Facebook page.

About the author Arielle H Gordon is a wife and mom of two crazy kiddos, ages 5-1/2 & 7. She moved around (a lot!) before returning to settle down in her hometown of Enterprise, Alabama, to marry her sweetheart and start her family. She is an avid crafter — digital, hybrid and otherwise! She LOVES Jesus, family time, camping, gardening, reading cozy mysteries, hot tea, popcorn, and anything on the BBC! This time of year, you’ll find her glued to the Hallmark channel watching every single Christmas movie — even if she’s seen them 5 times each!