Renew an Old Passion

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The start of a new year is traditionally a time to reflect back on the old year and make plans for the year to come. I have to confess, I have never been good at keeping New Year’s Resolutions.  Oh, I am good at making them, but then life happens and it all goes out the window.

As I grow older I have found that making time in my life for things that I am passionate about – whether a hobby I had to set down when the kids came or a relationship that has been on the back burner – really brings new meaning and color to my life.

For example:

I LOVE running.  I have been a runner since I was a child.  I love the exercise, but more than that I enjoy the release from stress, the exertion, the time to get out and be away, the way my brain (which always goes 90 to nothing) can settle down into the steady rhythm of running and not think about anything else.

When my number 3 was born I had some serious health problems and the doctors told me I should never run again – apparently it was destroying my spine.  I was devastated, but I listened and gave up my favorite form of exercise.

That was three years ago.

Three weeks ago, after what has been a very hard year, I went out for a run for the first time.  And I LOVED it.  My entire week was so much better, my spirit was happier and my body felt better and less stiff than I have felt in years.

I know what my doctor said back in the United States, and I understand the risks, but I also know that I am such a better mother, wife and all around person when I have this hobby to release the stress in my life. (And for those who might be concerned – I talked with a doctor here in Thailand who is willing to monitor my spine and provide health care so that I can continue my preferred form of exercise.)

When I thought about our word for the month – RENEW – I immediately thought of this resurgence of running in my life.  The past 5 years have seen me slowly renewing the various passions I have set aside for whatever reason and as I pick them up I feel that I am becoming more truly the person I was meant to be.  The return to running has made such a profound difference in my life this past month that I wanted to scrap this renewal so that I could remember it.



(credits: Scissor Cut Vol 1 Template by Laura Passage, A New Me by River-Rose, The Original Torn Bits No. 6 by creashens)

So for those of you who are not so good with making New Year’s Resolutions, perhaps instead you could look into renewing an old passion that you set aside – or maybe just never pursued.  Passions are much easier to maintain because we have such strong emotional connections and even needs for them, and often our passions lead us to be healthier overall because we are enjoying our life more. Plus, in most cases we are much more motivated to continue our passions than we are to follow through on a resolution.  Just think about it for a wee bit.

If you are feeling the desire to pursue a passion, head on over to Challenge Forums now and check out the challenge I have for you this month that goes along with this post.

And Happy New Year!

Erin 1About the Author: Erin is a work from home mom of three living in Thailand. She loves playing with her kids and anything artsy. She can often be found knee deep in toys with paint on her face. She is slowly learning the meaning of living an authentic life, and enjoying every minute of the adventure.

Tutorial Tuesday | Splitting a Photo into Multiple Pockets

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Hey there, scrappers!

Today, I want to share a little tip with you related to pocket scrapbooking (which can actually be used on non-pocket layouts, as well!). A lot of times when I am working with a pocket scrapbooking-style template, I end up with a photo that just doesn’t fit into one pocket. So, why not get creative and split the photo into two or more pockets, right? It might seem challenging, but it really is quite easy once you learn this trick.

      1. Decide which pockets you would like to use for your photo. I am going to use two 3×4 journal card-sized pockets for one landscape-oriented photo. For this example, I’m going to put my photo into the two pockets at the top right…
      2. Select both of the pockets by clicking on the first one and then holding down the COMMAND key to select the other pocket or pockets. (CONTROL on a PC; and *note* that in PSE it might require holding down the SHIFT key, instead, to multi-click and select)
      3. Merge the selected layers into one layer by hitting COMMAND+E. (CONTROL+E on a PC)
      4. Drag your photo onto the layer directly above the merged layer you just created.

      5. With the photo layer selected in the layers palette, choose “Create Clipping Mask” with COMMAND+OPTION+G.(CONTROL+ALT+G on a PC) Then, just resize your photo so that it fits properly “into” your pockets.

I hope you will find this quick tip helpful when you are trying to arrange your photos on your pocket scrapbooking layouts!

Another note — if you are looking for some awesome pocket-style templates like the one I used for this tutorial, check out Laura Passage’s Project Twenty Fifteen Templates!

Katie

About the Author  Katie is a member of the creative team here at The Digital Press. She lives in central Florida with her husband and their four sweet-but-crazy boys. When she’s not dodging Nerf bullets or trying to dig out from under a never-ending pile of laundry, she enjoys photography, cooking, going to Disney World with her family… and, of course, digital scrapbooking.

 

 

Create A Vision Board

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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!

 

AlinaAbout 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.

 

 

Renew Your Resolutions For 2016

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RenewYourResolutionsIn2016

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!

Miranda

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.

 

 

 

 

Renew Your Life

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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.

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

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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!

Chloé

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.