Flourish in your Photography

April 3, 2015

Everyone is at a different skill level when it comes to taking photos, but no matter how many skills we posses, we always strive for more. More knowledge, more inspiration, more mojo to try something new. Here’s that little push you didn’t even know you were waiting for. It’s time do some spring cleaning…of the mind. Get out of the darkness of winter and into the spring light. Grab your camera and try something new. Try that technique or skill you’ve been meaning to try for months now, or look up something new. Either way, it’s springtime and that means a fresh look at things. It’s time to really flourish in your photography.

I’ve been meaning to try to make an enchanted book photo, and this is the perfect time to give me a push. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with, not only your photos, but how you scrap them as well.

Having trouble thinking of something? Here are a few ideas to get started, but don’t feel limited to this list- anything goes.

Shoot at a wide aperture
Capture motion
Shoot a macro shot
Try a new editing style
Change your perspective or frame of reference

Now for the rules:

Scrap a page using a photo that you’ve taken with a new-to-you photo skill.
Pages must be created using 100% TDP Products and loaded in the gallery no later than midnight EST on April 30, 2015.
Leave a Comment in this thread with your gallery image/link.
Link your Comment in this thread in your spot in the Monthly Challenge Tracker Thread. You can find it here: April’s Tracking Thread.

About the Author: Farrah Jobling is a member of the Creative Team here at The Digital Press. She lives in Denver with her amazing family, Mike, Nicholas (8), Claire (5) and Hope (7 mo puppy). She works from home as a photographer and enjoys scrapping her personal photos.

Flourish: In Your Art & In Your Life

April 1, 2015

I’m so excited this month to be able to share our new monthly theme with you: Flourish.

As I thought about this word and what it means to me… my designer side thought of all the fun extras: swirls and curls and accents! Even the simplest layout looks better with a few flourishes added to it. On a more personal note, I thought of the past year and how I was able to both take risks and allow myself to take a leap and flourish in my professional life.

While I was browsing Pinterest for inspiration, I found several fantastic quotes that really struck me:

Pinterest (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Here’s what caught my attention: a common theme of having to push through fear and pain to get to a place where we can flourish and grow. This rings true in both art and in life. We hope that as you go through this month with us, you will find yourself inspired by the theme and allow yourself to push through the dirt to get to where you want to be — both in life and creatively.

As you know, each month we do our best to bring you articles and challenges that really stretch your creative mind. We do know, though, that some of you have expressed that you’ve had difficulty keeping on top of our monthly challenge schedule and/or knowing what to expect. To help you keep track, we have created this handy graphic with dates! It details exactly when you can expect our challenges, along with the theme for each. For more information about our challenge system please read this post in our forums.

This gorgeous challenge schedule was created by creative team member Alina, using the brand new store collab Gingham Style that you can purchase for only $4 for the first 4 days of the month! We look forward to seeing you in the forums and here on the blog! Happy April!

Leah/Mommyish

About the Author: Leah is the designer behind Mommyish and owner of The Digital Press. She lives in the beautiful lower Hudson Valley of NY with her husband, two girls, and in-laws! She has a love for all things geeky and quirky. In addition to being a graphic designer, she is an avid pianist.

Listen to Your Inner Thoughts

March 30, 2015

For this challenge I want you to step outside of your comfort zone. I certainly did and I definitely feel like I’m waving a neon sign which is definitely not something I would ever do. I am asking you to pick a day where you know you will have more time to hear your inner thoughts. A day where you can hear these random, mundane, quirky, sad, honest and true thoughts. A day where you are inside your head more. For me this was Saturday. One of my toughest days because both kiddos are with me. My son is gifted and having an attitude right now plus my toddler is well a toddler. So the days are long and the thoughts in my head go round and round. Perfect day to listen to these thoughts and write them down. I am laying myself bare and I am hoping you will as well. I know for some of you the thoughts might not be something you want to share; but the point of the exercise is to embrace these thoughts and celebrate them. And for us scrapbookers the best way is to make a layout.

Listen to the inner thoughts. Listen and spend some time inside your head. Jot down all those thoughts from the day or if you can’t do a day do half a day, at least. And make a pretty layout about it. Listening to all those thoughts makes you see the good, the sad and can be a reflection of you. This may also give you the push to make change. With me, I already know and am working on being not so hard on myself. I hope you have fun listening to your inner thoughts and enjoy being inside your head some more.

Here is my layout. And don’t forget to snap a photo of yourself to include in the layout! I didn’t my hair fancy or made sure the background was fancy or got myself in some nice clothes; I just snapped a few photos and hoped for the best.

I can’t wait to see what’s inside your head!

About the Author: Sabrina is a wife and mom to two kiddos- Captain and Sunshine- living in sunny California. When she has free time she loves to do some type of project whether it is scrapbooking, a string art board, a washi tape project or other DIY project that is usually inspired by Pinterest. Her favorites are creating colorful layouts or pocket pages. Another lofty goal she has for the year is reading 100 books.

Pocket Minibook

March 28, 2015

Creating pocket pages with 3×4 cards is definitly not the only way those cute cards can be used. Today I want to show you how I created a minibook using different cards and a few of my favourite photos. One of them is actually the very first picture that was taken of us, so it is very special to me. It’s the top right one. The others are selfies we took during our citytrips in the netherlands and belgium.

So let’s get started! First of all I created two rows with five journaling cards each in photoshop. I have a A3 printer, so I was able to print everything at once, but it is totally fine to create it with a A4 / lettersize paper aswell, you will have more rows then with three cards each.

Next step is to print the cards, without the photos and frames, cut the rows and fold them after each card. You can glue them back to back together, but leave the first and second card like they are for now. Your book should now look like the right picture below.

Now you get some ribbon, I like to use snug hug seam binding ribbon for minibooks, and cut it to one long and one shorter piece. The long one should go 2-3 times around the minibook. Glue both of them between the first and the second card, as you can see in the left picture below. The picture on the right shows you what the finish book will look like. When the ribbon is in place and looks like you want it, glue card one and two together and you are done with the base for your minibook!

I printed the frames on the same paper as the cards and used my selphy for printing the photos, so they are printed on photopaper. I also added some wood veneer to my finished book. The next pictures show you what my finish book looks like in detail. I really love how it turned out!

Thanks for reading and see you next time!

About the Author: Anika is part of the hybrid team here at thedigitalpress.com. She loves to travel and use the photos her boyfriend takes (thanks for that!) to scrapbook. Digital, paper and hybrid. When she is not scrapping, she is most likely playing a computer game or in a city searching for a geocache.

Stretch You Stash: Altering Templates

March 27, 2015

Do you remember that little voice inside your head when you first started digital scrapbooking? If you were a paper scrapper first, you probably said to yourself, “Oh, this is amazing! I can use these products over and over and only have to buy them once!” Well, I’m here to tell you to listen to that voice! Today I want to show you how you can get the most bang for your buck by altering and reusing templates.

For my examples today, I am going to use All Laid Out 13 by Dawn by Design.

First up, I have a gorgeous layout by Stacia from the TDP Creative Team. She stayed pretty true to the template and created a wonderful layout.

I decided that I wanted to use this template again, but this time, I wanted to work two photos into the layout. First, I rotated the entire template to accommodate the landscape oriented photos. Next, I substituted the stitched hearts for the distinctive semi-circles paper to change things up a bit, duplicated the main photo block and resized it, and made a few other tweaks. Then, I selected all the layers except for the background paper and reduced the size to give me a little more white space. Now it looks like a whole new layout with very little work!

Stretch You Stash: Altering Templates

Finally, I decided to create another layout with three photos. I duplicated the main photo block twice, rotated one of the boxes, and resized them, dragging them into the positions where I wanted them. I also deleted the cloud like paper layer and substituted the chevron paper on the bottom half of the layout. Then, I just moved the journaling around a bit and added a few embellishments and I was done. Another unique looking layout with the same template.
Stretch You Stash: Altering Templates

As you can see, it is simple to stretch your template stash! Don’t let yourself be limited by the number of photo spots on those templates. Listen to that voice telling you to reuse them! I’m hosting a challenge over on the Challenge Forum at The Digital Press where you can alter one of your templates to make a fresh layout. I hope you will come join in the fun!

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 the never ending pile of laundry, she enjoys photography, cooking, going to Disney World with her family, and, of course, digital scrapbooking.

Listen with Your Eyes

March 24, 2015

When I take my camera out and about, I always start out with the best intentions. I always plan to take my time and focus, pay attention to lighting or the rule of thirds or whatever, trying to get the best picture possible. But I have a weird confession to make. For some reason, I am totally self-conscious when I’m out in public taking photos. Even starting with the best intentions, I find myself rushing as fast as I can and taking quick pictures without spending time on getting the shot I really want. Sometimes I barely even take time to focus the camera. Isn’t that crazy? I know. It totally doesn’t make any sense at all. But unfortunately that is how I roll. Hahaha. Please tell me I am not the only one who feels like this? Actually I hope I am. I really hope that no one else has this quirk in their photographer persona.

I am always impressed by photos that make you feel like you are part of the scene. Photos so rich with story that you can imagine the smells, the sounds, the energy in the air surrounding them. I really believe that to capture shots like those, you have to know what you are looking for. You have to listen with your eyes. You have to take your time and find the moment. The moment that captures the feeling.

In this photo, the focus is on the sparkler and hands in the foreground. The woman is out-of-focus, but definitely still important… right down to the comfortable baggy sweater. But your eyes tell you to focus on the magic the sparks of light offered as well as the cupping of her hands around the base. You can almost hear the little pops and hisses as it burns.

Listen with Your Eyes — by Morgan Sessions

In this photo, the moment is captured as the wave slams into the rock, splashing into the air. You can definitely hear this with your eyes. You can also see the wetness of the rock and it is almost tangible to know how it feels to be standing there, taking the picture.

Here is a photo that also provides a very auditory experience through the visual. You can hear squawking of the gulls, the flapping of wings, and even the gentle lapping of the water onto the shore. You might even imagine a foghorn or a ship’s motor in the distance. There is a lot going on here.

And finally, this photo gives us a glimpse into another sort of story all together. Looking at the picture, you might be able to hear the clatter of silverware against plates, hushed conversations, a waitress taking an order, or the sounds of the cash register totaling someone’s bill. There is a lot of story here, from the worn wood of the table, the metal mugs, the toothpick holder and all of the other soft details. What do you hear?

Pictures like these make me want to overcome my inhibitions so I can step out and find some confidence behind my camera. I want to seize upon the small, visceral details that help to tell a story. I want to capture rich specifics in a scene. I want to take pictures that cause people to lean in and listen with their eyes.

Now I want you to head on over to the Challenge Forum and discover your mission.

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 is currently working toward a M.Ed. in Instructional Design.