A Scrap of SteamPunk

There is nothing so rewarding than to see your own designs being used to create such beautiful art.  Here is some inspiration using A Scrap of Steampunk.

By Beth, I love the way she used the mesh, and the colors on this are simply amazing!

And this amazing page by Gina, I love how this looks like you can see all the gears moving in his mind, so creative!

And speaking of creative, this page by Judy is simply awesome!  She added Steampunk elements to  an image of Street Art. Love how she used the keys and glasses on the face, the grunge for the wall. Just amazing in her creativity!

Talk about using your imagination, here is one by Betty Jo that made me smile! Playful and animated, this page reminds me of those old cards we used to collect, love it!

Ona created this wonderfully masculine page, grungy and in your face!  It makes me feel alive just looking at it.  

Beth created a great page of Clara Bow, I really love how she made such a soft page with hard elements, this is so lovely!

Beth had a blast with this kit, and her creative design seemed to never waiver! One of my all time favorites, this was such a great page honoring her father.

Is this beautiful or what?  Again, a soft and elegant page created from a steampunk kit? Amazing!

And not all pages are 12x12, this one by  Rosek uses the letter size 8.5x11 inch pages in my kits.

And of course the inspiration behind this kit, my grandsons!

Sunday Morning

I am ramping up my new shop at Oscraps, revising some of my old kits to freshen them up.  Here are some sample layouts of Sunday Morning, on sale for a few more days! My thanks to Ona, Ren, Judy, Beth, Gina, rosemarythyme, and Vicky

 

I love to combine my love of photography with my joy of design. I rarely have time to sit and play with my own creations, so when I get a chance, I go whole hog!  I have done scrapping, mainly my grandsons and my heritage albums, but I craved to do more.  But what?  I tried my hat at journaling, and got frustrated, I am not good at expressing myself in words (maybe that is why I focus on visual aids like photography and graphic designs to say what I feel)...I digress.  So I decided to follow my mentor's advice (Cilenia Curtis) and try journaling my thoughts, using any words or phrases that I am comfortable with, and then plastering that page with my art.  She explained it a little more eloquently than that, but I got the drift.  It began a new hobby of mine, compositing.  I started out with just using my photos to composite (samples below).  Then I realized I can combine simple elements and papers from my kits.  And finally, I started creating my own scenes or images by using both my photography and my digital art...and I have been having a blast with that!  Here is what I did:

This image shows how I used a photo of a gorilla from a local zoo, and combined him with an umbrella from my A Scrap of Vintage kit, and an egg from an old retired kit called Food for Thought. I extracted the gorilla, and then placed him over the egg, masking out the lower part of the ape to make him look like he was in the egg. I added the umbrella, and just deleted parts of the handle around his hand. Viola!  Fun to combine digital elements with photography!

I combined just photos to create this montage.  As I was touring the old part of a city, I came upon this used bookshop.  I love bookshops, so took a picture of these books stacked up ready to be sorted. I shot the image through the glass and when I got home to look at it, an idea occurred to me to put my grandsons (who love to read) into the store, scurrying all over the books as I imagine they would do!  I found images of the kids climbing and sitting, and extracted them, sized them down to the size of the books (like they were little mice in the night) and placed them to look as realistic as I could.  I added shadows, and a text to show I was peeking through the front glass of a USED BOOK STORE.

I used  two photos with this collage. One is a heritage photo of my son-in-law's family homestead. The other of a woman sitting pondering the past. Or so I wanted it to appear. She actually was sitting on the beach looking out over the ocean (and she is an element in my LifeLine Grief Bundle).  But, in creating our own scenes, we can make it look like anything we want.  I added a texture to create an old world look.  I could have added a scene of kids frolicking in the waves, or any other visual story I wanted to create an entirely different feel. 

So grab some photos, sift through some of your digital stash, and see if you can come up with something creative and fun!  Start small and simple, and keep playing!  I'll show you some more of my imaginary world later!! 

Perspective in Photography and Digital Design

In photography as well as digital design and layouts, it is all about perspective.  Sometimes you want the big picture. In photography, that would entail capturing the entire scene, like this old school house (in Trinidad, CA). It encompasses the sky, the hills behind it, the entire building and a little foreground. It tells a story about the location as well as the schoolhouse itself.

But sometimes you want to get a little more intimate with the subject. So you focus in on a specific detail, like the stairs, with the overgrown grass, and the sign leaning against the porch.  

The subject is the same, the emotion of the image is different.  It is simply about your perspective. 

It is the same with digital designs.  Take the following examples.  In the first one, using my A Scrap of Vintage Bundle. Mystampin created a heritage page giving us a lot of details, creating the "entire scene", while wombat created a page that was more intimate, one that draws you into a specific subject. Both using the same kit, each emitting a different emotion when viewing it. I love both of these, and both styles are very useful in creating your own story and emotion.

My life has always been hectic, and still is today. So once in a while I like to design something peaceful and simple.  Simple elegance.  My products tend to lean toward finding peace in life and nature, and not letting the outside influences control how we choose to live; but finding inner peace and living by the standards we feel are important.  To that, I created A Scrap of Simplicity, coming soon.  Most of the elements could go into any page, but I am partial using them with the Pastel Bird Papers so I added those into the Bundle.  Here are some pages designed by our lovely and talented Creative Team:  Starting with the 12x12 papers, Mystampin used the Patel Bird Papers and added A Scrap of Simplicity elements and WordArt to create this fabulous page about her cat.  I love how he is looking up at the birds!

 

Judyinsd utilized the same Pastel Bird page, but recolored it to go with her image.  Simple, beautiful, and serene, it shows perfectly how adaptable this kit is!

 

I love how Gina blended her photo into the Pastel Bird Paper and added elements from A Scrap of Simplicity, making this page all about the shoreline.  I need to scrap lift this myself! 

Jana designed this page around her very lovely daughter, and I love how she used the clipping mask to show her coming out of the frame, and the splat in the elements to use as water at her feet!  Creative and colorful, it shows yet another artistic way to use this kit.

OK, this image by judyinsd needed the entire page to show off!  What a perfect way of using the elements and papers to show the simple elegance of these Egrets in this amazing photo!

Wow, I have several images of birds in my backyard, and flohboch just showed me how I can scrap them. This is stunning! I love the balance of this page, and the colors just make that photo pop!

I think you should all know how fun it is for me to work with such artistic ladies!  The pages they come up with, like this one by mystampin, are simply awe inspiring.   I hope they are for you as well!

Bunnyfreak designed this fabulous page called Iamnotspoiled.... not for one minute do I believe that!  But who wouldn't spoil this little darling?  I know I would!

And using the Letter Papers (8.5x11 inch), lawyerlyn created this wonderful collection of family images arranged and stacked beautifully!  Love the quote added to this page!

And I took this photo of the crane while in Africa, and thought it would be cute to add it to the page!  So here is my use of the Pastel Bird Papers!

There is one fantastic thing about getting older...you start to lose those little insecurities about what other people think of you.  At least I did.  There is a realization that no one else REALLY cares whether you wear pink or white, have your hair long or short, read the same books, or if you gained or lost weight. It gives you a lot of leeway in life, something you don't have when you are young.  I think as we age, we develop grace.  It is not such a bad place to be if you relax and enjoy it.  In fact, the following link is to a video of an 80 year old woman who applied to Britain's Got Talent...after watching that, tell me we can't dance through old age!!

Subject: What an 80 year old woman can do...

http://www.sunnyskyz.com/happy-videos/365/The-Judges-Gave-Them-No-Chance-Because-Of-Who-She-Was-And-Then-OMG

The girls did some wonderful things with this kit,  some very sweet, others quite moving.  Here are some of their fabulous pages showing how you can use my latest kit Aging Beautifully. 

A beautiful page by Gina, this gives you a great idea of many elements in the kit, and gives you a sense of time. Her layering is exquisite, and her storytelling marvelous!

This next page moved me. A layout of her father in his youth, Beth created this tribute to him and I think it needs no words, it screams love and pride.

And a tribute to her Mother, now gone, but never forgotten. And missed terribly. Beautifully stated with Kathy Murphy's When the Music Stops.  Take a moment to read it if you never have before.

I love the simple truth of this next page, thimbleberrie created a layout that is up to interpretation. I find it quite moving, and due to my own experiences, feel that is is about what many of us have had to deal with in aging parents or grandparents, or even ourselves.  It is thought provoking.

I love the artistry and the emotion this next page evokes as well.  Judyinsd created this lovely page,  demonstrating that women of all ages can be beautiful!  

Jacqueline   designed this fun page, with colorful layering and a great message!

What a delightful page by lawyerlyn, showing beauty can show on the outside as well as within!  Talk about growing gracefully, she is gorgeous!

We need to take the time to be in the moment, because that moment will pass, and you can never get it back!

Sometimes a simple, elegant paper is all you need.  My latest mini kit is called  Watercolor Sketches, and is a set of four watercolor textured papers in 8.5x11 and 12x12 inch.  Great for layouts or journaling, color them or leave them neutral, they can make an impressive page as you can see below (pages by judyinsd, mystampin, and myself!)