Sketch Break! Learn how to become friends with templates and sketches!
PINCH YOUR PENNIES: Photography on a budget Tips and tricks on busting photography myths
March's Inspiration Mischieveous gallery picks to inspire seasonal layouts.
Issue 9: March 2010
OWNERS Traci Murphy Gina Miller EDITORIAL Managing Editors Traci Murphy Gina Miller Editor Joy Kuoha DESIGN Joy Kuoha WRITERS Gina Miller Traci Murphy Joy Kuoha PROOF READERS Erika R. Alvarez ADVERTISING Julie Barrilball
4 INTERVIEW WITH FEATURED dESIGNER Aaron from Sir Scrapalot Designs By Traci Murphy 7 exclusive free download Get your “Lucky” Kit For Flourish Subscribers Only 10 SKETCH BREAK By Gina Miller, Co-owner of MSA Templates to the rescue! 13 PINCH YOUR PENNIES: Photography on a budget By, Emily Powers, Guest writer 15 advertiser index 16 Gallery Picks March’s Inspiration: Mischief!
cover layout:
Spring by zojinka
Credits: -”Spring in the air” by Tiramisu Design
We welcome your feature-worthy layouts and ideas for articles. Please send your submissions and suggestions to: flourish.msa@gmail.com If you would like assistance with your subscription to Flourish, please email to: flourish.msa@gmail.com Advertising Inquiries can be sent: flourish.msa@gmail.com
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What about scrapbooking interests you? We are excited to announce the “Help me Flourish� column: an opportunity for us as a newsletter to hear from all of you. Let us know what you want to read more about by sending us your interests and ideas for future articles and features. Email us at helpmeflourish@gmail.com. Selected interests and ideas will be featured in future issues. We are looking forward to hearing from you all!
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Aaron of Sir Scrapalot Designs Designer at Polkadot Plum By Traci Murphy
Aaron is unique among digital scrapbook designers... he is one of only a handful of men in this niche! Aaron has such a great style and has over 70 products for sale in his shop at Polkadot Plum. Here’s what Aaron had to say.....
Q. If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be? A. A duck...cute to look at, seemingly nice...until you make it angry. Then, it’s all over. Q. What is your favorite color? A. Orange is my favorite color. It’s bright, happy, and sometimes agressive and brash. I like that it can be both things without apology. Q. Why are manhole covers round? A. Because manoles are round. Page 4 My Scrapbook Art
Featured Designer
Find Aaron . . . Store: Polkadot Plum Design blog Newsletter Facebook Twitter
Q. What is your favorite drink? A. I bleed beer and diet pepsi... Q. What is the last book you read? A. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max Q. If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be? A. The way I see it...If I could trade places with ANY Vampire, I’d be all set....Vampires get all the girls these days. Q. What is your favorite movie? A. Elf, all year round.
Featured Designer (continued)
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Q. If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be? A. Stopping time...I could always use a bit more of that. Q. If you were a salad, what kind of dressing would you have? A. Honey Mustard (goes back to that orange thing) Q. What did you want to be when you were little? A. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Q. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself? A. Not particularly, LOL. Q. And the basic, how did you get into digital scrapbooking and designing? A. I started paper scrapping in the summer of 2008, in an effort to find a hobby that would keep me occupied and from surfing the internet mindlessly every night. Within a week’s time, I had discovered digi scrapping, and was hooked. I started designing soon after, at the urging of some of my digi friends. I opened up shop in early December of 2008.
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Featured Designer (continued)
Just for the valued subscribers of
We want to express our appreciation to Aaron of Sir Scrapalot for sharing this beautiful kit, “Lucky”.
Click below to download
“Lucky” Elements Papers
Featured Designer (continued)
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Layouts made with Sir Scrapalot’s “Lucky” kit. Here’s to a fantastic March!!
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Featured Designer (continued)
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Sketch Break by, Gina Miller Did you ever sit to scrap... feel that artistic urge... and... nothing. It can go two ways: 1) you want to create something but you don’t know exactly what that something is or 2) you have a million ideas running through your mind but you don’t know where to even begin. Enter the brilliance of a sketch template. Maybe you’ve used them for ages. Maybe you have never downloaded one because you don’t understand how to use them or worse, you feel they’re taking the easy way out. If that’s your line of thinking, let me give you a gentle little shake and say “No, no, no & no!”
Sketch templates can be a wonderful way to get those creative juices flowing and give your layout a jumpstart. You can use the template as-is but more times than not, I bet you find yourself using them as a solid starting point with lots of little tweaks and personal touches added throughout the creating process. I have lots of favorite template designers. If I’m not creating them myself, I enjoy checking out what my tried & true Gina’s layout
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favorite sketch lines have to offer as well as designer’s lines that may be new to me. One can never have too many great templates to work with (or so I tell myself!) For my very first template column, I am going to be showing you some amazing layouts using a Valorie Wibbens’ Topography template. Template #32 to be exact. In the future, I intend to share a mixture of single-photo templates, perhaps some geared toward a week in Project 365, specialty holiday templates, etc. I picked this template for my first column because I know a multi-photo layout can be challenging to some. I want to show you that it doesn’t have to be. Also, this template has so many little scattered paper bits that if you follow it, you’re going to end up with one very cool layout! Eryn’s layout
Tiki’s layout
Claire’s layout
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I really liked this sketch because it far as photo placement. You could wanted. Same with the journaling. artists put Topography 32 to good their work for a list of credits).
gives you a lot of options are really put them anywhere you Check out how this group of use (and feel free to click on
I hope you have fun using this layout and look forward to seeing what you create! Happy scrappin’! Gina
Jenni’s layout
Leslie’s layout
Katrina’s layout
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Pinch Your Pennies: Photography on a Budget
By, Emily Powers With the economic slump, most of us are tightening our budgetary belts and kicking the disposable income fat to the curb. While we’d all like to have a few more dollars in our pockets, learning to simplify—to reduce, reuse and recycle—is as invigorating as a long, sweaty workout. The process can be a bit painful, but the results are well worth the effort. Don’t let your wallet keep you from taking better photos.
Explore your community with new eyes. See that weathered, abandoned barn? Oh, look at that way the light filters into that tiny alley and hits the ivy covered walls! I wonder if we could take a few pictures inside that adorable boutique bakery; let’s go ask! The way that lonely, two-lane road snakes through the hills is so poetic. Did you know there was a park tucked in behind that neighborhood? Look at those brightly painted murals on the side of that building. That sign is hilarious!
Myth No. 1: I need top-of-the-line, fancy schmancy equipment to be a great photographer.
Not true. I’ve had the same SLR camera (a Canon 20D) for three years. Would I like to upgrade? Sure. I drool over the B&H catalog when it comes in the mail, but my equipment doesn’t define me. Lighting, post-processing, exposure, and creative composition are just as important as my camera body and lenses. Get the most out of what you’ve got by studying your camera manual and foraging online for free tutorials, tips and tricks.
Myth No. 2: In order to snap a jaw dropping, WOW photo, the location has to be perfect.
Photo dates are a free and fun way to grow as a photographer. Your community is an oyster; there are pearls hiding in the most unassuming, ordinary places. Grab your camera, head out solo and capture the world around you. Want to experiment with modern portraiture? Invite a significant other, child or friend to model for you. I like to occasionally schedule a photo date with another camera enthusiast and take turns photographing each other’s families; that way I’m in a picture once in awhile too! Go on a photo date each month and your skills will dramatically improve as you wade outside of your comfort zone and photograph new people, places and things in new ways. Classes, books and workshops are helpful, but they cost money and nothing compares to self-discovery; get out there and engage the craft!
Myth No. 3: I have to print every photo I take! My Scrapbook Art Page 13
equity and a whole lot of curiosity go along way.
Most of us seem to be on one side of the coin or the other. I let photos sit on my hard drive for months, years even, before shipping them off to the printer. More often it seems people head to their local box store’s one-hour-photo and print off a bunch of 4”x6” pictures that eventually end up in a random album or junk drawer.
PINCH YOUR PENNIES TIPS: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Print thoughtfully. On my digital scrapbooking layouts, I try to incorporate more than one photo on a page so my printing pennies stretch further.
5.
If you can’t afford to fork out a bundle for Photoshop, give Gimp a try! Gimp is free photo editing software available at www.gimp.org. Shop for photo date props at secondhand stores, flea markets and garage sales. Download free Photoshop Actions or Lightroom Presets at www.deviantart.com. Instead of purchasing a pricey macro lens, get a less expensive extension tube to add macro capability to your current camera set-up. Check out www. digital-photographyschool.com for free tips on how to get the most out of your digital camera.
Similarly, I often use storyboards as wall art so that I can get more than one photo on a single print.
PINCH YOUR PENNIES ASSIGNMENT:
An economical way to organize and display many photos is to create a stylish, coffee table, photo book.
Pull out your calendar and schedule a photo date! Brainstorm a list of possible locations, models and props. When you get back from your first photo date, create a storyboard to document your adventure. Print your artwork and hang it on the wall or resize the storyboard to fit in an album or photo book.
Many of the online digital photo printing sites offer free prints, discounts and coupons. Sign up for their newsletters or special offer emails so you stay abreast of the latest deals and get the most bang for your buck. Taking better photos is within your reach and your budget. Four years ago, I didn’t know what an aperture was or how to desaturate an image in Photoshop. A little sweat Page 14 My Scrapbook Art
Emily is a freelance photographer, artist and writer. She lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, daughter and three dogs. She loves to read, sip iced tea and wear ponytails and flip-flops. Visit Emily’s blog HERE!
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Inspiration: Click on graphics for credit info. Featured Layouts found in the My Scrapbook Art Gallery.
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Mischief
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