Friday Fun with Photos!

Hey all, Lisa here with Friday Fun with Photos!!  Show of hands for those of us that use our phones for photos these days?!  Yep, me too.  Ever since I got my iPhone I have been a snap happy fool and with all of the fun photo apps, even we amateur photographers can get really cool results with our phone photos!  Today I'm going to talk about my top three favorite apps for photo use on my phone.

My favorite photo editing app these day is Picfx. Best $1.99 I've spent on an app. Ever. Picfx is a basic photo editing app with tons of built-in filters and frames, as well as cool extras, like light effects (bokeh, sunflare) and frames/scratches to make your photos look really cool. I like how you can easily layer multiple effects (you can only use one at a time on Instagram), and you can easily share to Instagram, as it will upload directly from this app.  It also edits in square format which is nice for those of us using Instagram for posting.  It's awesome for posting photos "later", too.  Let's face it, you don't always have the ability to snap a photo in the Instagram app and upload.  With Picfx, you can take the photo with your regular phone camera and edit and upload later. (Helpful when you're driving in the middle of the desert on the way to Vegas!)

Speaking of Instagram, that would be next up favorite. Most of us have heard of it or already on it, but for those of you iPhone newbies,  it's free, quick, it's easy, and then there's that fun sharing aspect...who doesn't like to see how many "likes" they've gotten on a photo?  Just fun sharing times, people! I especially love the little sun button.  It makes for fantastic nature photos!

Combined with Picfx, these are my go to editing apps.

Wait, you want to print your phone photos?  And you're not at home?  And you want them in an hour?  Well, Walgreens has you covered.  In about 60 seconds you can select your photos and upload them to the Walgreens site and have them ready for pick up in about an hour.  That is just about as close as you can get to instant gratification people.  Bonus points for not sucking your home printer ink dry. You can even use coupon codes... it doesn't get any easier than that!  Here's a link to this week's codes.  You're welcome. :)  

And there you have it, Friday Fun with Photos from my point of view...happy snapping!!

WOW'd US Wednesday!

Today is Wednesday and you all know what that means! ;) It's WOW'd us Wednesday!

There is so much "Eyecandy" in the gallery it is always hard to pick just one!

Today our favorite layout goes to.....

 

This layout was made by Chris P!

You can find her layout in her awesome gallery here.

Congrats Chris!

Nikki

Weekly Challenge: Using Hexagon Shapes

This month's kit came with awesome hexagon chipboard shapes from Maya Road. I used the shapes in 3 different ways: (1) covered the shapes with pattern paper, (2) used the shape as a template for paper only, and (3) used the shape as a mask with spray. I can't wait to see how you used the Maya Road hexagon chipboard shapes in your projects. Be sure to upload your completed projects in the LRS gallery and link back to the challenge thread on the LRS message board.

Friday Fun!!! Stamping a background

Hi Everyone. Guess what today is??? It's FRIDAY FUN DAY :)

One technique I LOVE to do when Scrapbooking (most of the time) is use stamps as a background "eye" catching detail. I think Stamps or stamping can really add so much to a layout. You can use them just a little, or you can use them a lot. Here is an example of using a lot of different stamps on a layout I did using this months LRS kit. I love how the different stamps as a background drawls your eye in to the kit pieces I used.

 

 

Do you love stamping? I would love to see what you can do with a set of stamps! If you make a layout, or already have a layout with an awesome stamping technique, I would love to see it! Please share a link of it here or upload it to our LRS gallery. We would love to see what you can do with some stamps! Happy Scrapping and Stamping! :)

Nikki

WOW'd Us Wednesday!! :)

Happy Wednesday everyone!! It's AnnaMarie with another fabulous pick for our "Wow'd Us Wednesday" feature!! :)

As soon as I saw this layout by Jo (username scrappyjo) in the LRS gallery, I knew I had this week's pick! :) Jo was inspired by a PageMaps sketch for this layout and used contents from the lovely May 2012 LRS kit - she did a nice job with it! Here is her layout titled "2 of a kind":

Jo mentioned that the stitching was a challenge for her, but you'd never know...she did great with it! And the cluster of butterflies gives the page such a sweet and whimsical feel! :)

Please stop by the LRS Message Board and join me in congratulating Jo on being selected for this week's "Wow'd Us Wednesday" feature!  And don't forget to peek at the rest of Jo's gallery for additional inspiration! Congrats to you Jo! :)

p.s. - We want to see MORE layouts in the gallery - you all are a talented bunch, and we LOVE to showcase what you do with the beautiful LRS kits each month! :) YOU just might be the next one featured on a future WOW's Us Wednesday! ;)

Mid Month Gallery Highlights

It's time for our mid month gallery highlights! 
First up, from me, this layout that is officially my favorite of my own work of late...I just love how it came together, so much that it is up on the wall in my scraploft. :)  Don't you just love it when you create a layout you are so in love with?  Happens all the time with the layouts created with my Little Red Kits...seriously! 


Next, this stunner from Tammy.  I did not choose to use this side of the papers in my work and WOW...do they look fabulous together or WHAT?  The Pink Paislee buttons, the drops of ink, the envelope tag and stitching...so perfect!!



Meg also used the circles on this layout...and I just love how she used the washi tape and matted the banner for a great title on her layout.



AnnaMarie created this bright and fun layout of her sweet daughter...I love how deeply embellished it is but the pictures totally SHINE.  The canvas tag with the 9 is the perfect touch!  There were 13 different embellishments just in the main kit and 6 more in the embellie kit so there was so much to choose from..that is the amazing part of LRS kits!!




Karrie did a fabulous job with her adorable canvas banner title on this portrait page...just love the banner and her fabulous embellie clusters.



and last but not least, Nikki's fun instagram page- she added stamping and drops of ink with her signature layering..LOVE.



So there you have my picks from the DT Gallery, but don't stop there...go check out the Sept DT Gallery and see for yourself!!  Leave us some love while you're there and don't forget to play along with our monthly challenges!!

Friday Fun: Vintage Storage!

Hi Everyone!  For today's edition of Friday Fun I thought I would share with you some of my favorite scrap room storage solutions.  Vintage, antique and all things old are really in right now and I've certainly jumped on the bandwagon!  My house is furnished with antiques galore and my love for antiques has even spilled over into my scrap space.  I love my  space and hope you will get some fun ideas from how I store my supplies.

While I was in Wisconsin with my friends last month, we browsed this really amazing Antique Mall in Walworth.  As I walked around I was inspired by how I saw items displayed in these old vintage boxes. Of course I had to buy some as I knew exactly what I wanted to put in them...my mists, paints and inks!  Old cheese boxes and tiny little drawers are the perfect size to store scrappy supplies.

My assortment of mists fit perfectly in this old Baker's Cocoa box, cool huh?!

 

...and finally, old tins and vintage cigar boxes hold my pens and ink pads.  I also found another old cheese box for my Pan Pastels!

 

Thanks for letting me share a little corner of my scrap table with you.  Hopefully, the next time you are browsing at a garage sale, antique mall or thrift store, you'll find your own storage inspiration!

Weekly Card Challenge: Sewing Butterflies

I absolutely adore the oodles of butterflies on the Huckleberry Hill paper in his month's kit. I love fussy cutting, but I just could not bring myself to cutting out all those lovely butterflies. Instead, I used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch which fit inside the printed butterflies perfectly! Arranging the butterflies in a grid pattern and sewing down through the centers reminds me of the butterfly specimen examples from science class. This is a great way to add dimension to your projects. Try it out! Upload your completed project in the LRS gallery and be sure to link back to the challenge thread on the LRS message board. I can't wait to see what you do!

Weekly challenge--9/8

When I received my kit this month, I was so excited to see all the beautiful different butterflies included with it and instantly fell in love!    Butterflies in chipboard, stickers and paper, who could go wrong, right? 

Well, for this weeks challenge I would like to see you all use up some of those gorgeous critters on a layout.  You can use as many as you want and however you would like, but my only request is that you those gorgeous beauties on your page!  Simple start to a great Fall week! 

This is what I came up with:

The picture is of my Dad and Marissa way back in l998.  Gosh, she is just sooo little there, and my Dad, well he looks soooo young!  I love it!  This layout will be going in his album I am making him for his 70th birthday, for sure!

Be sure to stop on over to the Gallery and post your layout so we can all leave you some love on your beautiful creation!

Happy Scrapping!
Meg
 

Friday Fun - Challenge Blogs and Inspiration

Have you seen what the DT gals did with the AWESOME sketch selected by Tammy for this month's Sketch Challenge? If not, then you *need* to head straight to the DT gallery here and check it out NOW! :) Stunning and lovely examples indeed from my talented team members! :)

And...speaking of sketches and other challenge-type blogs, I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite sites for inspiration. Tammy's sketch was of course from Becky Fleck's PageMaps - each month Becky releases a series of *gorgeous* sketches in both 8.5x11" and 12x12" versions (double page layouts included as well) with wonderful examples, and they can even be saved as PDF documents which are fully downloadable/printable. Becky also posts card sketches and other unique sketch formats such as tag, round, half-page, etc.

Another great sketch challenge blog is Valerie Salmon's Got Sketch? blog. The Got Sketch? blog has a neat sidebar index which allows you to easily find sketches by the number of photos on them, and there are also sketches for 8.5x11" pages and cards, and special challenge sketches which are offered throughout the year. Be sure to check out these other awesome sketch challenge sites as well: Creative Scrappers offers regular weekly sketches with chances to win a sponsored prize package simply for playing along; and Once Upon A Sketch, a new favorite of mine, is an International sketch challenge blog offering monthly sketches with some journaling criteria, AND an opportunity to have your submission selected to be a Guest Designer with their talented Design Team the following month!

If you are looking for inspiring color challenge blogs, I absolutely LOVE The Color Room (amazing artists and tips/techniques shared here) and Color Combos Galore. Both sites provide wonderful color palettes as well as regular sketches - and an additional neat quality about Color Combos Galore is that it takes an "Inspiration Photo", a Color Combo and Designer's Challenge, some notes and puts it all onto one Inspiration Board!

So share with me some of your favorites challenge blogs - they don't have to be limited to just sketch and/or color! You can either comment here or link to the message board here. :) I look forward to discovering some of YOUR favorites - and if you didn't have any, I hope I've provided you with a few links to get you inspired and scrapping! :)

Happy Friday all! :)

The DT girls have been busy!

 

We all loved Tammy's sketch challenge so much that we couldn't wait to create with it!  Let me remind you of the sketch:



And here's our takes on it...

Tammy

Karrie:


AnnaMarie


Meg


Me, Lisa
.

Always blows me away how many different looks we can acheive with just one good sketch!  I hope we've inspired you and that you will play along with us this month!  Just use the sketch for your layout or card and upload to our gallery and link back to the Monthly Sketch thread HERE.  We have lots of fun challenges for you this month, so be sure to follow along in the Monthly Challenge Forum as we post a new challenge weekly!

September 2012 Kit is available!

The September Main Kit is amazing!!  We have been waiting a very long time for this line...it's October Afternoon Woodland Park!  Check it out!!

2012 September Main Kit

2012 September Main Kit - October Afternoon - "Woodland Park"

Pattern Papers (12 Sheets Total): 1 Sheet Cat Tail Pond, 1 Sheet Bunny Tail Trail, 1 Sheet Crab Apple Orchard, 1 Sheet Magpie Field, 1 Sheet Rose Garden, 1 Sheet Willow Path, 1 Sheet Blue Sky, 1 Sheet Minnow Creek, 1 Sheet Gooseberry Falls, 1 Sheet Birch Hollow, 1 Sheet Old Mill Bridge, 1 Sheet Huckleberry Hill

Bazzill Cardstock (4 Sheets Total): 1 Sheet Fire Hearts, 1 Sheet Stormy Dark, 1 Sheet Blossom, 1 Sheet French Vanilla

Embellishments: 1 Sheet Woodland Park Shape Stickers, 2 Maya Road Velvet Pleats (1 Gray & 1 Yellow), 1 Assorted Maya Road Kraft Envelope, 4 Assorted Prima Cabachon Sculpture Resin Flowers, 4 Maya Road Heart Pins (Dyed to Match Papers), 1 Pack Basic Grey Opaline - Teal/Aquamarine, 2 Paper Tags Cut from October Afternoon Cakewalk Paper, 4 Kraft Paper Twist Ties, 4 Assorted Maya Road Mini Canvas Tags, 1 jenni Bowlin Memo Hodge Podge Sticker Sheet, 2 Assorted Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue Tin Signs, 10 Assorted Maya Road Hexagon Chipboard Shapes, 2 Yards Devine Twin - Licorice, 1 Pack American Crafts Heart Puffy Thickers - Pink

For those of you keeping track, there are 13 different embellishments (not counting the alpha) to play with in the main kit alone!!  No other kit club gives you so much to play with, or so much value!! 

As always, you can purchase this main kit for $27.50 (plus shipping) without a membership or the price is only $25.00 (plus shipping) a month for a 3 month membership or an unbelievable $22.50 (plus shipping) with a 6 month membership!!  

Check out the Add-On kit...

September 2012 - Embellishment Add-On

$12.00

2012 September Embellishment Add-On

1 Pack Woodland Park Chip n'Stick Chipboard Shapes

1/2 Pack Woodland Park Flower Sack Flowers

1 Sheet Jilibean Soup Yellow Sugar Paper

1 Pack Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue Jumbo Buttons

1 Yard Cakewalk Washi Tape

2 12" Bazzill Just the Edge Perfectly Pleated Paper - Script

1 Assorted 7 Gypsies Lille Tag

2012 September Ribbon Add-On

$4.50

2012 September Ribbon Add-On

1 Yard of Each (5 Yards Total): 1 Yard May Arts 5/8" Sheer/Line Edge Ribbon - Red/Pink, 1 Yard May Arts 1/8" Diagonal Stripes Ribbon - Gray, 1 Yard May Arts 3/8" Chenille/Center Dot Trim - Turquoise/Aqua, 1 Yard May Arts Leave Trim - Olive, 1 Yard 1.5" Sheer Ruffle Edge Ribbon - Navy

And you can see all of the add-ons and extras in the store HERE!!

All you Halloween lovers...check out the Sept/October THEME Kit...

2012 Sept/Oct Theme Kit

$14.50

LRS is still waiting for this product to ship from the manufacturer, but we should be receiving it soon!!

2012 Sept/Oct Theme Kit - October Afternoon - Witch Hazel"

Pattern Papers (6 Sheets Total) : 1 Sheet Cauldron Bubble, 1 Sheet Devil's Claw, 1 Sheet Seeds of Thyme, 1 Sheet Dark of Night, 1 Sheet Elixir of Eucalyptus, 1 Sheet Star Thistle

Cardstock (2 Sheets Total):  1 Sheet Bazzill French Vanilla, 1 Sheet Bazzill Blackberry Swirl

Embellishments: 1 12"X12" Witch Hazel Alphabet Sticker Sheet, 1 12"X12" Witch Hazel Shape Sticker Sheet, Several Die Cut Pieces from Witch Hazel Miscellany Pack, 4 Banner Shapes & 8 Button Shapes from Witch Hazel Chip n' Stick Sheet, 1 4" Black Doilie, 1 4"  White Doilie, 1 5" Owl Die Cut, 1 5" Bat Die Cut, 1 5" Spider Die Cut, 12" May Arts Black Trim and 18" May Arts White Lace Trim 

Quantities are limited so if you are wanting to purchase, run don't walk to the Little Red Store!! 

September Sketch

Hi everybody and happy Labor Day!

Today is a perfect day to reveal the sketch for the sketch challenge this month.  I chose an older sketch from Page Maps since I think it coordinates perfectly with the September kit at LRS. Check out this beauty:

Please upload your layout to the LRS gallery and link a photo of it to the September Sketch Challenge thread so we can all admire your work!  Have fun!