Digital Techniques for Art Journaling with Pattie Knox

I am excited to tell you that Digital Techniques for Art Journaling is now on sale at Creative Passion.  This series of courses is taught by my dear friend Pattie Knox. I took this series of courses two years ago and I'm so thrilled that Pattie has brought them back to Creative Passion.  I will just say that I had MANY "aha moments" during this series.  I LOVED these courses and they opened my eyes to so many new and fun techniques. There are two courses on sale or you can purchase them in a bundle.  These are self-paced courses and would be perfect to work on as they fit into your schedule but I can assure you that once you get started, you are not going to want to stop!

                                 

Pattie is AMAZING!  She is not only one of the kindest people that I have ever met, she is a whole lot of fun and a photoshop genius.  I'll just say that when I have photoshop questions, I go to Pattie and she always has a soloution.  I'm still pinching myself that I get to work with her. 

You can find Pattie's classes here.   There is a 10% early bird coupon for the individual classes.  It is: 10DAJwPK.  I guarantee that you are going to enjoy the material in this series of courses in addition to Pattie.  I'll be hanging out in the gallery just waiting to see the pages!

Project 2012 Update

I headed into 2012 with a new goal...to get more of my photos and more details of our lives off of the computer and into an album.  I will be honest, when I headed into this, I wasn't quite sure if I could so this.  I thought it would really help me in the long run because everything from 2012 would be in this album....simple as that.  I will say that after 5 months of this project, I am kicking myself for not doing this in previous years.  Everything is documented.  When I want to create a page for one of the kids albums, I simply open this page, pull the photos and journaling off it and start creating.  After five months, I have 97 spreads done for 2012.  My approach is very simple but it works for me.  I am completely caught up and it hasn't been a chore at all.  I really feel like it takes so much pressure off.  Here are some of the spreads for May.  I have a number of other ones that include field trips and special days at school that I didn't include because it contains other children.



The page below is all of the cards and gifts that I received from the kids for mother's day.  I loved them all.

All products are from Designer Digitals.

There are so many great pages in the gallery for Project Life and 365.  It doesn't matter which project you use.  I think it is just important to determine your goals, assess your style and go from there.  In order for this project to work for me...I need it simple and this is about as simple as it gets.

Graduation Annoucements

It is that time of year....graduation time.  Although my kids aren't even close to graduating (Thank God), each spring I find myself creating somebody's graduation announcments. This year I created these for our neighbor Brock.  I did not take the photographs but I thought they were wonderful and was excited to work with them.  As always my clean, graphic style emerged and I wanted Brock's photos to steal the show.

A few years ago, I created this announcement for Brock's sister Paige and they wanted them to be similar.

This was the inside spread and opened wide.

I love graduation time because everybody seems to pull out the old photos and reflect on how much the individual has grown.  I recognize for some people that aspect of graduation times seems incredibly stressful as they try to pool 18 years of photos into meaningful keepsakes.  I guess as an ongoing memory-keeper, I am just so incredibly thankful that I find so much joy in continous documentation of our lives.  Once our kids are in bed, it almost feels like I get to relive these moments as I create their pages and I find so much fulfillment in documenting our journey.

School Photos

As the school year comes to a close, I am reminded once again how quickly time is passing and how important it is to document the steps along the way.  When Ellie first started school, I would always buy a package of school photos and I never did anything with them.  In fact, I think they are all still in the envelope in the back of one of her scrapbooks. 

Last year, I brought them out of retirement and used them in a basic template.  This template was designed by Cathy Zielske and has worked out perfectly for school photos and information about her year. On the panel, I ask the kids a series of questions about their year such as favorite subjects, highlights, field trips, friends, outside activities.  I also include her signature each year.  I wanted to use a template because I think it will be a lot of fun to have these pages in an album at her graduation and I want them to be consistent.  In addition to the pages below, there is also a second page that looks very similar to this page.  The second page I decided not to show because it includes photos of her class.  The second page contains photos of her on the first day of school, on a field trip, with her friends, their class photo and when she was star of the week.

I already love looking at these pages and seeing how she has grown.  It will be so fun to have all of these pages together in one book when she graduates.  It is a simple snapshot of her school years.

The left side of Mia's spread for this year:

Quinn's first page for his school album:

I love the versatility of scrapbooking.  I would admit that I am all over the board.  I love to create artistic pages with a lot of layers and I also love to create simple, clean pages that tell some of the important details of each stage that my children are in.  As the end of the school year approaches, think about what information you want to include on a school page.  I think it is also very important to include your children in this project.  Include information that is important to them.   When I was doing the kids pages this year, my daughters were sitting right next to me answering questions and helping me select colors and papers for the page.  It was fun and it feels great to have their school year documented before the information escapes us.

All products are from Designer Digitals.

This Layout Touched My Heart

When I first started teaching, I would go through the gallery and I would be in awe..I still am when I go through the gallery.  I started thinking, I want to feature this page on my blog.  Then I would go to the next one and the next one and the next one and feel the same.  I honestly can't explain how awesome it is for me to go through the gallery.  I decided that I couldn't feature pages on my blog because quite honestly, I would have loved to put every single one of them on here.

Well, today I decided to feature a page that totally touched my heart.    I just had to share it with you.

This page was created by Del from New Zealand.  She is taking Blueprints: the Angles of Photoshop.  This is the first class that Del has taken of mine and she said she is new to digital scrapbooking.  She said this is about the seventh page that she has created.  I wish my seventh page would have looked like this!

Del said:
I did this for my parents who are celebrating 60 years of marriage in June.  It is extra special as 8 weeks ago my father was so sick in the hospital, he wasn't expected to live and my mum had a bad stroke 2 weeks ago.  She had only been out of the hospital 4 days when I talked her into letting me take this photo of them together.

At the moment, I am in full time care of my parents - although they look great in that photo, mum is barely able to walk and can't see well and her memory is fading quickly.  I wanted to take the photo while "I could".

I couldn't stop looking at this page and I will admit that it brought tears to my eyes.  Del has captured something extraordinary here.  I love that she used a photo of them from their wedding day and compared it with a photo from today.  I love that she took the initiative to "take the photo while I could".   I'm guessing that Del's days are faced with many struggles as she cares for her parents but I LOVE that she took the time to capture them in the here and now.  What a beautiful couple they are and what an amazing keepsake this is!

Thank you Del for sharing your beautiful parents and beautiful layout with us.  I find your layout inspiring is so many ways and I wish you and your parents many days of happiness together!

All products are from Designer Digitals.

Recent Pages

I can't believe that it is Thursday already.  The week has flown by.  There is plenty of action around here.  Quinn finished school on Tuesday.  Between T-ball, swimming lessons, birthday parties, and chaperoning school field trips, I feel like we are in constant motion which is a lot of fun.  The weather has been absolutely beautiful here.

Tonight I am looking forward to Digital U.  Amy Kingsford is going to break down one of her beautiful pages for us. I really enjoy Digital U...we have a lot of laughs!  Amy is so talented and it is fun to get a peek into other's creative process.  I always learn so much.  If you haven't signed up yet, head on over to Creative Passion.  It is free.  Amy, Pattie and I will meet you there!

I posted the last lesson for Creative Composites on Monday.  I am sad to see this come to a close, I have had the pleasure of working with so many wonderful people.  It has been so fun to get to know people who share this passion and to watch them grow as artists.

Blueprints: The Angles of Photoshop started Monday which has been so fun.  I always get so nervous when a new class goes live and then the minute I see a page pop up in the gallery, I instantly feel a sense of relief.  This is a super fun class and it has been awesome to see everybody's interpretation of this first page....so many awesome pages already!

Tonight we have Quinn's preschool program that I will be attending before Digital U.  Tomorrow I get to go with the kindergarteners to the zoo which should be both fun and stressful as I try to manage 7 kids...I think I'll spend most of the day counting heads.  I thank God for Papa who always jumps in to help with the kids and allows me to do so many of these fun actitivies.  Quinn will be counting the minutes until Papa arrives!

I have been scrapbooking a lot in the last couple of weeks which feels wonderful.  It really is my way of unwinding from a busy day.  I thought I would post a few of my recent pages.

All products are from Designer Digitals.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Designer Digitals Quarterly Sale

The quarterly sale is this weekend at Designer Digitals.  WhooHooo...love that!  Everything in the store is 30% off and there is a whole lineup of activities.  Here is the schedule:

9 am EST - Fantasty Chat with Linda Hoenstine
11 am EST - Ad Inspiration with Pattie Knox
2 pm EST - 30 Minute Masterpiece with Wendy
4 pm EST - Photography with Amy Mallory
6 pm EST - Traveling album with Lynn Grieveson
9 pm EST = Wrap Up with Katie Pertiet

I hope to see you there!

Including Handwriting on a Page

When I create, I really try to make my layouts personal.  I try to capture my children's personalities through photos, I usuallly write TO them rather than about them and I like to include samples of who they are at various stages.

Handwriting is one of my favorite things to include on a page.  I think it really gives a glimpse as to what stage they are in, makes them an active part of the layout and it also makes the layout seem more personal.  I would love to have a glimpse back on how I wrote at very stages of my development.

I created the layout below for my 8-year old daughter. 

All products are from Designer Digitals.

I wrote down some questions for her and had her answer them.  She loves doing this type of thing.  I scanned the sheet into the computer.  After I had created the layout, I brought the sheet into Photoshop, converted it to black and white.  I typed out my questions on the layout and used the rectangular marquee tool to move them over.  I then positioned them on the document.  You can see that they were originally written on a white sheet of paper.   White paper makes this a snap.  As many of you know, I love blending modes and the blending mode of "Multiply" removes white from the image.  Once I had her answers in place, I simply changed the blending mode to "Multiply" and that was it.  If it comes out a little faint, you just need to duplicate that layer.

This is such a simple technique to use.  I love this page because of her handwriting.  It makes it seem so

much more personal than if I had typed out her answers.    I hope this inspires you to include handwriting on your pages. 

Happy Mother's Day

I want to wish each of you a wonderful Mother's Day.  Until I became a mother myself, I had no idea what an incredible role it was....incredibly rewarding....incredibly challenging...incredibly fun...incredibly exhausting...incredibly enlightening....incredibly humbling...INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!  Each day is filled with highs and lows.  I often wonder why God entrusted me with these three precious souls and then I just dismiss the thought and offer prayers of thankfulness.  And through the daily challenges, I often think of my own mother and the sacrifices that she made for me. 

I found this quote and it perfectly reflects how I feel today:

My mother kept a garden, a garden of the heart.  She planted all the good things that gave my life its start.  She turned me to the sunshine and encouraged me to dream, fostering and nurturing the seeds of self-esteem.  And when the winds and rains came she protected me enough, but not too much because she knew I needed to grow strong and tough.  Her constant example always taught me right from wrong.  Markers for my pathway that will last a lifetime long.  I am my mother's garden.  I am her legacy, and I hope today she feels the love reflected back from me.

May your day be filled with love and happiness!!!!  Happy Mother's Day!

Jana's Jumpstarts

I'm excited to bring you a new challenge each month over on the Creative Passion blog.  You can check it out here .   I'd love to see how your next layout shapes up!

Last Call - Blueprints: Angles of Photoshop

Blueprints: The Angles of Photoshop starts in less than a week and I'm all ready for next Monday to arrive.  This class is designed for full Photoshop users only.  I will be demonstrating the four layouts that you will find below.   They are loaded with fun techniques that you can bring to your pages.  This course will not be offered again for quite some time.  The forum is now open and it is a big class.  As I look through the class roster, I see a lot of familiar names as well as a number of new names.  I'm excited to get to know everybody  better and to see how these techniques inspire you.  If you have registered for the class....FANTASTIC!  You can head on over to the forum and introduce yourself.  The first lesson will go live on Monday the 14th.  

Layout for Week 1:

Layout for Week 2:

Layout for Week 3:

Layout for Week 4:

All products are from Designer Digitals.

If you haven't registered for class and would like to do so, please head on over to Creative Passion.  I hope to see you there.  If you have already registered, I will look forward to seeing you in class!

Designer Digitals Gift Card Winner

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Thanks to everybody who left me a comment.  I love to learn more about you!!!  Our winner for the $10.00 gift card to Designer Digitals goes to Kathleen!!!  Congratulations Kathleen, please send me an email at janamortondigital@gmail.com .

National Scrapbooking Weekend

It is the kick-off for National Scrapbook Weekend!  There seems to be a lot going on around the web.  I hope you have time to take advantage of these great events.

Creative Passion is having some giveaways.  All you need to do is post pages in our gallery for the chance to win.  You can check out all of the details at Creative Passion.

Designer Digitals is having a big sale this weekend.  From 5 pm Eastern Time on May 4th through 3 am Eastern Time on May 6th, you will receive 15% off of the store and 20% off of new releases.  There are also a few chats available to help get your creative juices flowing.  Head on over to Deisgner Digitals to check it out.

Persnickety Prints is also having a huge sale 25% off prints.  I'm certainly going to be having some pages printed.

Scrapbooking has become such a huge part of my life.  I love every minute of capturing and documenting life.  I have had the privilege of meeting so many wonderful people along the way!!!  I decided that I would like to "thank you" for taking the time to check out my blog by offering a little raffle.  Please leave me a comment below telling me about your most favorite part of scrapbooking.  On Monday, I will do a drawing for $10.00 gift card to Designer Digitals!  Have a great weekend!

Masterful Scrapbook Designs - May

Happy May Day!  This month I have the privilege of guest teaching at Masterful Scrapbook Designs.  Debbie Hodge started Masterful Scrapbook Designs and has just taken it and run with it. Each month she has a group of guest teachers.  This month I'm honored to be teaching alongside Kelly Purkey, Terri Davenport, Sara Gleason and Kim Watson.  Each month there is a different topic.  This months topic is "Portraits, Moments, Lists and 365ers" and we are going to talk about using photos when there isn't a big story to go along with them.  This was a really fun topic to work with and I have some new layouts coming out in this issue.  Subscribers to Masterful Scrapbook Designs get a ton of information presented in a written pdf.  The guest teachers break down their designs and inspiration for each of the layouts that they present.  Each teacher also writes an article on a topic of their choice. In addition Debbie hosts a live webinar with each teacher.  It is a whole lot of information and a whole lot of fun.  It was a year ago when Debbie first asked me to teach at Masterful Scrapbook Designs for the first time.  It was such an honor to be asked and that opportunity turned into a whole lot more when a few people asked during my webinar if I would be willing to share my blending techniques.  What an amazing year it has been!!! I'm so grateful that Debbie gave me this opportunity to share my passion with others and for all of the people that have joined me along the way.  If you haven't checked into Masterful Scrapbook Designs, I would strongly encourage you to do so.  I know it will be something you look forward to each month.  I sure do!