Mini Pics!

Since converting to scrapping in A4, I am totally loving the freedom this gives me to easily store my pages and the impact that a smaller size has had on my productivity. One thing I often hear people say about feeling unsure about switching to the small size though is the difficulty of fitting photos into small pages, particularly where multiple photos are to be used.

Lots of printing companies offer lots of size solutions for your photos,  Laura has blogged about how she creates collages in Picassa here before sending them to Photobox to be printed, however I prefer to print my photos myself at home. This means I can print what I want, when I want - and avoids the scrapping guilt I'd otherwise get related to growing piles of un-scrapped prints that I'd shelled out for! So today I'm going to show you how I print my photos in a more manageable size for A4 scrapping, simply using the standard printing programme that comes with Windows operating systems....you can follow this technique on any PC running Windows, no matter what printer you have and with no need for fancy photo editing software. Whoop to that!

For my first page this month, I had three pictures that I wanted to document on one page. There was no way a I'd be able to fit three standard 6x4 prints, plus the whole host of patterned papers and embellies I always like to include, on one A4 page. So here are the quick steps I take to resize and print my snaps in Windows:

1. Right click the chosen photo, and select "print". This will open the following window. Click  "options"  in the bottom right corner:

2.The following menu pop-up will appear. Click on "printer properties":

3. This will open a new box, where you need to click into the Effects tab. In here you will see a slider bar enabling you to resize your photos. For one shot, I usually like to set this at around 80-90%. For multiple pics, I usually select somewhere between 75-85%. This is down to personal preference and exactly how small you want your pictures - as you use this more often you will get an instinctive feel for where to set the slider according to the size/effect you want, however - see the little picture box (within the large white space) on the right side? As you move the slider back and forth the image in the little box grows and shrinks - giving you a visual comparison for your print size on a piece of 6x4 paper.

4. When you are happy, press ok. This will take you to the original pop up box, where you can now press print. Et voila!

Here's my completed page, using the gorgeous new What's Up papers from Basic Grey. As soon as I saw them I knew they'd be perfect for scrapping pictures of a recent spot of kite-flying on a grey and windy afternoon!

As always, click on any picture for a closer look!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

At the centre of the page are two misted cardstock tags held together by gorgeous wooden buttons from the BG Konnichiwa range. To create the "Kite" lettering I cut away the bold letter shapes with a craft knife, and laid a piece of Cloud-printed overlay from Hambly and the pink reverse of the Constellation paper behind it.

More of the overlay was used to back a What's Up tin pin, and was hand-cut to add interest behind the photo at the bottom of the page:

Decorative tapes created a visual divide for my page and acted as an anchor for part of my title:

Another addiction of mine which goes hand in hand with A4 scrapping is Instagram.

If you're not already a fan, it's a free mobile-phone app which not only acts as a live photostream/sharing platform (think Facebook, but photos only), but has lots of pretty built-in filters to add vintage effects and frames to your pictures with just a click. My mobile phone is often my go-to device for capturing those spontaneous photo opportunities as my clunky DSLR is not always to hand, and let's face it - it's more often than not those otherwise fleeting moments that we all love to scrapbook most!

So Instagram pics are quickly becoming the centre of my pages for three reasons:

1. Capturing spontaneous photo-ops

2. One click photo-effects and editing

3. Their quirky, retro square shape is perfect for my compact A4 pages.

Here are the steps I take for printing Instagram pics at home:

1. Upload my pics to my computer (check your phones manual for how to do this!)

2. Right click on my chosen photo, and click print.

3. In the pop-up box that appears, check that your desired paper size is selected, i.e. 6x4:

4. You'll notice that the top and bottom of your square print appear to be chopped off in the preview at the centre of the screen. To solve this, uncheck the box that says "fit picture to frame":

5. You should see that your shot is now fully visible and fits neatly inside the image box on the screen:

5. And print! Your printed images should appear nicely centred and perfectly sized on your 6x4 photo paper; just trim the excess away and they are ready for scrapping!:

Here are a couple of pages utilising my Instagram home-prints, and more of the BG What's Up paper:

Shooting Hoops

I cut lots of circles from the patterned papers for this page and combined them with the round tin pin and wooden buttons to emphasise the hoops/basketball theme.

 Strips of various decorative tapes and word stickers also added interest:

I splattered my plain chipboard Thickers with lots of different mists before adding them to my page:

Chewie The Beardie
We've got a new addition to the family - much to my mixed surprise and dismay one night when I got home! "Chewie" and I are learning to live harmoniously together - I even bathed him (when this shot was taken!) - however I maintain that "Eddie Lizard" would have been a much better name!

I made use of lots of my My Minds Eye stamps to embellish the page; the black ink complimenting the black frame of the Instagram print.

Keen to add elements that drew out the pretty orangey colourings that Chewie has around his eyes and under his throat, I created some tags embellishments form the pink side of the Constellation paper, and used some pink Studio Calico alpha stickers for my title:

If you are keen to try small photos on a smaller layout and are looking for more home-printing options, you may also be interested in having a look at Helen's post about creating photostrips in Picassa here.

Thanks as always for popping over. We'd love to see your A4 pages or use of Instagram pics - feel free to share your links in the comments section or at our page on Facebook :)

My supplies included:

InLinkz.com

Let sleeping dogs lie...

Don't you just hate thinking of blog post titles?!?!? I know this one might sound a bit strange, but when you look at my LO I have to share, you'll see where I'm coming from!

So a whole month has zipped by and here we are on the 1st of a brand new month. July is the BESTEST month, and the BESTEST people are born in July ;-)

So, did you enjoy all that June on the Sarah's Cards blog brought to you? We're loving the new system, and we hope you are too. July will be chock-a-block full of beautifulness too, so make sure you come back each day... or at least every few days to see what's ocurrin!

I just loved this photo of my dog taking an afternoon nap on my new jammy dodger cushion (that's what the kids call it). I decided to create a circular LO, and used pink to match the cushion, white dotted Swiss, and a Hambly overlay cut to shape. I picked out a range of patterned papers that matched the turquoise colours of my other cushions. After punching some circles and cutting an oval, I stuck the shapes under the overlay, using the printed design as a guide. Once the photo was stuck in place, I added a couple of border punched strips below, and hand cut some of the lovely peacock feathers from this paper. I decided to delve into my stash from ye olde days of card making!!! I'm sure I'm not the only person who used to be a card maker, and who bought everything they could lay their little hands on, tried everything, often only once, and as a result has a stash of unused supplies!!! Well, I found a quilling tool, and a heap of quilling papers, and thought why not! I kept it really simple and added a few strips of paper stuck on their edges, and a some tightly coiled circles as flowers. Simple but effective, and cute to boot!

Keeping the floral theme going... hey, I have boys... if I get the chance to use flowers in abundance on a LO I take it and run with it! I saw these cute fabric flowers on Pinterest ages ago, and when I saw this fabric swatch book, I just knew I had to have a go at them. And because I'm kind, I took a few step by step photos, so you too can have a go.

Use a template to draw 5 circles on your fabric. I used a 1.5 inch circle for my flowers.

 Cut the circles out. Fold each one in half, and then into quarters.

 With a long length of good quality thread, stitch along the curved edge of each folded circle.

 Once all 5 circles are stitched, pull the two ends of the thread and tie securely. This is why you need good quality thread... I used cheapo stuff the first time and it just snaps at this stage, which is hugely annoying!

 I added buttons to the centres of my flowers, but a smaller circle of contrasting fabric, or a Prima flower centre would work too.

Ta Da!!!! How easy is that?

I can see fabric flowers appearing on LOs throughout galleries and blogs very soon.... and we'd love to see how you use them. Leave us a link to your work in the comments box so we can pop by and have a looksie.

I'll be back tomorrow with another couple of LOs to share.

Bye for now

xxx

*Drum Roll*

Welcome to the new look Sarah's Cards blog.
Every month each member of the design team will be working with goodies available from the shop, to bring you fun, inspiring projects. There will be step-by-step classes with photos, off the page projects and challenges where you can win stash or vouchers to spend in the shop.
We will be working hard to make this THE place to visit to get your creative juices flowing and your mojo buzzing.

If there is something you would like to see included on the blog, please let us know. We know many of you visit the blog on a regular basis so we would like to see you comment too. We also want to see your work, if you take part in a challenge or are inspired by something we have done, please leave a comment and a link to your work. Our promise to you is that we will comment on your blog or gallery.

If you like what you see, tell your friends to come and have a look too.

So here we go... I get to post first... lucky me, Yay!

At the March Sarah's cards Retreat, I created a LO that many people commented on, and lots of people asked how I did it. So here is a step-by-step to creating your own unique background... the way I do it.


Choose a patterned paper that you like. It doesn't matter if you don't like the colour, it's the pattern/design that is more important for this technique. I chose Pink Paislee, Daily Junque, Tabs, because of the bold design, and also the intended theme of my LO.

I painted the whole sheet with watered down white acrylic paint.
Once the white paint had dried I added a layer of watered down yellow paint (you can use any colour). I didn't completely cover the whole page, as I wanted to let some of the white show through, and I really like the patchy random effect.I then lightly sprinkled some embossing powder randomly over the LO. I used American Crafts, Zing metallic teal powder... although with all the fab colours in the Zing range you really are spoilt for choice. I heated the powder from underneath so it didn't blow away.
I then added a sprinkling of red powder, heating from the underside again. And once that was dry I brushed over part of the page with watered down blue acrylic paint. Now comes the really fun part. It's time to go crazy with stamps!!! I used the Pink Paislee, Daily Junque clear stamps and a Jenni Bowlin seal stamp. I stamped randomly over the page using black ink, and used the teal embossing powder on the seal stamp.

I like to overlap the stamped images, and use scrap paper to remove some of the ink first, so that some of the images appear more faded than others.

Once the ink had dried, I got messy with some Maya mists, I used yellow, red and hydrangea blue, but any colours can be used. I misted lightly from a distance and then sprayed at close range to get an intense splodge of colour in certain parts.Once the mists had completely dried I stamped circles onto the page, using pen and glue stick lids dipped in white acrylic paint.

I finished off the background by adding some blue drops of mist. To do this I took the spray part of the bottle out and tapped it over the page.

Once the paper is dry it is ready to use as your background for a LO. I cut it down to 8.5 x 11, choosing which part of the page I liked the best. On this LO, I used some of the spare to create some bunting to add dimension to the page. I used a 2 inch circle punch and simply folded over some baker's twine and stapled into place. The bunting was completed with some of the fab Jenni Bowlin flag banner stickers. I also used a Jenni Bowlin bingo card, and a section cut from this paper, to complete the LO.
I love getting messy and experimenting with mists and inks, and the great thing about this technique is that you never have to worry about not having paper to match your photos.... you can create your own. Have a go, you might surprise yourself and really love it too. Post a link so I can see what you've created.
The next LO I created used mists and stamps, but was not quite as messy as the last. I started with a sheet of white Bazzill dotted Swiss. I used yellow and lime mists, using a scrap sheet of acetate to spray against to get the striped sections. Where the lime mist pooled on the card, I used a drinking straw to blow the 'grass' effect.
I used the Pink Paislee stamps again, this time going for a much more subtle effect by using yellow and green inks, to produce a barely there image.
I stamped on the background using these My Mind's Eye stamps with baby pink ink and used the teal embossing powder to partially cover the image. I really liked the effect of the pink and the teal mix, so used it again to stamp my title.
White embossing powder was used on the seal stamp, and when I cut the shape out, I used the card scrap as a stencil to mist the seal shape over the layered images in the top corner, these images were cut from this October Afternoon paper, and this Pink Paislee paper.
Still with me? This is turning into a mammoth post isn't it? I'm fearing that I might lose all feeling in my backside by time it's done!!!
The next LO I want to share, is a nice, simple clean LO... I don't want to scare everyone off with mists and paints... although there is some more embossing! I used papers from October Afternoon, 5 & Dime, and this one from the same range, and Pink Paislee, Daily Junque.
I used the Pink Paislee stamps with versamark ink and the teal embossing powder, and the Seal stamp with versamark onto kraft card.
I made the little sandcastle flags using scraps of paper stuck to cocktail sticks... much cheaper than buying the pre-made ones, and you can make them to match your LO perfectly. I completed the LO by adding some Studio Calico rub ons, and added the title using these Thickers.
Onto my last LO for this post.This rather fetching photo was taken at the March retreat... I think myself and Nat, rock the whole moustache look to be honest... lol! As soon as I saw this photo I knew it had to be scrapped using the Hambly frame wallpaper overlay. The overlay is so gorgeous on its own that I decided it only needed complimenting with left over bits of paper from the above LOs as well as some of this Crate paper, cut to fit the shapes of the frames. I used circle punches and hand cut novelty moustache shapes, to embellish certain frames, and used one of the book spines from this Crate paper. The title was added using a mix of foam thickers.
Well that's all from me, for now... I hope you like what you see and are inspired to go and try out some of the techniques demonstrated. If you like what you see leave a comment to let us know, and please post any links to share your work with us. I look forward to visiting your blogs and galleries.

Louise
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