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

June sketch challenge

It's challenge time again and this month's sketch is brought to you by Tracie.
As usual the design team have been having a play and created some stunning examples to get you all inspired!
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning a £20 e-voucher is to create a layout or card using the sketch as inspiration and add a link to your work below, so we can come and take a look!

Here's the sketch

Tracie

Tracie used the gorgeous Amy Tangerine sketchbook collection for her example:

Nat

We love the layered look on Nat's layout and the lovely earthy tones she's used to match her gorgeous photo!

Ifa

Ifa has created a lovely bright layout, the little flags are so cute!

                                                 Jen G

Jen has used the Authentique 'celebrate' range for her fab layout, those photos really made us smile!

Helen

We love how Helen has flipped the sketch and her clever use of all the different alphas!

                                                   Lou
Lou has cleverly repeated the number 3 throughtout her page, with her papers and embellishments, resulting in a very eye-catching and striking layout.

We hope you like the sketch and are feeling inspired by our design team's examples! We look forward to seeing your creations and hope you have fun!

May Challenge Winner

We had some fantastic entries into our challenge this month, and the DT have really enjoyed seeing all the different interpretations of the sketch. Thank you to all who took part.
Unfortunately there can only be one winner, and this month the DT have voted Gwyneth as our winner. We really liked how she used one of our kits and thought that the bold colours were just perfect for the stunning photograph.

Congratulations Gwyneth. Email Lianne to claim your £20 e-voucher lianne@sarahscardsltd.com.

Tracie will be back in a couple more days with another sketch challenge, so watch this space.

In stitches...

Back in my teens, the first craft that I discovered was Cross Stitching.  I still have part-finished designs which I have spent hours and hours working on and now that I feel guilty about not finishing: maybe one day!  I think the reason why I like Scrapbooking so much is that after just a short burst of creativity, you have a finished product.  I still love sewing though and try to find ways to incorporate both machine and hand-stitching into my layouts (I also have a huge box of threads that need using up too!)  I often stick to sewing a frame around a page or adding some small details or lines and so decided that I'd like to explore some other ways in which to include sewing on scrapbook layouts.

1. Handsewn titles

a) Number Outlines:
 

This effect could be created in a couple of ways, for instance, using chipboard or number stickers but in order to get the exact size and font that I wanted, I cut out a card template using my Craft Robo.  I then placed these in position on my layout using some temporary adhesive to keep them in place.

Using a paper piercer, I pricked holes all around the edge of the numbers at equal intervals:

I then sewed a running stitch, using some brown twine, in one direction following the holes and then sewed back again to fill in the gaps.

This is my completed page where you get an idea of the size and impact of this large sewn title:

b) Cursive Script Words and Phrases:

To create this sewn title, I typed my selected phrase into MS Word using 'Prelude FLF' font.  I printed it in a few different sizes so that I could choose the one with the best fit (80pt in this case).  I then laid the paper down on my page and pierced along the printed letters at regular intervals.

I repeated this in different positions on the page before backstitching along the words using 3 strands from the skein so the finished effect wouldn't be too bulky.  

I chose three different shades of pink which matched the Crate patterned paper that I had picked for this page, which I made for our wedding anniversary which we celebrated earlier this week.

2. Embroidered details

a) Cross Stitch embellishments:

One feature I often use on my pages is to add small cross stitches.  On this page I placed a couple at the top corner of the photograph: 

 b) Sampler stitches:

I first learnt to sew at primary school where we used to make samplers decorated with different embroidery stitches.  I wondered if I could translate this idea onto a scrapbook page and this following page was born.

I used a piece of grid paper by Studio Calico to replace gridded fabric like aida or the binca that we used at school.  This meant that I could pierce holes at equal points to sew through, to create patterns.

My first row was a simple running stitch and from there, I added some further decorative stitches:

 I also added a triangle of cross stitches on the photo section:

The finished layout:

 c) Heart embellishment:

For my final page, I used an idea that I had seen on Pinterest for making a piece of wall art.  I'd ordered a piece of the Studio Calico map paper for the reverse pattern but then realised that the map covered Brittany, which is one of my favourite places, and decided to make a layout all about that.  

I glued all of the papers/elements into place before placing a chipboard sheet over the map and piercing holes around the inside of the shape:

Using 3 strands of red floss, I backstitched around the outline:

The finished page:

Apart from the sewing, there are also some common elements running through each of these layouts: the use of the wood veneer shapes, washi tape embellishments and strips of patterned paper forming borders at the top and bottome of the pages.

I hope that I've given you a few ideas to add some texture and interest to your layouts.  We'd love to see your pages using handstitching: leave a link here or on our Facebook page.

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