Spotted in the Gallery - March 28th

Jess is away right now and I volunteered to do the spotted in gallery blog posts! Hope you are having a great time Jess!

This week there was so much eye candy in the gallery it was really hard to choose....

This one by Tara (thynner) really caught my eye. the design, the flower, and the colors all made an outstanding layout

Have a great day!

Fabulous Friday - Blueprint Challenge

This Fabulous Friday is our Blueprint Challenge from the lovely Laurel. Perfect timing for a weekend of scrapping!!!! Heeeeeere's Laurel!!!!!

Hi there Laurel here.  My favorite challenges are sketch challenges so I love when it is my turn to do the Blueprint challenge for you.  I borrowed this sketch from Liz at The Scrappiest and used some Bo Bunny Ad Lib paper to do a layout about my daughter and her best friend. 

 

Here is the sketch:

 

Here is what I came up with using the Bo Bunny papers, some Glitz mini letters and some twine from The Twinery.

 

 

 

I would love to see what you do with this sketch.

Thanks Laurel!

 

Fabulous Find - BoBunny Petal Pushers

BoBunny is a company that I am smitten with! Their lines over the past 18 months has me wanting more, more and oh so much more! LOL One of my most recent favorite lines is Petal Pushers (...and I also have some Gabrielle waiting for some love!)


Here is a layout I created with Petal Pushers.

Supplies:  Bazzill (swiss dots cardstock); BoBunny (pattern paper, chipboard accents, gems, rubs); Prima (butterfly, pearls); EK Success (border punch); American Crafts (alphas); stitching

I love the bold patterns and vibrant colours which yield such fresh happy layouts.

So what is YOUR favorite BoBunny line to date???

Spotted in the Gallery!

Well I think we all agree that the March kit is a stunner! I'd like to share this card made by Gail... simple and absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your March kit creations with us Gail!


We'd love to see what everyone else has been doing with the kit as well... please drop by the gallery and upload some of your beautiful work, or linki to it in the comments section!

Fabulous Friday - Anything But Challenge

We are so fortunate to have Stevie host today's Fabulous Friday - Anything But challenge!

Today I thought I’d change things up a bit and do a photography tutorial.  We’re going to learn how to use an 18% Grey Card.  A grey card is a tool that photographers use to adjust and get the correct white balance in a photo.  These cards are very inexpensive to buy –mine came in a 2 pack  (8x10) at my local camera store for $14.99.

 

You may say “My camera has Automatic White Balance, isn’t that good enough?”.  Yes, MOST of the time, but there are times when even your camera is fooled.  This happens mainly at night when the camera is reading exposure and trying to focus in a low light situation.  For these times, and any other time you want the correct white balance, a grey card comes in handy.  A grey card works with cameras that will allow you set a CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE.  This is the easiest, BUT if your camera doesn’t have this setting, then don’t worry.  We can get around that.   Check your manual on how to set it.

You will see in this first photo of my ancient teddy bear, the colour is off.  I shot this in daylight on a white sheet.  Notice that the sheet appears blue and the bear, even though he is tan, has a blue tint to him? 

It’s very easy to correct this.  Take your Grey Card and place it beside whatever it is you wish to photograph.  Make sure that you are focused on the grey card.   In this second photo, you can see that the tones are correct.  Don’t erase this photo! 

Now you can set your custom white balance on your camera, if it has this feature.  If it doesn’t, just save this last photo and continue to take your photos. 

You can see that my teddy bear is the correct shade and my sheet is now white. 

If your camera doesn’t have a custom white balance feature, then open up your photo editing software.  I use PSE9, so directions are for that.  Open up your photo with your grey card in it.  Go to Enhance/Adjust lighting levels.  This will open a dialogue box.  You will see three eyedroppers. Click on the grey one (in the middle) and then click on the grey card in your photo.  Like magic your photo will adjust to the correct white balance.  If you don’t want to buy a grey card, I have found that the Bazzill “thunder” grey cardstock is very close in colour. 

Give it a try!

Thanks Stevie - I am going to give this a try right away!

Fabulous Find - Scrapbook and Cards Today Card Maps

Have you seen this???

It's pretty darn amazing, don't you think??? I'm loving Card Maps and you can now pre-order yours from Sandy now! Just drop her an email at sandy@scrapshotz.com.

Enjoy!

Crop 4 Kids 2011

Registration is now open to the public for the Scrap Shotz sponsored "Copics, Copics and More Copics" class. If you have 2 hours on Saturday March 19, come down to say hi and support a fantastic charity event.

Thank you!

Smackdown!!!

Got your attention didn't I? YOU thought I was gonna say "Spotted in the Gallery!" didn't you??? Hahahaha well I've become too predictable then haven't I?

I lOVE how Rosie is able to capture the "everyday" moments on her pages... she has such a knack for scrapping nothing, and in effect something very special! This is one of those things... I love this set of photos and how it depicts so many of our homes on a regular day... thanks Rosie!

Fabulous Friday - Inspired By Challenge

We have a Fabulous Inspired By challenge from the lovely Laura today. She calls it "Words!" I am SO intrigued by this; aren't you?

Every time you open your mouth and speak they come out.....these brilliant ways of communicating....these awesome concepts of expression

Whether you chat chitchat, confab, consult, converse, have a discussion, talk or a tête-à-tête, we all use them....some words we use more than others....

Do you have a saying that you are always using?  Do your kids constantly spout something that makes you laugh or grates on your nerves?  Is there another way you and your teen or preteen say 'I love you' so they don't get embarrassed?  Are there sentences that you or someone you love routinely say?  I want you to be inspired by the words you speak.  To use something you or someone you love say a lot as your inspiration of your project.

Every night when my boys got to bed we say to each other "I love you around the world and back again, forever and a day' and I decided to use that on this layout.

Can't wait to see what you create. 

Spotted in the Gallery!

Well our "Night at the Oscars" Crop was a huge success!!! And guess what... YOU STILL HAVE TIME!!! You have until MIDNIGHT tonight to get your fabulous creations uploaded onto the forum for a chance to win great crop prizes!





Here is my choice for "favorite" this week... (and it was an impossible feat to choose!) Kelly (KZ) uploaded this layout of her puppy... (yes... just ONE puppy...) and I was so wowed by the photo that I had to share it with you!

Head over to the gallery for more goodness and inspiration!

"A Night at the Oscars" Charity Chaser

For this crop, Scrap Shotz is proud to be supporting Habitat For Humanity (http://www.habitat.ca).

Through volunteer labour, efficient management and tax-deductible donations of money and materials, Habitat for Humanity builds and rehabilitates safe, decent and affordable houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and are financed with affordable, no-interest mortgages. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments go into a revolving fund, which is used to build more homes. 

Habitat for Humanity is a hand up, not a hand out. In addition to mortgage payments, each homeowner invests hundreds of hours of their own labour, called "sweat equity”, into the building of their home and the homes of others.

Our Mission

To mobilize volunteers and community partners in building affordable housing and promoting homeownership as a means to breaking the cycle of poverty.

Vision
A world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live.

Sandy and Scrap Shotz will be donating $5 to this charity for every card or layout done (one per person)... thanks Scrap Shotz!!!

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!!

To participate in this "chaser" you must lift the CARD OR LAYOUT of the person in front of you.

The only twist is that you must use either a touch of GOLD for Oscar or a touch of SILVER for the Silver Screen!

The KEY is that you only have ONE HOUR to post your completed project...

...you must dibs your turn by posting "DIBS" after the preceding project.

If someone else has called DIBS you must wait until they have uploaded their project to DIBS that one...

Ready? Set? GO!

Don't forget to grab my Charity Blinkie when you're done (Thanks, Jess!).

Let's Spread The Love Challenge!!!

Tomorrow is the start of our online crop, Night at the Oscars! Let's all work together to spread the love. 

This prize is up for grabs! Want to know how to win it????

Well, all you need to do is link up the details about the Scrap Shotz online crop from our web page to your blog. Then come back here and post in the comments that you have finished linking us up!

I will draw for the prize tomorrow when the crop officially starts; that is Friday, March 4, 2011 at 8:00 pm EST.

So let's Spread the Love!!!!!!

Only One More Sleep!!!!!

This is IT!!!!!!! Tomorrow is the start our "Night at the Oscars!" Here are a few more hints to enjoy!!!!

See you guys bright and early!!!!

The Roving Reporter - CHA Winter 2011 Los Angeles Part II

I am SO excited to share Connie's second post on her time at CHA Winter 2011.

Prima had a ton of new things – papers, embellishments, trims……  I really was intrigued by these canvas mistable products – whole sheets and die cut shapes.  Lots of potential fun with these and Smooch Spritz or Tattered Angels mists….

some interesting metal embellishments

many, many cool flowers…..

 I love the colours and themes that Bo Bunny came out with – a fun boy rocket set and a beautiful vintagey timepiece collection.  Gorgeous.

Their booth always seemed to be hopping!!

And last, but not least, there will be lots of new Spellbinders dies you will want to pick up.   I don’t have a picture, but Foliage and Carnation Creations are on my list of must-haves.  This photo is of the owners of the company with the new Grand Caliber diecutting machine for extra large nesties. 

So hopefully, some or all of these products will make it into a monthly kit and online store near you!  ;-)   Happy shopping.

A Few More Sneaks...

Just a few more sleeps until our crop!!!! I snuck in for a few more sneaks!! Check these out!!!

I hope you are getting as excited as I am!!!!