Inspiration is everywhere, if you know where to look!

Club Scrap is blessed with some of the most talented scrapbookers, stampers and papercrafters. When your muse takes a vacation, there are a few key places to visit that will have your crafting mojo revved up in no time!

Number one on my list is this blog. I'm so proud of how far we've come in just a little over a year (our one-year "blogiversary" was in May). And since February of this year, we've had the honor of partnering with numerous other talented bloggers, to celebrate all things crafty with the monthly Blog Hop. Just look at some examples of all the crafty goodness shared last week on the Wisteria Blog Hop!

So many of the Wisteria projects blew me away! After 6 months of Blog Hops, I have so many MORE awesome ideas floating around in my head than before . . . now I just need the time to make them a reality. Sigh.

Now that our "Pro Scrapbookers League" Summer Camp challenges have come to a close, the Club Scrap Galleria is chock-full of awesome scrapbook pages, greeting cards, digital art, and other papercraft projects. No shortage of inspiration there!

Have you checked out the free Scrap Rap Magazine recently? I know I'm biased, but I think this monthly publication just keeps getting better and better. Not only is there a TON of eye candy in the way of beautiful photographs, but each issue features at least one new technique to try to stretch those creative muscles.

Finally, my very favorite source of creative inspiration starts tomorrow: Our annual Club Scrap Retreat! Four days with 50 new friends, learning and sharing, and laughing and wining and dining . . . can you tell I'm excited? Actually, the fun for me, and 17 others, kicks off tonight at a pre-Retreat wine tasting this evening. I can't wait!

So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you ever find yourself needing a little creative boost, look to the amazing resources inspired by, and created by, your fellow Club Scrappers.

Have an amazingly creative day!
Karen

The Pleasures of the PSL Collection!

Greetings from Kay here at Club Scrap!

Last week we wrapped up our Pro Scrapbookers League Summer Camp, and what a great time it was! The number of projects and pages completed is unbelievable! In honor of the PSL, we designed a Bugs Collection, and I've just gotta show it off! Check out that Dragonfly Masking Stencil.

Background created using Dragonfly Masking Stencil & Memories Mist

A little bit about using the masking stencil.

Mask off paper into three sections during the process. Work one section at a time with mists and the masking stencil, keeping the other areas covered. Have fun!

The Sorrento Font Art Unmounted Rubber Stamps  made the prefect stamped addition to my background.

I'm looking forward to using this masking stencil on more projects!

I hope all of you involved in the PSL are enjoying stowing away your completed pages in albums this week. To those of you on the project teams -- enjoy your finished works of art. Maybe you already have a great start on Christmas gifts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kay

Join us for Summer Camp!

Okay, so in most parts of the country, school is out for summer vacation. Parents are sending their kids to summer school, summer camp or other organized activities to keep them entertained and their brains stimulated.

So why not do the same for yourself? Grown-ups deserve a treat, too, and let's face it, our creative muscles could use a little stretching. Am I right?

This is where Club Scrap's Pro Scrapbooker's League Summer Camp comes in (or as we say, PSL Summer Camp, because otherwise it's a mouthful, I tell ya). Summer Camp is four weeks of fun designed to stretch your creative muscles, stimulate your mojo, make new and visit with old crafting friends, and inspire you to get a whole lot done. Sounds like a good time, doesn't it?

To be a part of the fun, get signed up next week...registration starts Monday, June 24. Sign up for a cabin based on your interest(s): scrapbooking, cardmaking, digital, or (new this year!) papercrafting projects. After registration, you'll be treated to four weeks of challenges that will inspire you to squeeze in as much creativity as you can each week. Oh, and did I mention the prizes? Each cabin category will have a bit of friendly competition with the others to see which cabin can get the most points. Get your crafting on AND get rewarded for it? Now that's what I call a great summer!

If you're still not fully convinced, go to this page for more information, as well as testimonials from past Summer Camp participants. Or, stop by this page to get to know the Camp Counselors. What have you got to lose?

I hope to see you at Camp. The last one to the campfire is a rotten egg!

Creatively yours,
Karen

Get The Picture?

Happy Friday, Club Scrap Bloggers!

The Winter Pro Scrapbookers League (PSL) just concluded, and it was a great season with over 5,000 new layouts now in page protectors and albums! With the end of the season comes the fun PSL paper and unmounted rubber stamp collection. This year's theme is Get The Picture. I made a little time to whip out a card and layout. You can shop for it tomorrow if you didn't participate in the PSL this year.

Check out this page made in only minutes using the paper and cutaparts . . .

The Get the Picture unmounted stamps really play well with other stamp sets! I used it with my favorite globe image from Bookshelves and a stamped butterfly.

Just because I'm excited about this kit, I have to keep talking about it! I hope you don't mind. Here are a few photos of my card in progress.

First I stamped the front panel and a layering piece.

Then attached the stamped layer and did a little embellishing to the stamped images.

Since the stamps include this cool film negative strip image, I used StazOn ink to stamp onto a transparency.

Then trimmed around the stamped image and attached to my card front with a staple.

Now I have a fun card that will have to sit on my desk for awhile before I can give it away (since I like so much).

While I'm at it, I have a couple other snapshots to share. 

Here's a little peek at the cards Tricia whipped up with rubber stamps, the View Finder Masking Stencil and small manila tags from her stash.

Such a cool look!

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

Kay here at Club Scrap

Did You Get the Picture?

Ron here with a ‘sort-of’ sneak peek this Thursday. If you participated in this year’s Winter PSL, you might have already seen the Get the Picture collection. If not, be warned - there’s a digi-spoiler or two in this post! But don’t worry, everyone will be able to get the paper and/or digi kit tomorrow!

I know I’ve said this before, but . . . I love this kit. Seriously. It’s so neutral. Perfect for any photos ‘cuz it’s a photo theme! And it’s grungy and dark. My kit of kits, for sure.

I decided to start with a layout using a few photos from my first CS Retreat in 2010.

Cool, huh?

Next, I was inspired by Tricia’s blog post from earlier this week. When I saw what she did with the masking stencil, I thought “I can do that with digi stuff.” So I did. I started with one of the digi backgrounds instead of coloring a white panel, and used that uber-cool ‘Viewmaster’ stamp as the masking stencil. I chose a ‘heavy oil’ brush and swiped a light beige color across using the stencil technique that I covered in THIS blog post, added a stamped sentiment, layered it on a couple of other pieces of background ‘paper’ and within minutes had a nifty digital card.

Just a couple of ideas of what you can create with this amazing kit. Now, go create something wonderful of your own and share it with someone special!

Pro Scrapbooker's League--Final Weekend!

This is the final weekend of PSL (Pro Scrapbooker's League). It's been a very busy and exciting season, with brand-new challenges, old favorites, and some new twists on old favorites. I'll be sad to see it end...but, hey...PSL Summer Camp is only a coupla months away, right?

The weekend isn't quite over yet, (and because of Easter, we still have til Monday) but I thought I'd share a few amazing stats with y'all. As of this morning, here are the number of submissions for each category...

Traditional/Paper Scrapbook pages completed: 2724

Cards completed: 1677

Digital Scrapbook pages completed: 505

Total count of artwork submitted: 4906

Incredible! Almost 5,000 pieces of art produced in the span of 7 weeks. If you're looking for inspiration, I encourage you to check out the  PSL Galleria...goodness knows you won't run out of stuff to look at...at least not for quite a while.

If you're new to our blog, and you're wondering "What the heck is PSL?" You can go HERE for more info. If it sounds intriguing, and you want to know when the next PSL season starts, sign up for our Club Scrap E-news and you'll be "in the know" for all things Club Scrap.

Have a creative day!
Karen

3-Step Digital Layout

As many of you know, Club Scrap® Summer Camp started this week (and if you don't know about Summer Camp, click here to learn about it!). Karen Wyngaard and I are the Counselors for this year's digital cabins. So I thought this might be a nice time to show everyone a quick 3-step digital layout. It's an easy way to make a layout, even if you're new to digital scrapping. And If you want to add some journalling, I've got an optional 4th step for ya, too! Even with 4 steps, we're still talkin' easy-peasy!

One of the great things about the monthly Club Scrap Digital™ kits are the clusters - these are ready-made embellishments that include custom shadows to make your digital layouts really shine! And sometimes, 1 or 2 of those clusters include frames - it's those frame clusters that allow us to make a really cool layout in 3 (or 4) steps! So let's get started…

(My layout was made using Adobe Photoshop 5; if you're using a different program, adjust your steps accordingly - but this is a very basic layout which doesn't use a lot of fancy steps!)

To get started, open a new document - 12" x 12", 300 ppi, transparent background. Make sure you've selected the Pointer tool from the Tool palette.

1. Pick a background for your layout and drag it onto your new document. (In Photoshop, if you hold down the Shift key while you drag, the background will automatically center itself in your new document.) I'm using a background from July's Sorrento Kit.

First, place your background.

2. Open your desired photo and drag it onto the background (don't worry about where to position the photo yet).

Next, add a photo.

3. Open your frame cluster and drag it onto the background. I picked a frame cluster from Just Dandy. (Yeah, that's right - I'm mixing kits, but don't they look great together?!)

Then, add a Frame Cluster.

Now you can resize your photo so that it fits the frame - click and hold one of the corners and drag to make your photo larger or smaller, as needed. Hold the Shift key to retain the photo's proportions while you resize. Press 'Enter' to accept your changes. Depending on the frame cluster that you chose, you may need to rotate your photo - hover your cursor near one of the corners of the photo until you see the curved arrows - then click and drag to rotate the photo as needed. Press 'Enter' to accept your changes. If you want to move your photo & cluster on the page, just be sure to select both layers in the layers palette and reposition as desired.

Finished Basic 3-Step Layout

You're done! Now wasn't that easy?

Okay, if you want to add some journalling, here's a quick way to do that:

4. Select the Text tool (it's a capital 'T') in the Tool palette, click anywhere on your layout and type your title or journalling (photoshop will automatically create a new layer for your text). Change the font, size, and color as desired. Repeat if you want to add more text to your layout.

Done! Here's my finished layout:

Finished Layout with optional Text

Now it's your turn - make a layout (for PSL or just for yourself).

And here's a surprise - Tricia's on vacation this week, so we're havin' a bit of extra fun while she's gone - post a comment (by Friday, July 13th 12 Noon CS time) and tell me what you love about Club Scrap Digital™ and 1 lucky winner (chosen at random) will get a special digi prize!