It’s Official!

My favorite season is here – it’s Fall y’all!  I love everything about it – the colors, the crispness of the air, football, and finally getting to make big pots of soups and stews – there’s nothing I don’t like about this season.  

One of the ways I always kick off the season is with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks.  This is a layout about my first one of the 2013 season.   I’ve tried to remember to capture it in the past, but I usually have finished 3 or 4 by the time it occurs to me to take a picture and do a layout.  Not this year!  And I especially love that since it was the 10^th Anniversary, Starbucks created a special cup sleeve.  Had to use that on the layout!

  

Something else I’ve been doing lately is mixing up my fonts for the title.  This one has four words and I used four different types of letter stickers.  I think it turned out pretty cool.  This is a great trick.  It adds interest and it avoids using up all your letters from one font for a longer title.  Of course, with my extensive collection of Thickers, that’s not really a concern.  But humor me!

 


My Pumpkin Spice Love by Moanica Caston.  Cardstock: Bazzill;  Patterned Paper and Journaling Block: Pink Paislee; Layered Stickers: My Mind’s Eye; Alphas:  American Crafts Thickers.

How do you welcome Fall?  Whether it’s raking leaves, burning warm-scented candles or picking pumpkins, be sure to remember to take some photos and capture the memory!

Moanica

Hello Fall

Hello my Crafty Friends.. I am back with my Post for this month.. WOW can we say "Hello Fall". Where did the time go; just a few short weeks before all the holiday season begin, seriously have you all seen the Christmas Commercial's that they are already playing on the air.. 

Well before I start decorating the tree and all that, I want to share a quick card I made just welcoming the cool weather of Fall and all the gorgeous colors that come with the changes of the season. 

I started with this cute little stamp from "Unity Stamp Co. I usually stamp my images twice, just in case I mess up or if I have several cards that I need to make. Stamped with "Memento Tuxedo Black" on PTI white card stock. once I stamped I colored the 'Acorns with my Prisma colored pencils and OMS.

 Here are my 'supplies' and embellishments that I used for my card. DP is from MME. flower is from a "gift set" I have had for a while. ( just added a little brad to the middle). Ribbon is from Webster's page. 'Tombo Adhesive. and pop dots. Memento Rich Cocoa and sentiment.

 Here is my finish card. Card stock ( A2 card 4 1/2 x 51/2 "Vintage Cream and Dark Chocolate from PTI.  Very simple and easy to make. I hope you enjoyed seeing my card and that I inspired some of you to start with some of those "Fall and Holiday's cards that we know that we will be making for 'family and friends'. I would love for you to share them with us here.. and as always I love any feed back, questions or comments that you may have.. Enjoy the cool weather and have a great rest of September.


Happy Scrapping.

Sharette

Welcoming November...

Hi there,

I created a fall card to share with you today. I always love this time of year.  The tree leaves are turning into beautiful fall colors and the temps are cooler. As inspiration for this card, I used the fall color of leaves that I see so many of these days here in North Carolina. I wanted the card to feel earthy and warm.  I used a lot of texture and I wanted the card to be as warm as the sentiment, “Gratitude.”

Gratitude by Karen Jiles Supplies Cardstock: Bazzill, Close to my Heart; Patterned Paper: K and Co., Making Memories; Metal Charm: Making Memories; Corrugated Board: Zutter; Flowers, Leaves: Prima; Ink: Ranger; Other: Ribbon

Tip: Creating texture in card making can be achieved in various ways.  I distressed the edges and used corrugated board. I also used flowers and leaves with dimensional elements to balance out the card.

Happy Fall to you,

Karen

Change Your Hair With the Weather...using Photoshop

The seasons are changing once again.  In a few weeks it will officially be Autumn…my favorite season!  Autumn is the most beautiful of the seasons.  It seems even mother-nature is ready for a make-over by the time Fall rolls around.  The bright colors of the trees and leaves are simply breathtaking!

Well, if you would like to take a cue from mother-nature you may be interested in your own make-over.  Perhaps, a new outfit, a drastic hair cut or maybe even a new hair color?  Not ready to commit?  No worries, here is a quick tutorial on how to change your hair color using Photoshop.  It can be a fun idea for a scrapbook layout or maybe just to change the look of your SOC profile pic.

• Step 1: Open a copy of the desired image in Photoshop. (Be sure to use a copy and not the original)
• Step 2: Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool and set it to 15px feathered.

• Step 3: Draw a selection around the area of hair you would like to color.
  
• Step 4: Copy the selection and “Paste in Place” (Shift + Ctrl +V).  (This will drop the selection on a new layer in the exact same spot.) Rename this layer “Hairpiece.”
• Step 5: In the Adjustments Tab, click the Color Balance Icon. A new item will appear in the Layers Tab.

• Step 6:  Play with the colors until you have a shade you are happy with.

Did your entire picture change colors? Don’t worry that is supposed to happen.  We will fix that in the next step.

• Step 7:  Holding down the “Alt” key on your keyboard.  Click between the "Color Balance" layer and your “Hairpiece” layer (You will know you are in the right place when your cursor changes shape). This will attach the "Color Balance" layer to the hair piece selection, while the rest of your image goes back to the original color.

• Step 8: That’s it!  Save your image as a jpg or other image file and you are done!

*Tip: You can always re-adjust the color of your hair highlights by double clicking the black and white circle in the "Color Balance" layer.

Give it try! What color will you choose?

*Image is stock photography.

Thanks Giving

Hello everyone, Barb here. Can you believe we are standing on the threshold of Thanksgiving? I love this time of year. I love everything about it! The cool crisp weather, the scent of wood smoke fires in the evening, the beautiful Autumn sunsets, the distinctly Fall colors of pumpkin orange, faded green, rusty brown and butter yellow.

During this season of gratitude, why not send an ‘I am thankful for you’ card to the special people in your life. Not only would it be surprise, but it would also brighten someone’s day. I am a firm believer in telling people how they have influenced my life, or how much I appreciate them.  And what better way to spread a little love around than with a hand-crafted greeting card? 

Click to enlarge

Card Supplies: 

stamp sets: Holiday Best(Stampin’ Up!)

card stock: Vintage Cream(Papertrey Ink) Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango(Stampin' Up!) 

patterned paper: Traditions Floral Paisley(The Paper Studio)

ink: Antique Linen Distress Ink(Ranger)

accessories: Paisley embossing folder(Provo Craft), Filigree embossing powder(Papertrey Ink), Deckled Edge Rectangles(Spellbinders), ribbon(Memory Mare),Tiny Twinkles(Taylored Expressions)

 Creating “thankful for you” cards has become a tradition with me, something I work on all year. That way, I always have cards on hand when I need them. I know we all have our favorite holiday traditions…I am always curious about what everyone is doing. What is your most favorite Thanksgiving tradition?  Share with us!

My wish for each of you is that you have a warm, wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving. Enjoy your friends and family and of course the delicious food. Don’t forget to take lots of pictures, because we want to see your scrapbook pages later.

And make sure you carve out a little craft time to create something beautiful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Place Card

Time is flying by! Can you believe Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away?!! For some people it can be a stressful time of the year, as they prepare to host lots of family and friends. For me, it is a time to re-unite with family. When I was younger it seemed that the whole family lived in one place (no more than 15 minutes apart). Now we all live in different states. So, the thought of Thanksgiving is anything but stressful it is exciting, filled with food, friends, family and fun!

Of course since I am not hosting Thanksgiving, there is no need to defrost any turkeys, shred any cheese for baked macaroni & cheese, clean and cut collard greens, peel and bake candied yams, or roll out any dough for pie. I have the luxury of just showing up! So, to help out all of those people who are hosting Thanksgiving dinner I offer my contribution to your table. I have attached a place card that you may print and cut out for the holiday.

Tips: Double click the image to download. Use heavy cardstock and fold the card in half to allow it to stand on its own. Also, if you print a large copy of the image you can use it as a place mat...at the kiddie table perhaps.

HAPPY FALL!!!

Hi there,

Happy Fall!!! Can you believe that Fall is here already?? I love this time of year. The tree leaves are turning into beautiful fall colors and the weather is so cooperative. In North Carolina, we have such a variety of beautiful trees, plants, and shrubs that we get an opportunity to enjoy the most wonderful colors this time of year. I like to take full advantage of the photo opportunities during this window of time. Fall scenes can be breathtaking and Scenic photos can become instant cards that are perfect for all occasions.

I took the following photos while on Lake Norman. As I enjoyed the lake, I could see all of the card opportunities as I took in all of this beauty.





The best part of these photos is the variation in color of the trees, but I also like that if I choose- I can print in sepia or black and white to get a completely different effect and I can also expand my set of All Occasion cards. Late October – December is usually a very busy time for us, so creating quick lovely cards is always a plus in my book and photo cards enable me to add to my collection instantly. The themes can be endless: Thinking of you, Missing you, Birthday Wishes, Hello-the list can go on and on. See my instant photo cards are below…



In Sepia...


So, are you taking full advantage of your Fall photo opportunities? I hope so. You could be building your card collection as well.

Hugs, Karen