Club Scrap Community Blogs

I've discovered that outdoor photos with the pale blue sky and vivid green grass are just dandy on Just Dandy! And, having some cute grandson smiles on the photos makes it just dandier.

 Gavin came to stay with us for a couple weeks and we had a very dandy time!  Now that he's in school, I don't get to bring him across the lake to visit us but a few times a year. I took the opportunity on this visit to take his six year photos (I try to get at least one good photo shoot in every year).

Of course, now that he's older, sometimes it's tough to get a nice smile out of him and he's not always in the mood to get his photo taken.

Luckily, most of these faces were staged and he was in a good mood for photos.  {oh bother) is an easy layout. Just a background, a strip of another background, a photo and a title.  The tricky parts are the partial OOB (Out Of Bounds or Out Of Box) extraction on the photo and the 'grass' made from the background paper at the bottom of the layout.  A couple nifty tricks to make an outstanding layout from just a few parts.  Of course, the photo is a hoot.

Gavin was feeling a bit sassy and I made sure to snap a pic when he stuck out his tongue.

And, the tongue is what makes the layout.  Another very easy layout here - a couple of backgrounds (one trimmed to a banner strip) and some fantasy shadowing (wide, feathered non-dropped shadows). Add a Stamp Graphic and yyou're done.  The best part of digital scrapbooking - your photos can easily be twelve inches wide!

 Black and white photos are easy to get in digital - a one-button desaturation. Don't like the look, just undo!  This trick is the perfect way to call attention to a small highlight photo.  Or, go the opposite route and use one small color highlight photo and make the rest of your photos b/w. The contrast between the two is what will draw the eye.

Don't worry about matching the colors in your photos to the kit colors - sometimes the split-complimentary or contrasts are what makes it work.  Textures can make an artwork sing more than colors sometimes.  The pink/red of Gavin's shoes and the navy blue (purple looking in the sun) shirt are just fine with Just Dandy.  I must say, however, I do like the rust colors of the kit with his ginger hair, heheheh.

One last layout.  Gavin's new thing is puppets.  He doesn't go far without his two best friends.  "Can I get my pictures taken with my puppets?" he asked when I told him it was time for his shoot.  It was the only way I could convince him to get in front of the camera.  Then he was all excited about getting some pics taken, hehehe.

puppetland is too easy to create.  Several background each scaled a bit smaller than the one under it.  Slap on a border strip Xtra and you're ready for photos and a title.  The title is easily made from the kit Alphas and I'm done.  The cool see-though look is quickly achieved by turning the title layer and the big photos into Overlay layer style.

Well, Gav's gone home now and I'll probably not see him again 'til Thanksgiving or so. Good thing I got some photos to play with in the mean time!

Hope all of your artwork is just dandy with Just Dandy! Enjoy!

:) jac