Author: Heather Taylor

Hi everybody! Yes, we just jumped directly from winter to summer. So odd! But having the sun around has been very nice, for a change. =)

As a result, I think, I’m just popping with color-love, and boy were the galleries full of it! I love the fun hand-written details and lines in Cherrylej’s “Oh, Happy Day.” They really emphasize that wonderful message to her daughter, too–and as always, the side-by-side approach of luscious color with black and white makes its own kind of splash.

Ga_L’s terrific “Curious & Awesome Boy” is totally sweet with its funny pics–again, b&w, but this time positioned against more subdued colors. the background brushwork gives the photos a great base to jump off of, and the red/yellow rectangles are balanced by the roundness of the pics and the background.

And look at the glorious color in this remembrance page by mcurtt! I love how there’s a diagonal gradient of color, going from the white background through the gray of text and the darker gray of pattern, and then lighter color to that full-on orange and red of the poppies. Plus, the text is so lovely…

ninigodigi’s Kiku page is just so well-balanced! The yellows of the stamens is reflected in the triangles, and the reds & oranges in the Japanese flower paper. and then that messy thread just brings it all together–it really made me gasp when I first saw it. Pro tip: when separating a page in two, unless you’re playing with formal balance, always allow the bottom “half” to in fact be just a touch larger, so that the page appears anchored, just like she does here. ♥

I chose Ozegirl’s “Totally 100% Boy” because…. how can you resist that cute face and those bright reds and blues? I love the combo of the 3D details and the cute illustrations, too.

And finally, I was so tickled by tanpopo’s page “Smoothie Time” with that cute little girl and all the bright dots of color everywhere. What a light, bubbly, happy page!

I sure hope you have plenty of happy color in your life these days too! ♥

Hi everybody–a quick flit between seasons: spring in the daytime, winter at night. For some reason, I’m in an artsy mood, so this is what’s jumped out at me in the galleries today. I discovered Timounette’s “Find a Way,” and really appreciated the diagonals, and the triangles of the envelope in the photo playing off the triangle on the arrow. The italic typeface gives even more depth to the motion…

Then I happened on tinekereinders’s well-named “Modern Art” piece. Isn’t digital scrapbooking great? You really might think you’re looking at a painting!

Then I found this super-cute page by debby todd, “Spring.” Such great spring colors, indeed–and that jumping girl! I just love the shadowing on this, too–and the collage feeling of the background.

And speaking of collage: The background is just *great* on this “Sunshine” page by Annemiekkok. I just love all those little strips and bits of paper, coupled with the paint and the stitching. And of course when you have such a busy background, a black and white photo is sure to make everything pop!

CharlotteM’s page, “Smell The Sea,” has a very different background, but it’s equally eye-catching because of the amazing job she did blending the photo into the paper. It’s so beautifully done that it’s hard to tell where the photo ends, and the painted elements begin…

And in parting, I was just enchanted by Akizo’s “Be Mine“–a lovely dance of photo, elements, and paint. Great colors to continue luring in the Spring, too! ♥ Anyway, I hope I brought you some inspiration today–I just love seeing how digiscrapping can be stretched and enhanced.

Catch you later on the flip side! =)

For some reason this month has been crazy busy! But now night has fallen, and it’s my turn to owl through the galleries… 😉

First up: Gachal’s “Selfie Time.” Love the black and white only, and that hilarious photo! I also really like that the darkest, most continuous patch of black is in the photo, which really draws our eye. All the other black elements are broken up in intensity, either as brushes, or stripes, or dusted somehow with white.

I also loved Mielz’s “Grottes de Caméros,” with its minimalist touch, spare brushwork and neutral tones–and then that yawning black cave with the tiny figure in front of it. Spectacular photo and a lovely mise-en-page!

In “Happy Place,” Lor reverses the starkness of the image, with the pure white of the outside light shining in to the darker room. The strong colors liven up the black and white and neutral tones of the photos, and the two little bits of yellow in the embellishments really pick up the yellow of the blanket on the bed. A lovely, balanced page!

The next one, aurian’s “The 100 (Things Most Likely To Be Found On Our Floor That Shouldn’t Be)” is just delightful, both in terms of the actual things (Lego among them, of course!), and the way she’s blended black and white papers and elements to create a sort of rocky, chaotic flavor that goes right along with what she’s describing. Just brilliant–and super-sweet!

Cintia Dhariana’s “The Best Part Of Us” is another layout that plays with shape and direction: squares, circles, pentagons, and the strong diagonal layout. The very careful color range allows that big, high key black and white photo to really stand out, too.

And finally, musicmom3’s “Anti-Gravity Hair” combines the super-cute with limited color range again. Look at that cutie pie! The use of multiple image frames, masked items, and a bunch of loopy elements kind of reflects the unruliness of the hair, as well as the hodge-podge use of color.

I do hope you’ll leave these artists some nice comments–and carry their inspiration into your own work. Happy Monday! ♥

Hi all you digiscrap addicts… Welcome to a new week in digiworld! Amazing layouts have been flying about… here’s just a sampling!

To start off with, a nice warm page from margie in the Netherlands: New Year, New Adventures! I love how she treated the photo by playing with the Threshhold function, and overlaid the map onto the coat. Such a cool, artsy page!

This great page design by Candy Lai caught my eye: Indexed. Not only did I like the slanted paper strips, but also that the focal point is a big space with only wordart instead of the actual photo, whereas the photo is instead on the left. A nice little irony! And the story is great, too.

Then I found “Life,” by Tissie12. I was struck by the repeated motif of the eyes, the color fourths in the background, and the great use of contrast to focus attention.

I really enjoyed scrap-genie’s “New Leaf” metaphor for a newly discovered member of a family tree with the find of an old photograph bearing information on the back. What a cool way to document this!

“Another Photoshoot” by Meryl is such a wonderful expression of family fun and energy! It uses a wide range of patterns and textures, but a fairly monochromatic and subdued color range that ties everything together. And that composite photo is just so much fun.

My final page for the evening is christellevandyk’s super-fun “Sole Mates.” So much to like here: black and white and color, lots of yummy brushwork, the great use of an outline font over the thicker-lined paper, and to crown it all, that fun photo!

I hope everybody manages to retreat to a safe digiscrapping spot to avoid all the temperature extremes across the globe… Scrap on!

Happy New Year from the West coast! We’ve had some wonderful storms over the break, and I’m hoping for a few more good ones before winter comes to an end. But in the meantime, I’m totally enjoying being stuck at home, scrapping and getting to cruise the galleries for inspiration.  The first layout caught my eye a few days ago and I bookmarked it to finger-point, that’s how much I liked it! It’s by ashleywb, and I guess it’s called Dec 2018. You’ll notice that the same photo appears twice–once in black and white, and once in color. I just love the blues, and those super-interesting shapes in the stairs! It’s really kind of mind-bending! *laugh*

Isa Marks always has really terrific layouts–she has an exquisite sense of balance, and great skill with shadowing. You can see both in her “Hello Winter“:

This “Stop!” layout by Many Feathers really stopped ME in the gallery! I love how the black and white interplay here, and the circular litany of chores and tasks to do ring a bell of familiarity. A very creative way to express your one little word!

This next layout, “Breath of Fresh Air,” took mine away! I just love the muted tones and the so-very-lovely blending effects going on here by bcazzell:

Sheana’s “Fresh” is such a great example of balance too, where the blank half balances the busy half by providing contrast and a place to rest your eyes. Love the soft colors, as well!

And finally, I really loved “4 Jan” by Carrie (caliten), which caught my eye in part because that happens to be my Mom’s birthday, but also because the photo is just fabulous, and because it’s so dark, it’s such a great contrast with all the writing on the rest of the layout. Action and brains!

I hope you have a great rest of the month–and happy scrapping!

Well, I’ve had a beautiful day sandwiched between our awesome coastal storms, and I’m happy to hear the wind picking back up again. Meanwhile, back in the tranquil online world… 😉

Tia’s page is a classic! “Believe” (tia3966) is a wonderful clean and simple page with nonetheless lots going on, from the subtle background to that precious photo of new and old–and all kinds of color and embellishments between.

Crystalbella77 gives us another clean and simple layout with “Oh What Fun“, but in this one she uses neutral tones paired with a black and white photo and a darling illustration to provide us with a fun little story about her pre-Christmas traditions.

I also really love “Raileigh At The Battery” by GlazeFamily3. She put together this great background that includes all kinds of fun papers, but also really integrates the word art well. And those photos are so fun! =)

Beauté gives us this funny, graphic-style, totally eye-catching layout, “Merry Christmas.” I just love the stacking of the letters in the word-art with the Santa perched on top, and the funny juxtaposition of the printed speech bubble. And what a colorful, intense background!

I also found this great layout by Myssp, “Ho Ho Ho Ave.” The great shadowing combined with the fabric and wood background make this seem so real, as if somebody had actually done this on their wall. Just love it!

 

And from almost real, let’s go to hybrid! I just love this page by Lisa Borbely Holst, who used digital scrapbooking features, but then did super-clever stuff like embroidering on the paper… a wonderful page, Home For Christmas!

 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend of your favorite weather, wherever you are! ♥

Hi everybody! I found all kinds of gorgeous layouts today while cruising the galleries, but could only pick 6… Here is “FABULOUS” by Jennifer SPD–a layout graced by Audry Hepburn, but enhanced with the elegant lightness of gold, pink, and teal–and a big, huge bubble! She’s got great brushwork on here too, and some fun elements as well.

“Precious Moments” by BCGal00 (Rae) features a darling young lady with a soft background (great photo!), and I love the superb clustering of real and “non-real” elements, like the painted flowers and leaves and the yummy brushwork. The colors in the layout and of the photo work so well together, too!

“Boardwalk Queens” by Yellowpeep is deceptively simple, but the story is really great. Notice how she uses the “rule of 3” to draw your attention to the photos–3 circular elements, and then three flowers of one element off to the right. And I love all the torn bits, and how the text stretches along the bottom, echoing the two lines of stitching above.

“Colorful Havana” by CherylIndesigns is a study in grunge, from the subject matter to the page itself. Wonderful primary colors are offset by heavy black and worn out stamps and brushwork, as well as by the two fun birds.

“Pajamas All Day” by Anne PC is a wonderfully clean page, although there are some little touches that really add to it, such as NOT lining up the central bits and pieces. This keeps your eye traveling downwards, but it’s also very engaging. Great, subtle colors–but in red: A Bad Day! Poor little guy…

And finally, we have “1967” by Tedasgram. The photos are wonderful, and the bright pastels make it into a sugary, happy, memory when all was “Carefree”! Again, great brushwork and clustering.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and have your own glimpses of beauty today! ♥