::ANNA::

Announcements

1.  The After-Christmas Sale ends at midnight EST tonight.  Nows the time to scoop up everything you need at a 30% discount for the Holiday Album Series, and the pre-designed album, if you're interested in getting your Christmas photos quickly and artistically into a  20-page photo book.  The next post will be revealed tomorrow.

Please note that all products on sale product have been placed in a special Christmas Sale category. The discount on these products will only be visible after the item has been placed in the cart and you view cart.  

2.  Finding Photo Flow by Kayla Lamoreaux is re-open for registration.  For $69.00 you get membership to the Finding Photo Flow website and community where you have access to all the training materials, support, and inspiration.  You can also connect with Kayal and others who are getting a handle on their photo library and finding their Photo Flow in a way that works for them.  Read more about this opportunity and how it will help you eliminate your own photo chaos here and here.  

I think this is one of the best learning opportunities on the web for memory keepers and scrapbooker.  You can't scrapbook efficiently if you can't find your photos. Sign up today and when you send me proof of registration, I will send you a $10.00 GiftKard to my store to sweeten this already great-value-for-money deal.

3.  New AnnaLift.  The inspiration just keeps on coming.  Join in on the challenge for a chance to win a $5 GiftKard to my store each week, or post in the AnnaGallery and you could be selected as a Guest AnnaTeamer for 2 weeks.  This new customer appreciation program provides the opportunity for one person to be randomly selected as an AnnaTeamer for a period of 2 weeks, during which time you'll be invited to a private forum and receive 2 AnnaReleases for free.

Project 366/365 + 1 | Week 2

Digital Supplies: FotoInspired Layered Templates No. 1, Days2Months No. 1, Project 366 WordART No. 1, ArtPlay Palette Everyday 

NewART + ArtPlay Palette Winner

NewART is now available in the store.  The are 9 NewProducts at 20% discount, one $1.00 item and the entire AnnaRelease can be scored at a 36% discount. AnnaNews subscribers can look forward to a little extra something in the NewsLetter tomorrow.

I'm particularly loving the colors for this latest Palette.  Note that I have kept many of the baby-themed elements off the papers so that they can be easily repurposed for non-baby/child-themed layouts and projects.  I think it's a great Palette for heritage photos.  Check out how the AnnaTeamers and ArtPlayers are using it in the AnnaGallery.

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Thank you for all the input with regards to products you'd like to know more about.  I will use your comments to create a master list from which I'll create tutorials for both the blog and the AnnaNews NewsLetter over the coming months.  I'll also be responding to your comment over the next few days. I appreciate you taking the time.

The Winner of the ArtPlay Palette Sweet Baby:

Who ever said 13 is an unlucky number?

Congrats Kyla!  Please email me at anna(underscore)aspnes(at)yahoo(dot)com to claim the new Palette.

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Wishing you a safe and happy weekend.

Tutorial | Threading Buttons onto Stitching

[Digital Supplies]  Best Friends by Crissy 

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Take your stitching embellishments to the next level with this nifty little technique by AnnaTeamer, Crissy Hunt, whose style is traditional with an artsy twist.  

1.  Open a button and a piece of stitching from your digital stash in Photoshop/Elements.  

2.  Move both elements from their file origin onto your layout using the Move tool in the Tools palette.  Add a drop shadow to both these embelliehments if desired.

3.  Ensure the stitching layer is on top of the button layer in the Layers palette.  You can reorganize the layers in the Layers palette by dragging them up and down the Layers palette.

4.  To load the button as a selection, click on the the button layer in the Layers palette and Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac) the button thumbnail in the Layers palette.

5.  Click on the stiching layer in the Layers palette to select the stitching layer.

6.  Select the Eraser tool from the Tools palette and erase a portion of the stitching over the button area to make the stitching  look as though it has been threaded through the button.

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The Stitched LoopDaLoops No. 1 and the white button from ArtPlay Palette Friends are both discounted by 20% until tomorrow morning.

MidWeek Release, ArtSale and Upcoming Sneak Peek

A few things happening in the store today.

NewART.  We're releasing 2 new products as part of a special MidWeek Release which coordinate nicely with AnnaRelease 6 Jan 2012.  Both are available at 20% discount for a limited time.

MidWeek ArtSale. This week's ArtSale features 10 hand-selected digitial products discounted by 30% until Friday January 13th, 2012.

Sneak Peek.   Coming to the store on Friday in AnnaRelease 13 January 2012.

I'd like to give away an ArtPlay Palette to one reader:

Please leave me a comment and tell me which products in my store baffle you or you'd like more information on how to use.  Is there is a specific technique you'd like to learn in either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements?

I know that I have asked this question before but I'd like to create an updated list.  I appreciate your input.

I'll select a winner on Friday January 13th, 2012 at 4.00pm EST.

Please note that this GiveAway is now closed.  Feel free however to continue posting your requests, questions and suggestions.

Have a great day.

The Holiday Album | Pages 2 and 3

Digital Supplies:  The Holiday Album No. 1, MagicSprinklez No. 2, ArtPlay Palette Retro Holiday

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Hello Holiday Album 2011.  

This is the first double page spread in my album.

Note.  I always create the first page last when I have completed all pages in my album.  This allows me to select the most fitting photos and create an introductory page that better reflects the contents of the finished book.

The aim.   To create a quick simple album that provides focus on the photos and support them with notable details and a little art.

The process. I have chosen to create my pages in the order that they appear in the album.  You have the choice to approach the album in a way that best suits your preference:

• Follow the order of the templates exactly as they appear in the album.
• Work on the themes as they inspire you.
• Select templates that best suit the orientation of your photos and mix/match/edit the title labels accordingly.
• Adopt a different process that works best for you.

The techniques.  Repetition of basic techniques with slight variations creates a cohesive but interesting album or photobook.

1.  Create a new layout. This layout should be able to accommodate 2 pages. If you are creating a 12 X 12 project your new canvas will be 24 X 12 inches at 300 DPI.  If you prefer a smaller book, you will need to re-size each template from 12 X 12 inches to 8 X 8 inches and create a 16 X 8 inch canvas at 300 DPI.  I like the larger size when working with a larger number of photos and reserve smaller sized albums for 1-3 photo layouts.

Open the 2 coordinating templates you want to work with and move the layers for each template onto the appropriate side of the new canvas.  Both templates are now side-by-side as they would appear in the album.  You may also wish to consult this tutorial.

2.  Clip the photos you have organized by theme to the masks in the template. Notice that I have not edited my photos.  This gives me more flexibility when I'm working with a photo on a layout.  I also find batch editing both monotonous and time-consuming, and decided a long time ago I would rather use that time to create more pages.

When selecting a photo for each mask, consider the orientation of the photo in relation to the mask.  For example, a portrait photo is better suited to a portrait style mask.  I also prefer favorite or more meaningful photos to take center stage on layouts and therefore occupy the larger masks in the template.  

3.  Edit the photos using your preferred method.  I usually run the NeatImage plugin from within Photoshop to reduce the noise in photos taken in low light.  I also adjust the Curves (Image>Adjustments> Curves) to add light to my photos and improve contrast in color.

I am also a big fan of using a combination of color, and black and white photos.  I like the contrast this creates in a photo collage and it's a great way improve the look of images with either a strong yellow cast or reduce the number of colors in a layout.  Less is more.

4. Add embellishment and text.  Introduce digital papers and clip them to any remaining masks in your layout and add a limited number of elements and/or transfers.  You are aiming to strike the balance in adding enough to support your photos, but not so much that you end up overwhelming them.

I go-to formula looks a little like this:  a couple of transfers behind the photos, 1-3 dimensional elements and a little bit of sparkle.

Next Tuesday.  The Deliciousness (Page 4 and 5)

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After-Christmas SALE

By request I'm having an After-Christmas Sale on all my Christmas digital products to that you can stock up on all the products you might need for this project.  

I'm offering a 30% discount on all my Christmas digital products beginning January 9, 2012 at Midnight EST through Januray 16, 2012 at Midnight EST.  

This sale will run a little differently than previous sales.  You will notice that all products on sale have been placed in a special Christmas Sale category.  Please note that the discount on these products will only be visible after the item has been placed in the cart and you view cart.  

Let me know if you have any questions.

Project 366/365 + 1 | Week 1

The first week of 2012 is done.

I had 4 photos for this week.  Definitely easing into the New Year.

The process was quick and simple:

1.  Make a bee-line for the "4 Fotos" folder within the FotoInspired Layered Templates No. 1, select one of the templates from this folder and clip photos to the framed masks.  I like how the mix of mask orientations work well with both portrait and landscape photos as well as the Instagram photos taken with my iPhone 3G.

2.  Fill the background with a pre-made artsy paper from ArtPlay Palette Friend and adjust the color to coordinate better with photos.  Adjust the Hue and Saturation levers to achieve the preferred coloring.

3.  Add transfers from ArtPlay Palette Scholarly behind the images and finish with the Project 366 WordART and text.  I will be releasing a second set of WordART to include the number strip across the bottom of my layout.

The leaf embellishment was inspired by this layout from AnnaTeamer, Fiona Kinnear.

The Holiday Album | More Organization

Christmas has come and gone.  It was a good one.  Simple and informal.  Just the way we like it.

I also loved that I was able to live in the moment and capture them intuitively.  I didn't take too many photos running up to Christmas but certainley made up for it with about 1000 photos between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I also had quite a bit of fun with some of the techniques shared in Katrina Kennedy's Capture Your Holidays class.

I now want to document it how I remember it.

This week I have continued the process of photo organization and preparation to ensure that I have been through all of my photos.  It's worth looking at them at least twice.  I have also moved the ones I want to use into the album folders I created before Christmas. 

A few observations noted during this process:

1. Quantity of photos.  If you took as many photos as I did, you'll have to accept you won't be able to use all the photos you want to use in this one album.  Pick your best, favorite and/or most meaningful shots, whichever one applies most to you, leaving the remainder to make their way onto pages for your yearly album or other projects.  

I selected a variety of favorites based how how meaningful they were to me.  Most are moments from the season that I want to preserve to remember in future years but there are also quite a few selected as a result of the assignements received during Katrina's class.  I anticpate that there will be a good mix of photography styles, and levels, represented in my own album. Not every photo has to, or should be, technically perfect.  The photos we take are a reflection of our lives and I believe the most realistic approach is to embrace the imperfection.

2. Categories.  The categories in The Holiday Album have been designed to help rather than hinder you. Each page title should guide your photo selections.  That said, if the page titles are not working for the photos you have, the text is editable and can be easily changed.

I also found that many of my photos could have gone into more than one category.  It's up to you whether you create pages with random snapshots from differing time periods, as I intend to do, or follow a more chronological approach by keeping sequences of photos together.  Make a decision, categorize the photo and move onto the next one, otherwise you'll never actually get around to starting the fun part of this project.

3. Digital Supplies.  The goal of this album is to provide a simple visual representation of your Holiday 2011 with a few supporting words.  The amount of digital product you use will depend on the number of photos you have and your personal preference/style.  As a general rule of thumb, the more photos I have, the less digital product I use.  This allows me to maintain a level of visual balance in my pages.  For this particular project I anticipate a LOT of photos so I intend on adding a few elements and brushes only. Papers will be used to fill a mask only when there is a lack of photos.

I usually create a temporary supplies folder in the same location in which I'm also saving the page .psd files for a project.  I copy pre-selected supplies into this folder to limit my choices and allow a much faster pace of page creation.  I intend to use ArtPlay Palettes Sophistica, Retro Holiday and Santa's Elf.

4. Decisions.  Much if the photo organization process involves making decisions.  The inability, delay or complete avoidance of making such decisions is both a waste of valuable creating time and is crippling to the end desired result of a completed album.  In the face of no definitive right or wrong answer, pick the one you like best at that given time, and move forward to the next step. If you look at the big picture, it's not really going to matter which photo goes on what page or what supplies you settle on, but it will matter if this album project never makes it onto your coffee table.

I will be ready to begin sharing my pages next week with blog posts every Tuesday until the album is complete.  Also keep your eye out next week for a SALE on all Christmas products to help you complete your album.

NewART Sneak Peek

The first of the NewART for 2012 will be in the store tomorrow morning.  I had hoped to get this posted earlier but have spent much of the day running E and L to various appointments.  Eric was delayed at work also and so appointments ran right into activities.

Here's a little sneak peek...

Habitual Scrapbooking

[ArtPlay Palette Play Out]

One of my goals for year 2012 is to scrapbook more habitually and make this sport as much a part of my day as working out, brushing my teeth or sleeping 8 hours a night.  

Over Christmas I revisited all the scrapbook layouts that I created in 2011.  I have them organized by month so it was easy to see that there was a definite ebb and flow of pages throughout the year.  Some months I created more than 20 layouts while in others I managed my monthly goal of just 5.  My final count was 173 layouts, which actually suprised me given how busy I was towards the end of the year.

I have got to the point in my scrapbooking where doing something is better than doing nothing, and so the completion of every page is cause for celebration.  That said, in order to stay true to my aspirations for 2012 and living more intentionally, I want to do more of what I love... Non-work related scrapbooking included.  

I have come to believe that the best way to tell your stories more authentically is to make the process part of your daily routine. Saving notes for later is certainly better than not writing at all, but I am learning you lose much of the emotion behind a story and the enthusiasm for telling it when you wait too long.

[ArtPlay Palette Cuisine, FotoInspired Layered Templates No 1]

My Mum has a saying, in fact I believe it may have originally come from my Grandma, that, " All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  I definitely felt that towards the end of last year there was little time for me.  My workouts grew scarce, scrapbooking happened perhaps once per week and it made for a grumpy Anna.

Early in December,  I started a little experiment, a trial of sorts, to see if I could really make scrapbooking a part of my daily life.  The aim was to carve out 30- 45 minutes each day to throw a page together and tell a story I was inspired to tell at that given time.  For me this time is either during lunch or just before I go to bed a night.  I find I prefer the former but like the flexibility of having both.  

I went from scrapbooking scarcely to most days.  The pages weren't always works of Art but they are nevertheless meaningful.  It's actually quite amazing how much you can get done when you're under a time limit.

[ArtPlay Palette Work Hard Play Hard]

I developed several techniques during this time periond to get layouts done quickly:

• Just do it.  It's amazing how fast pages come to together when you stop overthinking them and crack on with creating them.  Finish the page another day if you need to.
• Uninspired.  Pull the photos onto a new layout and write the story, perhaps doing 2 of these, and save the Art for a more creative day.  
• Go super-simple.  Create a simple collage with a title and the accompanying story.

I probably won't scrapbook every day in 2012 but I'll certainly be making the time most days.

Would love to know your thoughts about habitual scrapbooking?  Is it something you think you could incorporate into your life?  Do you have the desire to?  

You might also enjoy this post by my friend Peppermint a.k.a One Little Bird Designs.

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MidWeek ArtSale

Check out the store later today for a new midweek rerelease discounted by 20%.  There will also be 15 hand-selected digital products discounted by 30% until Friday.