It is really, really, nice to have talented friends.
Really nice.
Especially when you can mooch off said talented friends.

Somehow I got into a card club with scrapbookers.
Cricut owning, paper loving, crop night hosting, scrapbook store class teaching, friends.
Friends whose obsession with paper rivals my obsession with fabric.

What they didn't know was Julie + Paper= no bueno.
I want to love paper crafts.  I want to stamp.  I want to make amazing scrapbook layouts for our family photos.  But I just can't.  Paper has no love for me.  The feeling in fact, is wholly mutual.

I am this odd duck surrounded by this crazy talent.
But they let me in anyway.
Mostly because they didn't know.
I'm tricky like that.

Every month has a different theme and we each make a dozen cards.  Then we meet,  eat and swap our creations.  I go home with 12 epic cards.  All much better than I could make on my own.  Awesome deal for me.  For them... they go home with eleven great cards.  One ish card.  It is brilliant.

After a few months of trying to make friends with paper, even trying to marry paper, fabric and my sewing machine, and having fail after fail, after fail, I decided to give digital scrapbooking a try.

I am so clueless, but I am so in love.  I can work on them at midnight.  I can work on them during nap time.  They don't make a mess.  I don't have to run to the store for supplies.  I may have the quirkiest cards, the simplest cards, but I no longer feel like my friends go home and throw them in the garbage.

May's theme was Congratulations.
{I used elements from this, this, and this kit.
The font is Honey Script.}

Last month's theme was America.
Not only am not good with paper, but I am apparently not good with following instructions.
But horses are American right?
Houndstooth?
Maybe that's more British.
Semantics.
Who doesn't need a card with a horse head on it?  Honestly?
{All elements from this kit.}


This month's theme is friendship.
This card is random.
But you know I like me some random.
Pink, old papers, a Cali map, a quirkly cammy...
Those things are my fave.
{Elements from here, here, here, and here.
The font is Courier New.}

For the most part I make them in Picnik.  I am still overwhelmed by Photoshop, and it is on my list of goals for this year.  Picnik is easy.  It is amazing.  Their fonts... not amazing.
Here is a simple tutorial on how to layer images.

I enrolled in this class to help me on my Photoshop journey and am even considering taking a full semester class this coming fall at a local college.  Considering.  Loosely considering.  We will see where this journey leads me.  But so far I like the adventure.

For you pro digi scrappers, I would lovey, love, love any tips or links that you could share.
*****
Doesn't it bug when a post only 99% tells you how to do something?
That 1% mystery drives you crazy, right?
I forgot to mention that I printed the above cards with my cheapy printer on white cardstock.  I formatted them in Pages (Word for you PC's).  I am sure there is some easy way to do it in Photoshop.  Just not in my skill set yet.  They all are long skinny cards, since long, skinny envelopes are the only size that Target carries.
Here is what the cammy card looks like.

It makes me smile.
Hope that answered any questions.
You are my fave.



30 Comments

  1. You can learn A LOT about Photoshop from online tutorials. Check out MCP Actions' blog. There are tons of awesome videos :) Make yourself drive into it. It takes time and effort to learn, but man oh man is it fun! YOU CAN DO IT!

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  2. Love... You have talent and for the record your signs with PAPER words ROCK...

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  3. i've become completely hooked on digi creations since you told me about that tutorial. so fun! and i to love that there is no messy mess to clean up afterwards.

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  4. This may be a dumb question but do you print out your digital images to bring to the card group? If so, where can you print them out? I think they are beautiful. I have several of your verses you've created printed out.

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  5. I use Paint.net for my digi-scrapbooking. It's a free program you can download off the internet and (in my opinion) is WAY easier to work with than photoshop. Plus, it's FREE.

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  6. Um, come over to my house and I will tutor you for free :) Well, I might hint at the donation of a Holla! sign - wahahahahaha!

    This is my gallery so you can peruse my obsession

    http://www.myscrapbookart.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&page=1&ppuser=527

    This blog has great tutorials for beginners because she uses screen shots. Screen shots are the next best thing to a real person sitting next to you.

    http://mistycato.wordpress.com/tutorials/

    Email me and I will answer all your questions ;)

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  7. I love plain old regular scrapbooking, but I do LOVE the idea of a card club... I may just try to start one :)

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  8. have you heard of lynda.com? The subscription is $25 per month and has video tutorials on any program you want. You can even choose the software version you have. Highly recommended.

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  9. this is so awesome! I want to learn about photo shop and digi scrapping! keep us posted on your scrap journey!
    smiles,
    gina

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  10. love, love, LOVE these!!! how do you print them?

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  11. I totally agree about the MCP Action's Blog. Awesomesauce.

    I think you rock! Totally not 3rd grade art all all!

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  12. I'm pretty new to digital scrapbooking and am TOTALLY in love. I used to be a for real scrapbooker, but honestly I do not have the time or space to pull that crap out every time i want to work on it. (since i've usually got enough other crafty crap pulled out to work on). My BFF got me hooked on the digital thing and sent me to this website, and so far, it's the only thing I've used: http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/ I've gotten several of the "kits" and they are positively yummy and chock full of goodness. Enjoy! ;)

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  13. I also have converted to digital - and love it! (Though I do pull out the "real" papers every once in a while!) Try www.digiscrapdepot.com for LOADS of free kits. The search feature isn't the best, but you'll probably go crazy with all the freebies! (;

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  14. oh you make me laugh LOTS & thats a good thing right now!!!! I try to do scrapbooking (the TK way...read plain & boring!!!) & am currently thinking of going digital.......BTW - love your cards, yes even the horses head!!!

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  15. I could have written this post...feel exactly the same way...and just finished a photoshop course at my local comm. college! Go to ps and select "NEW", it will ask for dimensions, put in whatever size you want your card to be...once done you can copy and paste photos, art, etc. Hope that helps...I'm still learning!

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  16. i love all that papery stuff, so cute and looks fun!

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  17. same.

    my mom is really into scrapbooking: even has a whole room for it.

    i tried. i really did. didn't work out well.

    -- but I love me some digi stuff. (it all began w/ my obsession w/ fonts...)

    **

    speaking of photoshop - have you heard of GIMP? It's almost just like photoshop -- but FREE. http://www.gimp.org/

    I love it!

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  18. even after becoming a photoshop junkie, my love affair with picnik runs deep. real deep. so, how is it that i had no idea you could layer using it? say what?

    thank you. thank. you.

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  19. I think they are super cute!!

    I, too, love digi creations. Now that I have Photoshop Elements I am slowly learning how to create some blog headers, buttons, cards, etc. It's too fun. If you have any freebie digital scrapbooking websites you would recommend that would be great. You may have already done a post on this, but if not I would love to know if you have found any that I haven't found yet.

    I am with Katie. Where do you print them? I haven't printed any cards because my printer isn't good enough.

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  20. I am not going to say anything about the digi, cuz this girl here is all about the paper...and I want to be in the club!

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  21. I just made a new blog background and header after reading about digital scrapbooking. I'll end up making a brand new blog design again tomorrow, I'm sure. Digital scrapbooking can be used for SO much. It's my new love. And you are still my fave.

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  22. I am with you 100% on wanting to be a paper-crafter and not *quite* hitting the mark.

    It is so fun to buy the scrapbooking supplies though... ah wishful thinking!

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  23. I'll take the class with you! I need/kinda want to learn it, but I am scared! Maybe we could encourage each other!!

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  24. I love, love using My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! It is so so easy and you can use it to make cards, scrapbook pages, album, calendars, videos, stationary, etc. It is fab!!! You will love it!!

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  25. Your digi skills are just fine as the cards you made are adorable. Although the houndstooth horsey one for Americana made me smile. I only know how to do paper stuff. The digital stuff scares me as I'm a total techno ding dong.

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  26. I've kind of fallen in love with Lettering Delights recently. They have a try me tool that you can type out what you want and then save it. Then you can use it in photoshop or picnik or whatever. That might solve your picnik font problem!

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  27. I found this blog a bazillion years ago that gave a tutorial on embroidering cards, and since you are a fabulous seamstress, you might like it. The simple patterns are so easy my 8 year old can do it. Which means I mostly can too..hahaha. I can't find the orignial post that gave the instructions on how to do it. BUT basically get a floral foam block, print some cute patterns off your computer, use a push pin or srtaight pin to poke holes along the pattern onto teh carstock you're using for the card. Then follow along the premade holes with a needle and thread, and you have a super cute card. I posted pictures of my first attempts here: http://chitchatty-kathy.blogspot.com/2009/05/pictures.html. Super fun, and WAAAAAAAY easier than they look.

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  28. I used to use a digital scrapbook program but it didn't give you enough freedom, so I use Photoshop. I do both real and digital and my favorite part is scrapping the same photos over and over again in different ways!

    I never thought about doing cards though, great idea!

    Also what's great about digi scrapbooking, there's no limit for paper and supplies. Especially since I've never seen Chewbacca scrapbooking supplies! If you want it for your page or card, search for an image! I often just search for backgrounds in google and look at the images, and save them... endless possibilities!

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  29. I love using creative memories storybook creator. You can make pages in all different scrapbook sizes and you can even print 12X12 pages @ Costco. They also have some freebies and tips on the creative memories site under project center.

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