How To...

Traditional digi scrapping with an artsy twist!

Hello. I am Cindy from the CBD creative team and I love digi art journaling!  But I am fairly new to art journaling.  I've been creating art journal pages for about a year.  I've been digiscrapping for about 7 years.  And I was a paper scrapper for almost 9 years before that.  And I still create more traditional pages, because my main goal is to create a picture of my life.  For that, I need traditional pages and art journaling pages.  And guess what?  I don't have to leave behind my more artsy supplies when creating a more traditional page.  Everything used on this page comes from Crafty Button Designs.

Below is a picture of my paternal Great Grandmother that I scrapped in a more traditional style but still made use of my favorite art journaling supplies.

You can see plenty of traditional scrapping elements such as paper strips, a sequin scatter and a small element cluster.  But I also used a photo mask, gesso bit and some paint to give it a more artsy flair.  Let me show you what I did.

I began by placing a a mask from Maskin Momma V2 on top of my background paper and then I clipped a paper from Plumb crazy to the mask.  (You can do this in both PSCS and later versions of PSE by going to the Layers menu and choosing Create Clipping Mask.  You can make use of masks in Paint Shop Pro and Gimp.  A quick Google search will give you instructions for either program.)  

Using a photo mask is an easy way to get a blended paper effect for your layout.  Now it's time to play with some Gesso.  (One of my favorite things to do.)

For this page, I used three different Gesso bits from Gesso Bits V3.  I used the Layer blend Modes (these aren't just for paper) to help give some more dimension to the paper I clipped to the mask.

Now it's time to add two more Gesso bits, plus three paint elements to the background.  Now we've created a much more artsy background for our photo.

With all the artsy pieces added, it's time to add some more traditional layers under our photo.  For this page I added two paper strips along with a couple of sequin spills and a photo mat for my photo.

Now we are ready to add our photo, a third paper piece, a small element cluster plus our title.  Voila!  You now have a more traditional page with a more artsy look.  And you still have room for a little journaling.

For this layout I used Plumb Crazy, Cardboard Textures, Maskin' Momma V2 and Gesso Bits V3 from Crafty Button Designs.  I hope this has given you some new scrapping ideas.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to take some pictures!

All products used in the above tutorial are from Crafty Button Designs' shop on Oscraps.

Plumb Crazy Kit

Cardboard Texture Pack

Maskin Momma Vol2

Gesso Bits Vol3

And don't forget to pick up your freebie! I've included one of 

the papers and some sequins from the Plumb Crazy Kit,

plus a photo clipping mask from Maskin Momma Vol4!

Get them from our drop box folder HERE!

Art Journaling video tutorial

I created this art journaling layout using the following linked video. 

I created this video for one of our Trendy Button Challenges on Oscraps

so I thought I would share it in light of our anniversary celebration this week!

Access the video at Vimeo HERE.

And get some of the products used in my layout for free! Click below on the TBC June 2013 

challenge freebie preview image to download the free art journaling pack from the CBD

Drop Box folder! Then view the above video tutorial and use the freebie pack to create

your own digital art journaling pages! Have fun!

Blending Papers

The following tutorial was created by Cindy from the CBD creative team:

Whether you've been digiscrapping for awhile and have a huge stash or you are just getting started, we all want to make the most of our stash.  Plus I am sure I am not the only one who is always looking for new ways to enhance their creativity.  So today, I want to discuss using Layer Blend Modes to make the most of your paper stash.

We are going to begin by adding two papers to our canvas.  For today, I am combining a green paper with white dots from the Siren's Song Papers with a more neutral paper from Random Acts of Life Papers V4 from Crafty Button Designs.  I'm using Photoshop CS5, but PSE, Gimp and Paint Shop Pro all have layer blend modes.  

To begin place both papers on your canvas  The two papers should be placed so that the top paper completely covers the bottom paper.  It doesn't matter which one is on top.  You can change the layer order later to see what you like best.  Now look at your Layers Palette and make sure your top layer is highlighted.  Right above the layers you will see a drop down menu with the text "Normal".

Click on that and you will see 20 or more options for changing the layer blending mode.  Now let's select Darker Color.  Here is what your new paper looks like.  You now have a fun new paper with a great artsy look.

Not what you are looking for?  Let's try changing the blend mode from "Darker Color" to "Lighter Color".  As you can see you have a completely different look using the same two papers.  This is paper is perfect for both artsy and more traditional scrapping.

As you can see, playing with Layer Blend Modes can give you very different looks using the same two papers.  In addition to "Darker Color" and "Lighter Color", "Overlay" and "Hard Light" are great options for blending two papers.  But feel free to try any of the Layer Blend Modes to see what you like best.

I hope you have enjoyed this tip.  Be watching the blog for more ideas on making the most of your stash.

Would you like the papers shown in this tutorial? How about for free? Here's a link to a drop box folder containing these papers plus preview cover images showing where they came from. LINK