By

Happy Father’s Day Greetings and New Freebie Category

 

We, are one day away from Father’s Day, so I thought I would create a scrapbooking layout that would celebrate the occasion and take the time to share a new blog freebie category!

Unfortunately, my own father passed away a month ago yesterday, and while I wanted to create a scrapbooking layout in his honor for the holiday , it was a little too emotional and raw attempting to complete it…maybe next year.

So, I scrapped that idea and decided to do something else.  In any case , I picked up this awesome freebie picture of a young father protectively gazing over his sweet baby and thought that this layout would do heaps in honoring all great dads!  So…Happy Father’s Day!

The funny thing is when I am not out and about sourcing vintage items.  I find I am spending most of my leisure time digital scrapbooking , illustrating and creating elements, photo editing and hybrid scrapbooking as a hobby with a lot more frequency.

I have even given up any leisure television watching to spend time on all the things I am creating, which wasn’t that much in the first place, but even that has disappeared.    And furthermore,  with  some of the new tools I have been buying  (others I received as awesome birthday gifts), I will have more ideas and freebies to share in the future.

But back to my new freebie category,  what I find is that as I am working on obtaining the right elements for a layout, I  often find myself creating some of my own.

Why? Because I usually just want one particular element, and don’t want to purchase a whole kit online.  For example, for the layout pictured above, I made three versions of the words “Dad” and obviously settled with one.

So, I thought that maybe these elements could get a new life , (instead of sitting around doing nothing on my hard drive or jump drive), and I have decided to share them as digital download freebies for your digital scrapbooking needs.  Most of the elements I will provide will have vintage themed styled elements but there will be a lot of “modern” ones as well.

(Of course, I would like you to abide by my TOU. Please check it out, if you haven’t read it already.  All of these elements or embellishments are created by me and I own the copyright but they will be free to use for your personal use, for posting scrapbooking layouts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media,  and digital or hybrid scrapbooking uses.)

A note about the images:

*All images are made at 300 dpi so the digital files will usually be very large.  For example, these images are at 1200 pixels by 1200 pixels and would print out at 4” by 4”.

*Most will be .png files (transparent backgrounds) so that you can layer them on to your backgrounds or photos.

*Most elements will not include a drop shadow, as I will leave that up to you to add one if you like.  However, two of the following “Dad” files will include the drop shadow.

*I will be providing these elements with the assumption that you know how to use either Photoshop Elements, the open source photo editing program GIMP, Photoshop, or other photo editing software.  While I would like to offer support for these digital files, this is currently just a hobby and not my full time business.

*Most of my elements will be made from Commercial use or public domain sources, however if any designer feels their copyright has been infringed upon the freebie will promptly be removed and the freebie will no longer be available.  (I try to be scrupulous about what resources I use, but I may miss some.)

So here they are:

Word Art #1

wordart-dad1

Word Art #2

wordart-dad2

Word Art #3

wordart-dad3

By

Quick Facts: What is Digital Scrapbooking?

I thought I would include a quick fact glossary of terms that are used for digital scrapbooking.  I often refer to them without clearly defining what the terms mean, especially when it comes to the pdf freebies that I have been posting.  So, here goes a roundup of a few vital terms to know when it comes to digital or hybrid scrapbooking…

Digital Scrapbooking

Digital Scrapbooking is  a craft that uses your computer to generate scrapbook layouts without the use of traditional paper, glue, stickers and embellishments in their physical form or “tangible” form. The fabulous plus about this type of hobby is that you don’t need to visit a local store to purchase papers, alphabets, frames or even stamps to create a digital scrapbook layout.  You can purchase all your elements online. 

These elements are now available via online crafting stores and can be purchased and downloaded to your computer 24/7.  Many of these elements available for free by various scrapbooking publishers, graphic designers and hobbyists.

What many digital scrapbooking hobbyists do is use digital elements inside a photo editing “layering” program such as Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS (a professional photo editing program) to build content-rich and layered scrapbooking pages in a digital format.  You can lay out digital elements according to the color theme, photos, elements and alphas that are pleasing to the individual scrapbooker and/or hobbyist.

Hybrid Scrapbooking

Hybrid Scrapbooking is  mixing digital elements with physical elements to create something handmade or tangible. This includes purchasing, downloading and printing digital files or other elements with a home based ink jet printer and mixing them with regular scrapbook materials to create a card, layout or any other handmade item.

This type of scrapbooking technique is used in Project Life layouts because it uses physical, tangible elements with computer produced or designed elements.   If you are using any form of technology to add details to your craft projects that is  considered hybrid scrapbooking or hybrid crafting.

Printables

Printables are pre-designed sheets  (or digital collage sheets) that include graphic elements to print out on your own printer and  can be used on your own personal craft projects. They are often made available for free or for a small fee and can be downloaded directly from your computer. 

Many printables are provided as pdf files or jpeg files that can be downloaded and printed.  These elements can then be hand cut (some crafters are using their die cutting machines to do the cutting) with traditional scissors and added to cards, scrapbooking and Project Life  layouts and more.

Cutting Files

Cutting Files are pre-designed shapes or elements that can be imported into some of the most popular die cutting machines on the market; like the Silhouette Cameo or Cricut. 

Those advanced digital hobbyist who have developed their skills can also use cutting file shapes as clipping masks inside of Photoshop and other layering programs.  These tools often produced professional die cut label, stickers, shapes for the hobbyist’s use.

So, that’s the round up of a few paper crafting terms you need to know, just in the event, you were curious as to what all the buzz was regarding digital scrapbooking.