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January 2013

some of my other recreational activities. But what about the thousands of photos, I hear you ask? That’s manageable, too, if I break it down into each month of her short little life. Hopefully this will inspire you to

think about how you can achieve your New Year’s resolutions. But the most

important piece of advice I can give you is, don’t forget to give yourself a deadline for each and every one!

January Tutorials

In Part 1 of her double tutorial, Jen White will teach you how to create a fabulous, clear plastic title and then put something behind it such as a snow landscape. In Part 2 she’ll demonstrate several ways to select things out of photos to put in your title, like trees and people.

Christina Rambo will show you how to create a frosty window effect using a textured overlay, on which you can doodle, just like we do in

real life.

For page design I’m going to make a very useful photo grid inspired by a well known patchwork design called log cabin. You’ll love how this

versatile storyboard fits photos of varying orientation so neatly.

As I sit at my desk to write this note, my air conditioner is keeping me cool against the 35° C (95° F) temperature outside. Our summer flowers are wilting, and the espaliered oranges and lemons are threatening to become marmalade before they’re picked. Working with a winter themed kit is especially enjoyable when you’re feeling hot, so I rather like it that my seasons are opposite to all of you snow bunnies in the Northern Hemisphere.

At the beginning of every year I think back to what I have achieved over the last twelve months and what I would like to achieve this year. Are you the type of person who makes New Year’s resolutions? If you’re a planner you might sit down and write a list of all the Premier tutorials you haven’t had a chance to watch or practice. You might think of all the albums you would like to make for your family and friends. However, writing a list is only part of the job. You have to allocate time!

In 2011 I allocated three months to design a 94 page tribute album for my mother’s 80th birthday. I worked on nothing else (except my Digital Scrapper duties) because I knew if I did, it wouldn’t be finished in time. The reason why it worked is because I set a deadline. Open-ended projects are rarely completed. I vaguely decided last year that I must complete an album for my new granddaughter. Only problem is, it didn’t get done because I didn’t give myself a deadline. I just kept putting it in the too hard basket, because I have to wade through thousands of photos to find the ones I want to use.

So, this year I intend to have it completed by her third birthday in November. That may seem like a very generous time-span, but I’m a busy person, and this is a purely personal activity. My intention is to break up the job into modules that are easily achievable. That will work out to about 4 - 6 pages per month. I may get more done than that but I won’t allow myself to do less. Even if it means forgoing

Welcome to January 2013 Digital Scrapper Premier!

Susie

Jen White’s video, “Elegant Simplicity” was so popular this month that no less than twenty eight people entered a layout in the gallery featuring this technique. It was very difficult to choose because there were so many really good variations. However, this beautiful page by marly really stood out because it is so exquisitely painted. The coloring is perfectly transitioned from intensity in the center to a gently faded wash at the edges. Well done, marly for a lovely page.

Congratulations to our other talented digi scrappers featured below (in alphabetical order):

Top Pick Layout by marly

Our Holiday - December 2012

marilynk riet

shorebirds Tilly MintScrappyBarb

cathrg3

Top Picks

Click on each of the thumbnails to see the gallery pages for these great layouts and images.

Merry Christmas

December Premier Page Kit, Our Holiday by Shabby Miss Jen

Tutorial used on my photo is Elegant Simplicity for Photoshop Elements by Jen White

Just a reminder that our rules for the Premier Gallery pages have been relaxed to allow for more creativity. You may use accents from other kits by Digital Scrapper as long as the page is predominantly showcasing the current Premier Kit.

Meet this month’s talented designer: Elise HansenHi there! I’m Elise Hansen of Elise’s Pieces Designs, and I’m just thrilled to be coming to you in January’s issue of Premier. I’ve been a digital designer since August 2008, and I absolutely love it! I love, love, love color, and I love seeing a kit come together. I live in Idaho, where January can get very cold and gloomy, so I wanted to brighten things up a bit (or a lot!) and create a kit with a bright, warm winter feel. Hopefully “Winter Wonderland” brightens up your January a bit!

As I mentioned, I live in Idaho where I love hanging out with my funny husband, Chris, and our three brilliant and rambunctious sons: Thomas (11), Gordon (7) and Neil (4). We love to get out doors together and spend a lot of time camping and hiking. The boys keep me really busy - I’m a soccer mom, swimming mom, pre-school mom, piano mom, etc, etc. Even though it can get a little crazy sometimes, I really enjoy watching these three explore their talents and have fun.

As for me, when I’m not designing or driving a kid somewhere, I love to read, cook (and eat!), and run. I’m part of an amazing book club where we pick something new to read each

month, then sit around and discuss the book for an hour and life for another two. :) My husband is a total foodie, so he loves to make crazy gourmet recipes. I’m better at the basics, but do get kind of creative when it comes to baking. I’m best at making the foods that I probably shouldn’t be eating! Luckily, a few years ago I got into running with some women in my neighborhood. We’ve kind of kicked it up a notch this year, and in October, I ran a half marathon. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually enjoyed it!

Okay, back to scrapping! Most of the time, I design on a Mac using Photoshop CS3 with an occasional bit of Illustrator. I love my Wacom Bamboo tablet, and I take pictures with a Nikon D3100. I’m really passionate about scrapbooking. I think it’s a fantastic creative release, a great way to record your memories, and I think it helps you focus on the positive things in life. Even when you’re scrapping those not-so-great moments, which I think is important. Just the recording of your thoughts and memories is therapeutic and builds confidence. For me, scrapping is an important way to express love.

Come visit me at elisespieces.com. I’d love to get to know you too! :)

Check out Elise’s beautiful kits at her store here. Read more about Elise on her blog here.

by Elise’s Pieces

Winter Wonderland

Elise Hanson’s beautiful Winter Wonderland kit is set to inspire all your beautiful frosty pages. There is so much variety in both paper colors and accents that you will have plenty to choose from, even if your pages are not about the season. Creating clusters will be so easy when you see the huge selection of flowers, buttons, ribbons, and rosettes. So get scrapping your winter wonderland today. Elise used the fonts Noteworthy, which came with her Mac, and Pea Lacy Chunky in her word art.

* 18 papers (10 patterns and 8 solids)* a full alpha with upper and lowercase letters, numbers and some punctuation and accents

* 2 paper borders* 2 bows

* 2 branches* 2 buttons

* 1 confetti scatter* 1 flag banner

* 2 flairs* 8 flower pieces and 3 stacked flowers

* 5 frames* 1 greenery

* 1 heart scatter* 4 journal cards

* 1 mittens* 5 ribbons* 3 rosettes

* 1 scarf* 1 ice skate

* 3 paper snowflakes* 2 silver snowflake charms

* 1 snowman* 1 set of stitches with a separate holes file

* 3 tags* 1 ticket

* 3 word arts

January 2013

This month’s inspiring

collection of 10 QuickPages

(available in 12x12” and

8.5x11”) can be downloaded

along with the coordinating

Winter Wonderland

Premier Kit.

Winter Wonderland

QuickPagesby Jen White

Creative TeamFinishedQuickPages

Classic TemplatesVersatile grayscale templates -

in layered PSD format

January 2013

Templatesby Jen White

Winter Wonderland

Bring wonder and amazement to your scrapbook page by giving your title a snow globe text effect.

Scrapbook Page: Jen WhitePapers & Embellishments: Winter Wonderlandby Elise HansenPhotos: Morguefile.comFont: Giant Head OT, Ginette

by Jen White - Part 1

Wonderland Plastic Title Wonderland Plastic TitleVideo Lesson 1 Video Lesson 2

by Jen White - Part 2

Using three different extraction techniques, add beauty to the inside of your Wonderland Plastic Title.

Scrapbook Page: Jen WhitePapers & Embellishments: Winter Wonderlandby Elise HansenPhotos: Morguefile.comFont: Giant Head OT, Ginette

Create a storyboard using a simple, log cabin patchwork-inspired photo grid to frame photos of varying orientation.

Page and photos: Susie RobertsPapers and accents: Winter Wonderland Kit by Elise’s PiecesFonts: Arial Black, Brandywine, Janda Stylish Script

Log Cabin Photo GridVideo Lesson 4Video Lesson 3

by Christina Rambo by Susie RobertsCreate a textured overlay using a custom brush and draw a doodle that looks as if you wrote on a cold, frosty window.

Page: Jen WhitePapers & accents: Winter Wonderland kit by Elise’s PiecesHeart Doodle: Christina RamboFrosty Overlay: Christina Rambo for January 2013Photo: Morguefile.com

Frosty Window Overlay

Extra TidbitSnow Drift by Susie Roberts

Make these sweet little snowdrifts of different shapes and sizes to drape over your titles or photo frames.

• Download the Layer Style called Snowdrift.asl here.

• Decide where you want your first snowdrift. It might be on top of a large letter for example.

• Click on that layer to make it active.

• Click on the New Layer icon in the Layers panel to create a new layer above the letter.

• Get the Elliptical Marquee tool. Click and drag out an oval shape that is roughly the size you want your snowdrift to be.

• Press the letter D to reset your Color Chips to the default of black and white.

• Press the letter X so white becomes the Foreground Color Chip.

• Press Alt Backspace (Mac: Opt Delete) to fill the selection with white.

• Press Ctrl D (Mac: Cmd D) to Deselect.

• In the Menu Bar, choose Filter > Distort > Liquify. (PS: Choose Filter > Liquify.)

• In the dialog box, get the Zoom tool and zoom in to 100%.

• Get the Warp tool. (PS: Get the Forward Warp tool.) Set the Brush Size to 100 and the Brush Pressure to 50. Click and drag slightly on the edges of the oval shape, both in and out, to create the look of a lump of melting snow. Drag down at the ends so they curve down slightly. Click OK.

• If your snowdrift is too large, press Ctrl T (Mac: Cmd T) to get a Transform outline. Click and drag from a corner handle to resize it down proportionately. (PS: Press Alt Shift (Mac: Opt Shift) and click and drag from a corner handle.) Double click inside the Bounding Box to accept the transformation.

• Click on the Background Color Chip. In the Color Picker, enter a Hex Code of #c6c9d1, which is a light gray color, and click OK. The Foreground Color Chip should be white.

• Get the Gradient tool. In the Tool Options, click on the Linear Gradient icon.

• Open the Gradient Picker and choose Foreground to Background.

• Ctrl Click (Mac: Cmd Click) on the thumbnail of the snowdrift layer in the Layers panel to get a selection outline.

• Click at the top of the snowdrift and drag down in a straight line to the bottom of it. When you let go of the mouse, the selection will fill with a gradient of white and gray. Repeat as many times as you need to until you’re happy with the gradient.

• With the selection still active, click on the Create a New Layer icon in the Layers panel to create a new layer above the gradient layer.

• Get the Brush tool. In the Tool Options, open the Brush Picker and choose a soft brush in a size that suits the area you are going to paint on. Set the Opacity to 100%. (PS: Also set the Flow to 100%.)

• Paint some highlights at the top of the snowdrift in white to make it shine.

• Press Ctrl D (Mac: Cmd D) to deselect.

• Press Ctrl E (Mac: Cmd E) to merge the two layers together.

• Open the Effects panel and choose Styles. (PS: Open the Styles panel.) Open the fly-out menu and choose Load Styles.

• Navigate to the Snowdrift.asl Layer Style you downloaded. Click on it to select it and click Open.

• Double-click on the Snowdrift Layer Style in the Effects panel (PS: Styles panel) to apply it to your snowdrift.

(PSE10 and earlier: Open the DS-Snowdrift.psd file from the download and follow the instructions to add the style to your snowdrift.)

• Continue to make as many snowdrifts of varying shapes and sizes as you need.

Fonts: Honey Script and Blackoak STD (came with my MAC).

January 2013

Looking for an extra treat this month? Be sure to post a layout in the Premier gallery using the Winter Wonderland kit, QuickPages, or templates and you’ll receive these clusters as our thank-you for being a Premier member! For more information, check out the Posting Bonus thread in the Premier private forum. Don’t forget that your layout must be posted in the current Premier Gallery during the month of January.

Posting Bonus

Introducing Premier MembershipEvery month you’ll receive:• A deluxe scrapbooking kit including at least 10 high resolution coordinating 12 x 12 pages, and a generous array of matching elements

• A set of QuickPages and grayscale templates made from the same kit. We’d love to see your pages using this month’s kit!

• Four in-depth training videos for both Photoshop and Elements, plus any associated files, such as layer styles, photos, brushes, etc. used in the lessons. You’ll learn:

* How to fix or enhance your photos * How to use Photoshop tools for scrapbooking * Digital scrapbooking techniques used by the pros * Design tips for making exceptional scrapbook pages!

• PDF manual for each video with all the step-by-step written instructions, making it easy for you to follow along and try out the techniques yourself.

• Access to exclusive members-only bonuses, archived Tips of the Week and Bonus videos, and of course, the exclusive Premier Forum.

Premier Membership - all this for only $8.99/month

© 2013 Digital Scrapper. All rights reserved. This content is for current Premier members only. If you have friends or associates who are interested in this information, please refer them to www.digitalscrapper.com where they can sign up for their own Digital Scrapper Premier subscription. Do your part to prevent digital piracy so we can continue to offer you valuable products like Premier.

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