Ready for Some Craft Time

If you haven't checked out my new blog yet, be sure to read my "A Big Thank You & Celebration" post! You'll also get a look at the new CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Collection.  Mine will be here soon; I can't wait!

I'm really ready to start scrapbooking my Hawaii photos and to finish some pages I'm donating to a friend who recently started chemo for bone cancer.  Her son asked her to create a scrapbook for him, so my goal is to help her make his wish come true.  Sharing our stories with the ones we love is so important!  I don't have kids, so I think I lose sight of that sometimes.  Yet, I'm the only one who is qualified to tell my story!  I'll share the layouts that I make for her here.  I'm working on the Technique Tuesday "Live in the Moment" kit by Ali Edwards right now.  The inks that came with the kit are so nice; they are so chalky and smooth and look absolutely beautiful.

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Creative Weekend!

I completed a layout while cropping with a friend last night and another one today on Studio J!  I love weekends like this.  Only 1 1/2 weeks left of school and then I hope to spend my summer in many such creative endeavors.  Be sure to check out the video on my new blog, Studio Scrapping!  I'll post my other layout after I talk to my sister and iron out the journalling for it.  :-)

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Visit my new blog--Studio Scrapping!

I'm so excited about my new blog, Studio Scrapping, which focuses on all things Studio J!  I spent the last month setting up my new blog and coordinating my Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts with it.  It is a one-stop-shop for everything you want to know about Studio J.  Now that I'm "done" creating the site, I can get back to creating tutorials.  I have a ton of ideas that I want to share with you, so I hope you will follow me at my new site!

Close To My Heart is offering an amazing special this month...create a Studio J layout and receive a FREE JPG of it--no purchase required!  Seriously, how awesome is that?!

It gets better!  Both Close To My Heart and Studio Scrapping are holding contests this month.  Upload your free JPG to our Facebook pages, get your friends and family to "Like" your layout, and win big!

• Studio Scrapping Contest
• Close To My Heart Contest

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Studio J Video Tutorials

Yikes...I haven't updated my blog in ages.  I have several new Studio J video tutorials up on my YouTube page, so be sure to check them out!

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More Studio J Tutorials

I'm really excited about the Studio J tutorials I've made over the past couple of weeks.  Studio J is so quick and easy, so it is perfect for beginners.  Yet, it is also ideal for those of us with some digital scrapbooking experience and Photoshop skills.  I'm going to start making tutorials to help advanced users get the most out of their Studio J membership, as well.  Until then, here are the last three videos I created.  Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, createwithamy, and leave me a comment!

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Creating & Embellishing Journaling Strips in Studio J

I had a great New Year's Eve with my husband and friends last night.  We always share our goals for the new year, but this time we are finding inspiration from the one little word post by Ali Edwards.  My guiding words for the year are balance and write.  I want to find balance in my life so that I have more time to write!

I created this layout using the new Wings kit that was uploaded to Studio J today.  This paper is so beautiful.  I have the classic paper kit, too, but haven't cut into it yet.  Here is a video showing how I created the journaling strips and embellished them using staples and thread from buttons.

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Face lift courtesy of Studio J's wrinkle tool!

I'm so excited about sharing this video with you today.  The photo editing tools in Studio J are awesome...especially if you don't have Photoshop or another editing program on your computer.  I demonstrate how I can remove an unsightly wrinkle with one of the editing tools built into Studio J...cheapest face lift ever!!!! I'm also happy to report that this video didn't take me very long to produce and I'm far more relaxed.  That makes a big difference in my ability to find my words.  :-)



Comments and suggestions for future topics are appreciated!

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Getting Started with Studio J Part 2

I finished the second half of the tutorial tonight!  I think I did a much better job with avoiding the "um"s, but there is one really long pause as my mind was searching for a word.  I really wanted to say "rotation thingy!"  I eventually settled on "rotation symbol"--still not the right word, but at least I didn't say thingy.  :-)

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Getting Started with Studio J Video Tutorial

My login video is a little long winded with an annoying clicking sound.  I think I figured out what that was and fixed it, but now I'm "um"ing all over the place!  I will get better at this with more practice!  This tutorial walks you through uploading photos, choosing a paper kit & pattern, coloring embellishments, and converting a photo well into a journaling box.  Now I'm going to record finishing up the layout!

Again, please let me know when you start playing around with Studio J.  I currently have one friend who is a member, but I would like to hear from more of you.  Send me your questions/needs and I'll work them in to future video tutorials.

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Sign Up for Studio J Online Scrapbooking...it's FREE!

Here is my first Studio J tutorial using Camtasia Studio.  There is an annoying clicking sound periodically; I promise to figure out what I was doing and will make it stop.  This tutorial simply shows you how to log in.  I'll start posting the good stuff tomorrow!  Please let me know when you create an account.  These tutorials will be so much easier to create if I feel like I'm talking to real people.  :-)

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My Favorite CTMH Product?

Close To My Heart is running a contest on Facebook asking us to blog about our favorite product.  Are they kidding me?  How can I choose a favorite?!  I love the My Acrylix stamps and have several favorites, but I couldn't choose only one.  I love the How-To books, but would have a tough time choosing the one that I like best.  CTMH has so many paper packs, embellishments, and My Creations products that make me giddy...they can't ask me to choose only one!  Don't even get me started on the 60 Exclusive Colors...oh, okay, Twilight is my favorite, but there are about 20 other colors that run a close second!

Okay, if I have to choose, I'm going to select the Workshops on the Go kits...talk about a perfect product!  Each kit includes a level 2 paper kit, an exclusive stamp set, embellishments, and a how-to guide.  It's everything I love in one coordinating packet...how awesome is that?!

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LOAD #7

The 2nd page to the layout I posted a couple days ago.  Pressed for time, so I'm glad I had this one started.

These photos were taken in Charlottesville, VA in July.  I was in DC for a CTMH event and had a week to kill back East before the Folger Shakespeare Library reunion the following weekend.  I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to visit the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA.  Well, it just so happened that Jan and Eric were at a conference in Charlottesville that same week!  Seriously, what are the odds!  They let me stay with them for a couple days, and we had a great time exploring the University and town.  I love spending time with them and am so glad we shared this experience.

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LOAD #5

Thank goodness for Studio J!  I would never be able to finish a layout a day without it.  Well, I guess I can't say never since I did complete LOAD 2008.  My point is that I wouldn't be able to finish it THIS month without Studio J.  The most time consuming part of this 1/2 of the layout was choosing the photos.  I'll add my journaling and the rest of the photos tomorrow.

Now I need to get to bed since I need to get up early to figure out a plan B for my Web Design class until we can get our web server set up.  We were eating up too much space on the school hard drive!

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LOAD #4

This layout has given me fits since the day I started it!  It was a WOTG that a club member selected, and I wasn't fond of the paper used in the sample.  I switched patterns and actually really liked the layout.  We were planning on spending Christmas 2008 with my mom in Boise, so I made this layout with specific photos in mind.  I was going to take a photo of the tree for the large focal point on the first page.  I was then going to take photos of the three couples and one of Katie and Kyle.  I had it all planned out and then our flight was canceled.  We were snowed in.  So, I went to plan B after building a snowman.  I had Neal take pictures of me playing in the snow; I even took a self-portrait with my snowman.  I uploaded my photos for printing, but they didn't print.  I tried printing them again but couldn't find them when I wanted to finish the layout.  After printing for a third time, I gave up...that was two years ago!  I ran across the photos last night and decided that it was time to finish this layout!  I almost had a fit when my journaling came out with uneven margins.  Yet, I'm so ready to be done with this that I pulled out a stamp set, stamped Merry and Bright a few times and am calling it good.  I will say that, even though this layout has been a bit of a curse, I absolutely LOVE this photo of Neal!

The journaling reads, "This wasn’t the Christmas we had planned.  Nature thwarted our trip to Boise to spend the holiday with my family.  Neal and I were at the airport when my mom called to say our flight had been cancelled.  I was so disappointed.  During our trek home, we debated driving but didn’t want to risk it.  In the end, we spent Christmas with Kit and Tanis.  Neal tried to salvage his plants, and I spent an afternoon building a snowman!  The snowman lasted for over a week.  He eventually melted and we had to go back to work, but we will always remember the winter we were snowed in!"

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LOAD #3

I went classic style for today's Layout a Day!  The challenge was to focus on photography and create a layout with a photo that tells the story...no journaling!  As I'm in a bit of a journaling mood, this was actually a real challenge.  Yet, once I remembered this photo...I've been wanting to scrapbook it since 2008...it was easy.  The photo and the title say it all!  I'm a little bummed that the weather is so crappy today, because this layout (including the photo) are much more vibrant in real life.  My picture doesn't do it justice.  This layout was inspired by a layout in the Summer 2009 Idea Book.  I used Daydream Level 2, Blush ink, Fresh Shapes DE, Booksmart DE, Clear & Bitty Sparkles.

This is a little note to myself to remind me that I don't have to complete all of Lain's daily challenges for LOAD 2010.  I had a great time doing it this weekend, but my time is at a premium during the week, so that's when I'll go back to completing some of my partially created layouts.  I have so many that I want to finish, so that is my personal challenge this month.  Anything extra is simply a bonus.

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1st Order as a Studio J Member!

I'm so excited about my Studio J Membership!  I just ordered four layouts (8 pages total) for 1/2 off with FREE shipping, FREE page protectors, and FREE JPG files for the web and for printing.  Studio J membership seriously rocks!

Although one of the main goals of Studio J is to do layouts quickly, I actually spent a lot of time on these two layouts about Kit.  After losing her a week ago, I needed to scrapbook her stories to process my grief.  I wanted to take the time to make sure these layouts honored her and expressed my love for her.  I think they are pretty amazing...just like my sweet Kit!

I also took a bit of time with this layout earlier in the summer, because I was trying to figure out how to make my own B&T paper with text.  This is a direct scraplift from the Studio J website!  I posted a screen shot of it earlier, but now you can see the details.

Now, this layout is what Studio J is all about!  I modified my old, out of focus photos in Studio J.  I used the embellishments that came preloaded on the page and simply added a few My Stickease as a title and to cover up a Diet Pepsi can...LOL!  This layout took me less than 1/2 hour and most of that time was spent editing my photos.

If you want some of this scrappy goodness for yourself, let me know and I'll hook you up with a Studio J membership!  I'm going to demonstrate it at the THS FBLA Scrapbooking Crop on October 23rd; I can't wait to share Studio J with everyone I know!

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You Make Me Happy

I discovered a Sketchabilities contest last night and fell for sketch #20!  Even though I have a ton of school work to do, I decided that, after the stress of the past couple of weeks, I needed to relax and scrapbook.  So, I've been working on this layout on and off throughout the day.  I know the lighting on this photo is horrible, but I'm past my 10pm computer cut-off time, so I need to hustle and get to bed.  I had a great time playing with my Silhouette for this layout.  I purchased all the die cuts through the Silhouette store, the background paper is Scenic Route, and everything else is Close To My Heart.  I resisted the urge to further embellishment; I'm trying to simplify my process.  Anyway, this layout makes me happy, so that's all that really matters!

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Autumn/Winter 2010 Idea Book Sneak Peek

I'm not really a Halloween person.  For years, Neal and I ignored the holiday, turned off the porch light, and went to a movie to avoid having candy in the house.  Luckily, our house was never egged by disgruntled trick-or-treaters!  Even so, I find it amusing that, for the past two years, I've had a Halloween stamp for the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book swap.  In fact, I won 2nd place in a CTMH contest with last year's card!  Here is the card I submitted for the current swap and a little sneak peek at some of our awesome new colors!  The paper I used is called Hooligans (X7129B); I love this paper!  The colors are fantastic and will look great with a variety of photos, not just Halloween pictures.  The stamp set is called The Boo Crew (C1421) and comes with 6 darling pumpkins.

The new Autumn/Winter 2010 Idea Book launches September 1st, so contact me to reserve your copy!

Amy

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Family Photos

We had a fantastic family photo shoot in Moscow at the end of July, and the CD with all the photos arrived today! I've been having fun playing with Photoshop and then importing the photos into Studio J. My 12-month Studio J membership starts next month, and you can be sure that I'm going to take full advantage of all the member benefits...such as FREE shipping once a month! I can't wait! My goal is scrapbook at least one Studio J layout a week since they are so quick and easy...assuming I don't spend a ton of time in Photoshop first. These quick layouts will (1) allow me to capture memories I don't ever want to forget, (2) help me to scrapbook more frequently, and (3) motivate me to use my classic supplies since I'll be in a scrapbooking groove.

In case you don't know, Studio J is FREE! That's right...FREE! Log in through my website and try it for yourself. You can test your photos against different paper packets and sketches before scrapbooking with your classic supplies. You don't pay a thing unless you want to purchase the layouts you created. If you love it as much as I do, let me know and I'll share the membership options with you.

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More Studio J Layouts

I completed another batch of Studio J layouts and they are waiting to be filed away into albums. I love how quick and easy each layout comes together. The quality of the photos I used on the "Love Story" layout were really bad--complete user error--but the layout still looks great. I did journal about the fact that the photos are blurry so that anyone looking at the layout will know that they were used intentionally. My favorite LO is "Enjoy" which is a CTMH scraplift!

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