4. April 2008 by admin.

I’m so excited.  After work tonight, we’re going down to officially open up the camper.  My home away from home for the summertime.  Shannon went down last weekend, but the heater was in my car and he only stayed one night.  Even though it will be a wee bit cold at night, with the portable heater the place stays pretty warm.  The rain is supposed to stop for the weekend and as good time will be had by all.  Who knows, I may just get a chance to try out my new horseshoes too.

So I played at work a little bit more yesterday.  The problem I’m running into is that I need to change my desktop and modem to a wireless network so I can transfer data from one to the other.  (and blog in bed in the mornings).  I did one layout and worked on a few more templates.  There’s an interesting thread over at DST about composition.  I’m going to steal parts of Lindabelle’s post and put it here for everyone to read.

10 Composition Tipsby Andrea Steed (Apr 22, 2005)

Designers and decorators have been using composition tips for centuries. Many of them fit perfectly into the composition of a scrapbook layout. Below are 10 tips for creating a balanced layout.

1. Arrange your photographs so that the eyes of people in the pictures look inward towards the center of the page and/or lead the viewer to the next item on your page.
2. Create a visual triangle with photos and embellishments. Triangles pull all of the items together, while pairs or groups of 4 will separate them into sections.
3. Avoid trapped white space. Trapped white space is a block of unused space trapped in the gutter of a page.
4. Try to use the same element in odd numbers. 1, 3, or 5 of the same item will typically have a more finished look.
5. Keep your metals matched. For example, use all gold, all silver, or all brass accents rather than mixing the colors.
6. Remember the “Rule of Thirds”. If you divide your layout into thirds vertically and horizontally, where those lines meet is generally a good place to put the main focus of your layout.
7. Create contrast in your pages. Avoid elements on the page that are merely similar. If the elements (font, color, size, line thickness, shape, space, etc.) are not the same, then make them VERY different to create a visual contrast.
8. Repeat visual elements of the design throughout the layout. You can repeat color, shape, texture, spatial relationships, sizes, etc.
9. Be aware of the alignment of all of the items on your page. Nothing should be placed on a page arbitrarily. Every element should have a visual connection with another element on the page.
10. Items relating to each other should be grouped close together. When several items are in close proximity to each other, they become one visual unit rather than several separate units

I need to work on some of these in my own layouts.  I think that I like the scraplift idea when it comes to self teaching design elements.  I love to look through the gallery at SBB.  Such a diverse crowd there.

Speaking of diverse crowds, stop by Heather’s CT blog and pick up the template that Andrea made for the April challenge.  It’s a terrific page and there’s a terrific giveaway attached.  Read more about it here.  And check out all the terrific pages done by Heather’s CT.

I almost forgot again, the list of my 5 links for Amanda.  Let’s see if I can come up with 5.  I hate to say it, but I think that most of my links are either scrap related or tv related.

1. Wikipedia ~  Have found this to be a great resource site.  My main spot that is bookmarked is the LOST pages.

2.  Snopes ~ This site is a must if you get a lot of emails from well meaning friends.  It’s also just a great read.  Check out urban legends and email/computer hoaxes.  There’s a great area about photos too.  If you’re not sure about something you’ve gotten in your in box, then this is the past to start first.

3.  Pogo games ~ I’ve been a Pogo member for almost 10 years now.  I haven’t played since I’ve gotten so into scraping.  I just got an email saying it’s time to renew or I’ll lose all my badges and stuff.  I can’t decide cuz that’s a lot of scrapping stuff in that membership fee. 

4.  Food Network, Bravotv, DiscoveryTV .  I group these all together because I basically only go there during certain times of the year.  Food Network, well when I need a recipe.  Bravo is during Top Chef season and Discovery TV is during Deadliest Catch season.  If you haven’t caught Deadliest Catch and you like reality tv that’s not a game show but life or death then look for this show.  It’s about Alaskan Crab Fishing and is very intense.  The new season starts the 15th and they’re running the last few seasons to get everyone ready.

5.  Pay Per Post ~ if you’ve ever thought of trying to make extra money by blogging, then this is a great site to start out at.  I need to get myself back into the swing of things.  The first 2 months I made over $300 and really didn’t do that many ads.  If you have any more questions about it, send me an email at carjaziscraps “at” gmail “dot” com.

There’s another template below this post that is yours for the taking.  I hope that everyone has an awesome weekend.  We’ll chat again on Monday.  Just a side note also, I will get to read everyone’s blog today, but I can’t always leave comments and I will be taking off right after work.  I just don’t want you to think I didn’t stop by, I just couldn’t say hi. 

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4. April 2008 by admin.

Here’s another template for you.  I’m having so much fun making them.  I truly hope that someone is able to use them.  I would love to see anything that has been made with them.  Post me a link in the comments so I can leave some love. 

I’ll have another post tomorrow.  I have 5 links I need to find for Amanda.  Plus I need to stop by a few blogs to say hi.  Running really behind trying to get ready for the weekend.

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