Happy New Year!

I hope that 2012 finds you happy, healthy, and ready to preserve your precious memories through scrapbooking.  I’m committed to making this the year that I tell the stories I don’t want to forget.  I've always been an event scrapper, and that won’t change, but I’m also going to capture the small moments that make life worth living.  I’m even going to scrapbook stories that don’t have photos…I know…gasp!  I can do this!

I’m taking the Big Picture Classes course, Twelve, with Stacy Julian.  NOTE:  Just noticed the class is live, so I need to hurry up this blog post!  W00T!  BPC has a Refer-a-Friend reward system.  If you use my code (E5FD6D3E) when you register for your free account on the site, we will both earn a 10% discount after you purchase your first class.

So, you may have noticed that I took a break after posting my Thankful for Studio J series every day in November.  I was busy working on some Christmas gifts, including this awesome calendar for my mother-in-law.  Here is another reason why I love Studio J…you can create two completely different looks on the same layout using text boxes.  All I had to do was fill the text boxes with patterned paper, change the color of the paper, send it behind the photos, and embellish to my heart’s content.  I’ll post photos of the completed calendar later, but here is a quick look at the layouts.

February & January

(Seriously, how cute is my husband?!)

December & March

April & August

May & June

July & October

September & November

Watch for my newsletter tomorrow as I’m having a Rock the Block party on Saturday, January 14!  I would love for all the locals to join me at my home, but also am going to find a way for you out-of-towners to join in the fun.  Stay tuned.

Also, keep an eye on Jeanette Lynton’s blog.  She is going to announce how her blog readers will be able to participate this year!  CTMH recently announced that they are no longer offering the Make It FromYour  Heart contest for consultants, so my guess is that she will be offering prizes for people who submit artwork based on her blog posts.  That means that EVERYONE will be able to participate, not just consultants!

I tell you…2012 is going to be an amazing year!  Bring it on!  

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Studio J 5-Pack Winner

I’m so excited to start this holiday season by giving away a FREE Studio J 5-Pack!  Watch this video to see if you are the lucky winner.  If you missed the chance to enter the giveaway, be sure to subscribe to my blog, Facebook page, and/or Twitter feed so that you don’t miss my next big giveaway!

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Why I’m Thankful for Studio J #30—Member Benefits

I spent this month sharing with you some of the reasons why I’m thankful for Studio J. On the last day of the month, I’m working on finishing up my layouts so that I can enjoy one of the perks of membership…free shipping! I love that I only have to purchase 4 layouts to receive free shipping but can fit as many as 20 in one box. That’s 40 pages for my albums and I don’t have to pay a cent for shipping. Woo hoo!

Today is also the last day to sign up for my Studio J 5-Pack giveaway by leaving a comment on the blog post that started this entire series, 30 Reasons Why I’m Thankful for Studio J. I will post the winner tomorrow evening!

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Why I'm Thankful for Studio J #29--Warning Symbols

I'm thankful that Studio J gives me warning symbols when I'm using low quality photos.  When I try to resize a photo that doesn't have a high resolution, Studio J pops up the yellow warning sign.  I'm even more thankful for the fact that I can simply ignore the warnings and that they won't print on my final layout.  Sometimes I don't mind having a blurry photo on my page because it tells a story.  In this example, the images on the right were a screen capture from a TV station aired over the Internet...it's not surprising that the quality is low.  Yet, I'm still going to use the photos, because it is a record of my brief experience on Star Trek: Enterprise!

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the giveaway blog post to have a chance at winning a FREE Studio J 5-Pack (includes 5 layouts, page protectors, and shipping).  With only 1 day left, your chances are really good as there are only 19 comments on that post, so hurry up and click on over there!

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Why I'm Thankful for Studio J #28 ~ Photo in Multiple Wells

Studio J gives us lots of ways to create visual impact with our favorite photos.  A fun technique involves placing the same photo in multiple photo wells to create an enlargement of the photo.  In the Grill Masters layout, I love the focal photo of my husband showing off pans of freshly seasoned beef.  Yet, the story is really about how he and my brother-in-law were in a grilling cook off.  I wanted their photo to carry almost equal weight as the focal photo, so I placed it in four different photo wells to create an "enlargement."  The steps to accomplish this are really easy:

1)  Select the photo you want to "enlarge" and drop into one of the photo wells.
2)  Increase the scale until the "ghost" image covers all four photo wells.  My photos are at 220%.
3)  Move the first photo into place and repeat.
4)  Once all four photos have been resized, you are able to move them around by grabbing the hand/move icon in the middle of the photo.  A "ghost" image will appear that will allow you to line up all four photos.  It helps to zoom way in so that you can really see what you are doing.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the giveaway blog post to have a chance at winning a FREE Studio J 5-Pack (includes 5 layouts, page protectors, and shipping).  With only 2 days left, your chances are really good as there are only 19 comments on that post, so hurry up and click on over there!

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Why I’m Thankful for Studio J #27—Changing Paper Colors

Like I showed you yesterday, Studio J gives me lots of creative control.  In classic scrapbooking, if my photos don’t match the paper, I have to turn my photos black and white or sepia.  Not so with Studio J!  In Studio J, I can change my background paper to fit the color of my photos!  I have the entire Close To My Heart color palette to play with…that’s 60 colors!  Now, the only limitation is that we can’t change the color of My Stickease, but with so many other embellishments available to us, I don’t see this as a problem at all.  I would love to see the layouts you create on my Facebook page, so be sure to upload your favorites and show me how you changed the color of the paper on your layout!

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the giveaway blog post to have a chance at winning a FREE Studio J 5-Pack (includes 5 layouts, page protectors, and shipping).  With only 3 days left, your chances are really good as only 16 people have left comments on that post, so hurry up and click on over there!

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Why I'm Thankful for Studio J #26--Creativity

I've talked about how amazing Studio J is when you are short on time or new to scrapbooking.  It really can be as easy as dropping in photos, coloring embellishments, adding a title and journaling.  Yet, Studio J also lets our creativity shine when we have more time to spend.  For instance, last night I decided that I wanted to learn how to make graph paper in Photoshop, so I did!  I used the RGB codes for a Colonial White background and Chocolate grid to create my custom graph paper that will match the CTMH papers in Studio J.  As I look at it now, I wish I would have added a little distressing, but luckily I can do that in Studio J.

So, after creating the paper, I thought about a layout I had seen on page 24 of the November/December 2011 edition of Creating Keepsakes.  I loved the circles that were cut out of the paper.  I did the same on my graph paper and put a little drop shadow behind the circles.  I figured out which photos I wanted to use and created my photo mats.  You can download the layered Photoshop file under my Freebies tab and watch this video to see how to add your own photos.

I really want to see what you create with this file (and my other Freebies!), so please post your completed layout to my Facebook page!

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the giveaway blog post to have a chance at winning a FREE Studio J 5-Pack (includes 5 layouts, page protectors, and shipping).

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