Hybrid Humpday: Recycle me!

Hey there folks! Hybrid girl Jennifer here with another edition of Hybrid Humpday for you to enjoy!

One of my favorite things about hybrid is the ability to reuse other packaging-in this case, a box from a souvenir. First, it was time to pick a kit. I decided to go with In My Life by Jennifer Fox Designs and the Design Girl.

I measured the box to get approximate sizes, then printed two sheets of my papers and one page of elements, scaled to the appropriate size.


Since I printed my paper in sheet format, I need to cut it into strips to ensure I get the sizing right. I prefer to measure and mark on the back side of my paper, so that I can easily see the lines to cut on.


You can see here that both my papers are cut into strips, at two different widths.


I am using a big box for this project, and my paper is not long enough to wrap around the box completely, so I have to join the strips together. I prefer to do this on a corner seam, by marking about 1/2 inch in from the edge of one strip, scoring it with my folding tool, then cropping the corners tight and gluing the strips together. This makes it as hidden as possible.


Once my paper strips were joined, I measured them, scored them, inked, and adhered them to the box and trimmed to fit.


Now comes the fun part-embellishments! I used a mix of items from the kit and supplies I already had. I just played with it until I found something I was happy with, and here is the end result:




I love how this turned out! It was so simple to make as well, and I will be making lots more recycled boxes like these in the future!

See you again next month! Don't forget to apply for Jen's awesome Guest CT call, you do NOT want to miss a chance to be on this team!
xoxo-Hybrid Girl Jennifer

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Woot!!! Guest Creative Team Call!

In case you have a hard time seeing the ad:

I'm looking for a few fresh new faces to join my team as GUESTS (one month obligation) for August--October 2010!!! If you love my designs and want to be part of an amazing group of scrappers and hybrid artists, I’d love to hear from you!

Requirements: At least 3 layouts during your month, posted to 3 galleries (The Digichick and at least 2 others)

Interested? Email me at jenniferfoxctcall@yahoo.com with the following information:

1. Your name/screen name.

2. Why you’d like to join my team as a guest.

3. A list of your current teams/other online commitments.

4. A little bit about yourself.

5. A link to your favorite gallery.

Applications will be accepted until 7/2 @ midnight EST. Invitations and regrets will be sent by 7/7 @ midnight EST.

Go ahead and get your application in! I'm really excited about some new additions to the team!

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Tidbit Tuesday

Welcome back to Tidbit Tuesday everyone. I'm Kiki with a little something to share spotlighting a really cool blog if you are looking for creative inspiration.

The Poppytalk blog is a wonderful source of inspiration and ideas for all kinds of creative projects. They recently won the Style at Home Favourite Design Blogger Contest and one look at the blog and you'll see why. This week the blog has been focusing on Summer Colors and today is Yellow. Talk about some gorgeous inspiration there.

If you are looking for ideas for crafting projects, look no further. The categories on the blog range from Affordable Art to Graphic/Street Art to Scrapbooking to Handmade. It's a must-read or should I say must-see blog for your reader.

Remember to visit the Downloads category as well for quick starts to your hybrid projects.

Enjoy the creative eye candy at Poppytalk and have a great week!

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Meals In Minutes Monday--Low Cal Edition

Hi everyone!!! Today I'm bringing you a quick and easy recipe for Seafood Salad Pitas. In my family, we're concentrating on eating more healthy meals and I am watching calories, so this is just perfect for us.




Seafood Salad Pitas
8 Servings
Prep: 20 min. + chilling

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped imitation crabmeat (about 10 ounces)
1/2 pound cooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped (about 1 cup)
2 celery ribs, chopped
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
3/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon seafood seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
8 whole wheat pita pocket halves


Directions
In a large bowl, combine the crab, shrimp, celery and onions. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, seafood seasoning, salt and pepper. Pour over crab mixture; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Spoon into pita halves. Yield: 8 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 filled pita half equals 162 calories, 2 g fat (trace saturated fat), 27 mg cholesterol, 755 mg sodium, 28 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 10 g protein.

Diabetic Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 very lean meat.

*Thanks to Taste of Home for this fabulous recipe!*

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Spotlight Sunday

Happy Sunday all of you in Blogger land! Trina here with your customer spotlight for the month. I had a lot of fun going around the galleries to find some layouts to show you, and I saw that Aimee (aka Scrappinduck) has quite a few wonderful pages using Jennifer's products, so I thought I'd spotlight her.

Here are a few of the layouts from Aimee's gallery that I just love!

Using Cuppycakes

http://digiscrapaddicts.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=117930

Using Warm Winter Wishes by Jennifer and Nikki Epperson

http://digiscrapaddicts.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=120404

And finally, using Rough and Tumble.

http://digiscrapaddicts.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=128314

Keep posting your layouts in galleries for your chance to be spotlighted on Jennifer's blog.

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Saturday School: Intro to Drop Shadows

Hi, it's Kate here to give you a quick lesson in drop shadows. Today I'll cover the basics and next week I'll talk about some neat things you can do to make your drop shadows look even more realistic. What is a drop shadow, you ask, and why would you want to use one? Pretend you're holding a traditional scrapbook with papers layered and photos and other embellishments. The pages aren't really flat, are they? Well, when you layer digital papers and elements on a page, it's totally flat. Drop shadows give the illusion of depth on the page.

Take a look at this layout I'm working on from my son Robert's 5th grade promotion celebration. I'm using one of Jennifer's Scraps to Go (Vol. 5) templates and her kit 'Raining on Sunday' and I've clipped the papers and my photos to some of the layers of the template which already had drop shadows. I've also added a few ribbons and paper circles where the ribbons and flowers were on the template. You can see that some of the layers have drop shadows and some don't. The layers with the drop shadows look more realistic than the ones without.

To add a drop shadow to a layer, highlight that layer then click the little 'fx' button on the bottom of the screen and choose 'drop shadow' from the menu.

When the menu comes up, you have to choose the settings and then click OK. In this case I used the same settings as the ribbon layer in Jennifer's template since she already figured out what would look best. One tip here is that you generally want all your shadows going the same direction on the page. I could explain all the options, but it would be easier and more fun for you to play with them and see what happens!

I'm only going to give you one more tip today, because I want to save more goodies for next week! I didn't actually go in and set all the options myself. Since the only layer style is the drop shadow, I went to the layer with the shadow I wanted and right-clicked on it, selecting 'copy layer style'. Then I went to my ribbon and right-clicked on it, selecting 'paste layer style'. Voila! A perfect drop shadow! Here's how my layout looks with the drop shadows added to all the layers. Well, almost all the layers. It would have looked funny if I put a drop shadow on the paint spatter.

Thanks for stopping by - and don't forget to come back next Saturday when I'll talk about ways to make the shadowing even more realistic!

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Freebie Friday! July Desktop

Hi All!! Erin here with July's desktop!! Click the image below to download. Enjoy :)

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Jen's on vacation!

Hey everyone! Jen's on vacation this week, so we don't have any releases to show you today. But, I thought since Thursdays are my days on the blog, I'd hijack things and spotlight a few of my very favorite of Jen's kits. If you don't have these gorgeous kits, you need them, so go check them out! The images are linked :)

First up, is Raining on Sunday. I just LOVE the rich colors and textures in this kit.



Next, a bright and fun kit perfect for just about any occasion, I've Got a Feelin.



And finally, with all the vacations happening, She Sells Seashells is perfect for scrapping those girly beach pages!



Also! Don't forget the June blog challenge. There's still time to get your entries in. Click HERE to check it out!

That's it for me this week, hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll see ya next Thursday!

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Hybrid humpday!

Hi all, Donna here for this week's hybrid humpday...

Would like to share this recent project I made using Jennifer Fox Designs'

IN MY LIFE (a collab with The Design Girl)

To start with, I chose this template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff available at The Digichick as well.

Follow the instructions on how to use the template.

I like to maximize the space whenever I print, so I squeeze in as many elements as possible...

 as you can see here, there were elements that I will not be using later on coz when I cut them out I didn't quite liked how it looked while I was assembling the box :D

To continue.... once you have cut them all up.. time to layer the flowers

Instead of using the biggest flower (the pink one), I just used green flower in it's center...

don't worry about cutting it perfectly, doesn't matter in my opinion..

as long as it resembles a flower afterwards :D

then build your flower by layering them up...accent with a button or brad...

Since the box I used doesn't have a handle...I made this instead....

3 pcs of 6 inches twine..notice the masking tape at one end?

I like to tape it temporarily so the twine stays in place while....

I am braiding...

 insert the braided twine as seen in the image..

Finish assembling your box...

Hope you liked it!

Thanks and happy crafting! :)

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Tidbit Tuesday

Hi everyone. Kiki here. Summer has finally arrived here and it's such a wonderful time of year. Everything is blooming, green, and the veggie garden is growing like mad. What I love most about summer though is the heat. The sun. The warmth. Finally. And I can't help but love to lounge in a deck chair and just let my thoughts drift with the summer breeze. I guess I'm a dreamer. What kind are you?

You Are An Energetic Dreamer

You are always dreaming up new ideas, and your mind is always on fire. You don't let an idea sit in your mind for too long. You try it out, even if it seems impossible. You are brave and bold. You are willing to take a leap before anyone else does. You are able to get people excited about your ideas and on board with implementing them. You are a great motivator.

What Kind of Dreamer Are You?

Blogthings: We'll Tell You The Truth... Someone Has To!

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Meals In Minutes Monday

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a WONDERFUL weekend! I did!!! We spent the entire weekend at the little league field cheering on our best friend's son's team in the championship games - and they WON!!!! So exciting but makes for a draining weekend so I thought I'd share a quick and easy recipe that I like to whip up on Sunday for a great satisfying meal.

Chicken with Pesto Pasta
(serves 2-3)

2 grilled chicken breasts
1/2 lb. bow-tie pasta (cooked)
1 small container Bertoli garlic basil pesto
1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Grill (or pan-fry) chicken until done. Cook pasta at the same time. Cube chicken. Add to cooked pasta. Add in container of pesto sauce. Heat until just warm. Don't overheat as the pesto will separate. Add cheese. Stir. Serve with crusty garlic bread and a fruit salad.

I wish I had a picture but the men in my house devour the pasta before I can ever get the camera out.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as we do!!!

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CT Spotlight Sunday!

Hello digiscrappers! Stephanie (schock77) with today's spotlight shining on CT member Kristin (SmallMoments)!

So I love looking through her layouts and wanted to know more:
When did you start digiscrapping? "I started digi scrapping in '07. But did traditional scrapbooking for years before that."

What program do you use to create your layouts? Adobe Photoshop Elements 8

What inspires you? My inspiration comes from all kinds of places- other layouts/galleries, challenges, or the photos themselves. Sometimes kits even inspire me. I like variety obviously. ;)

What's your favorite kit from Jennifer? It's a toss up between her two newest- In My Life and Toothless.

Well, now that we know a little about Kristin, let's see some of her fabulous layouts! All images are linked up if you want to get a closer look!

Using In My Life


Using Toothless



Using Tomorrow's Another Day


Using I've Got a Feeling


I'm inspired! Off to scrap! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

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Saturday School: Rounded Corners

Hi everyone! Hope you all are enjoying the summer and finding lots of extra time for scrapping! Kendall here to bring you the latest installment of "Saturday School." Today we're going to talk about rounded corners. I've been on a big "rounded corner" kick here lately and have been using them a lot in my pages.

Here is one way to achieve the rounded corner look in your LOs without having to rely on templates. I am using PS CS3, but this works in PSE as well. First, locate your "Shapes" tool, and then select "Rounded Rectangle." You can then adjust the radius depending on how rounded you want your corners to be.


Now, start by opening your background paper. Make sure you put the shape on its own layer so that you can later re-size or play with it more if you choose to.


Once you've drawn the shape to your desired size, your screen should look a little something like this:


Now that your shape is in place, open the photo or paper you want to crop into the rounded corner shape. Drag it on top of your rounded corner shape. You can re-size the paper now if you choose to or leave it as it. Now, we want to clip the layers together by pressing Alt - Ctrl -G in PS or Ctrl - G in PSE.


Your screen should now look something like this:


You can merge these layers together, or if you're a bit indecisive like me, you can leave the layers clipped and unmerged in case you decide to make additional changes later. You can now create as many additional shapes as you like; just make sure to put each on its own layer. In my LO, I chose to simply duplicate my rounded corner shape a few times by pressing Ctrl - J.


Make sure that when adding shadows to your clipped shape, you shadow the shape and not the paper or photo clipped to the shape. Once I had all my rounded corner shapes in place, I could continue with my page by adding photos and elements. Here's the finished product:


I hope this tutorial has been useful to you. If you have a LO using Jen's products that features rounded corners, link us up in the comments section of this post. We always love to see what you create!

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Friday Freebie!!

Heather here today bringing you another freebie. Today I have for you a clusterframe from Jennifer's collab with the Design Girl In My Life: (click image to go to the store)


And here is my freebie for you (click to download)

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New Release Thursday!

Hi everyone! Sally here again to bring you Jennifer's new release this week. It's a crazy good collab with Ms. Amanda Heimann, who is guesting at The DigiChick this month! This kit is perfect for all those loose/lost teeth and visits to the dentist or from the Tooth Fairy. But, if you'll check out the rockin layouts from Laura and Heather in the CT Inspiration, you'll see that it's not just for tooth layouts! Head on over to The Digichick, where this kit is 20% off today ONLY!

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Time for a Sneak Peek!

Jennifer has a great collab coming out this week with The DigiChick guest designer Amanda Heimann. Bright colors and fun elements are what this kit is all about. Make sure you come back tomorrow to see the full reveal along with some inspiration from Jennifer's Creative Team!

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For the Love of Banners

Happy humpday everyone!  Jackie here with some hybrid inspiration and a (very) mini tutorial for you.

Take a look at any gallery these days and you'll see layouts with banners in them.  I really adore the look of a banner in a layout so I thought why not incorporate a banner into some of my cards.  I plan on using banners a lot more now that I know it's not so difficult to make my own!   I used the same kit for both of these cards - Jennifer's Foxy Chic collab with Geek Chic.  It's got such wonderful colors in it and I couldn't resist using it!

The first card I made was a congratulations card for one of my cousins who recently got married.

To make the banner, I opened up the papers I wanted to use from the kit and then used the cookie cutter tool (PSE 7) (it's pointed to with the red arrow and it's a star shape, although in this picture it's half way cut off) and cut out a triangle shape and rotated it for each flag on the banner and then placed it on a blank page to print off. 

I used the same technique on the second card I made - a birthday card for one of my best friends.  

On both cards, I took some twine (seen below) from Papertrey Ink and used adhesive to attach each individual flag to make the banner.  

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I made the banners for my cards.  If you happen to make anything hybrid with  a banner on it, I'd love to see it!

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