Back to my Roots

So, after a few pages of bright and bold, I'm back to my safe zone, for the most part. 

Yep, right back to my muted blues with pink accents; kind of a theme of mine.  What can I say?  I know what works for me, and I will exploit the heck out of it!

I did step a little out of my comfort zone here, I mean, YELLOW!  I'm not sure I've ever featured yellow before.  It was still fairly comfortable though, sticking with greyscale for most of the page.  But I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I think it's a great example of going just outside your comfort zone.

I know I stepped back into my muted blues and greys again here, but I just LOVE how this turned out, and the pictures lent themselves toward this palate.  I think my favorite parts of this layout are the layered hearts that mimic chevrons on the first page, and the scribbled triangles on the second page.  It's also a more 'masculine' page so it can be used for little boys too, which is something I'll be needing if when I get to scrapbooking 2012 ;)

How do you catch up on a backlog of scrapbooking without sacrificing quality of your pages? 
~Digital Nicole

The Start of a New Year

Well, I'm starting a new year in my scrapbook anyway ;)

 

Quite possibly the easiest page you can imagine.  It came together in just a few minutes and I absolutely love it!

 

 These pages were also extremely quick.  I know there's a lot of color going on here, but it matches the personality of the pictures so perfectly I think it's justifiable. 

 

 Again, some bold and bright colors going on here.  I've been a little bit out of my comfort zone with these eye catching colors.  I really prefer working in muted, vintage tones.  Sometimes, however, you just have to let the true nature of the photograph shine through, and I just couldn't dull the brightness coming from these photos!

So I have a question for y'all.  Are you comfortable working in any color combination, hue, saturation, and brightness? 

Bring a little brightness into these gloomy days of fall!
~Digital Nicole

 

I'll get right down to it.

Yes - it's been a while since I posted anything.  No - I don't have an excuse.

You'll notice the pages are dated 2009, but in my defense, I only finished them a few months ago.  Like so many of you, I have a terrible back log.  For a while I was catching up, but I've been devoting myself to other things lately and have fallen behind again.

These pages were hilariously quick to put together.  They are understated, but I didn't want to detract from the craziness going on in the photos.

 This is another set of very simple pages, but with so many photo's I felt it was necessary to keep the embellishments to a minimum or risk a chaotic, confusing layout.

This is another understated layout.  I truly wanted to showcase the photos here, especially the one on the right because it's so rare that Zach gets a photo with all his siblings.  Even so simple, each piece was methodically chosen to create an elegant design.

And we've finally reached the end of the year!  This page isn't anything too special to me, but truthfully, neither were the photos.  They're cute, for sure (of course I'm biased), but they weren't of exceptional quality or content.  I really just needed a solid way to end vol. 09.

Happy Scrapping,
~Digital Nicole

How Spring And Pinterest Are Destroying My Scrapbook.

I don't know why I haven't had the desire so scrap lately.  Perhaps its the changing weather that's made me restless.  I want to be outdoors.  I want to make summer dresses, plant my garden, and decorate my house.

I also blame pinterest.  I see so many absolutely stunning pages there that I can scrap vicariously through them! Who knew that was possible.  By the time I get done scouring the web for the most amazing work it's 2am, I'm hunched and squinting at my computer screen and my eyes are bloodshot.  So I go to bed.

I'll share a few older works though.  Nothing exceedingly exciting.

 

 This one was fun because I seriously ADORE Halloween. 

I'm actually quite fond of these pages.  The photos lend themselves to this soft palette of warm greys and shades of turquoise.  And of course, as all scrapbookers know, it brings back such fond memories.

Stay inspired,
~Digital Nicole

triangle layout, and a few older works

Haven't really been working on anything lately, things have been crazy.  I do have a few templates I've started.  I find it helps me to block out my idea in photoshop using greyscale to perfect the layout before moving onto colors, textures, and depth.

Here's one that I think is pretty well done:  Let me know what you think, and if there's any interest I could add a photoshop version for everyone.

I also have a few older projects I can share with you.

These pages were fun to make and went very quickly.  They're quite simple, but I kind of like the understated design.

This one was a bit of a challenge for me because of the colors of the photos.  They were taken in a pumpkin field, so everything was brown and dead and we all wore blue! 

You can also see all my older works in my gallery!
~Digital Nicole

Creative block

Well, these first few certainly aren't my best work, but they'll do.  I had such a bad case of creative block that I couldn't get anything done well.  I may go back and re-work some of these, or just pitch them and start from scratch!  In fact, the first one here, is my second attempt at these images.  Much better than my first (I assure you) but still lacking inspiration.

blah

very uninspired and juvenille

started with a cluster



The baseball layout, again, is not my favorite, but it's acceptable for now until I decide if I should accept it, re-work it, or just start over.  The left page of the last layout here started as a cluster element that I modified to suit my needs.  I made it a bit more elaborate by duplicating some of the leaves and flowers and  adding the glitter/pearls.  The page on the right used some of the same elements, I just arranged them differently to suit the image size I needed. 

After these 3 layouts I'm not super thrilled with, I created a truly inspired page.  one of my favorites I've ever worked on:

AAAHHHH, refreshing!  Finally a layout I am proud to put my name on!

This one really is one of my favorites.  The background paper is comprised of several transparent layers, including a few stamps, paint splatter, and paint strokes.  Each of the circles were individually layered, because I didn't have any elements that suited my needs.  The date on both pages was hand written, then scanned, and placed in the layout using a transparent layer. 

Maybe this layer isn't as great as I think, but after the previous three, it feels AMAZING!  I'm so proud of this one. 

And don't forget, you can check out all my layouts in my gallery.

Thank you,
~Digital Nicole

Here we go again (more back log)

Nothing to say... just some more old pages.  They're still not printed, so suggestions on improving them (as always) are welcomed!  Oh - and I think in addition to posting my back log of finished projects I'm going to do a weekly update of my in progress pieces (I usually have half a dozen or so at a time). 



Tried my hand at some transparent embellishments and stitching

Some work with layering and weaving ribbons through other embellishments

more working with layering to add interest

tried my hand at some ink splatter and torn perforations

had a lot of fun manipulating one ribbon embellishment to make
several different looks on these pages

I was working on using photographs in different ways here:
cutouts and transparent

more work with creating embellishments using clipping masks


~Digital Nicole

Back Log

I'm going to start posting some of my back log of scrapbook pages.  As of right now, I have well over 50 pages designed that are just sitting on my computer. I'm going to work my way through these, slowly, and get them all print ready.  I'm hoping to have them all completed and printed by thanksgiving (which means by Christmas in reality, lol).  And remember, as I am posting these designs, I always love feedback.  Both positive and negative, as long as it is constructive!  Seriously, I know a lot of people say "give me feedback" but what they really want is compliment.  I truly prefer honesty to false compliments (as long as it is constructive, of course).  I love doing this, and I want to get better and better, and I hope you can help me.


Just one year, and her hair was to her shoulders!

These pages were a challenge for me because the pictures themselves were
very dark and I could only lighten them so much.  So I was trying to work
with what I had.  And since I have very few pictures of my dad with us,
I was certainly going to use them.

All the embellishments on these pages were created using clipping masks



 

As you can tell by the dates, I have quite a back log!  But, I'll post a few every day and I'll have you caught up in no time, flat!

~Digital Nicole