Family Time

As I mentioned, this weekend we have been busy doing family things. On Friday night, my niece's singing group had a "Pops" coffeehouse concert performing songs from movies. They did a great job - there are lots of talented singers in the group.

Today we helped my husband's parents do some clearing out at their house, in preparation for the annual rummage sale (known in the family as "La Ramahge") at their church. Some of the items were for the dump, some will go to recycling or the sale and a few came home with us (!)

We worked in the garage for a while and then did some sorting in the den. While we were going through one box, I found this photo of my husband and his five siblings. I brought it home to scan (despite much encouragement from the younger generations, Grandma and Grandpa do not own or want a computer). I didn't remember this particular photo and I really liked it. My husband is the oldest, followed by three sisters and then two brothers.

When we got home, I was too tired to go downstairs and work with the Cricut, so I sat with my laptop and did a quick digital layout with the photo. I used my Creative Memories StoryBook Plus software - this is a great program which is very easy to use. This was a quick and simple 8 x 8 layout, but I did a few things that are interesting.



By using the "hue" control in the "Enhance" tab, I was able to change this brown piece of background paper to a nice shade of blue. Our entire family has a tendency to wear blue. When we were together for a family trip and had a professional photo taken, the photographer commented on our "color coordination" in the choice of clothing. We actually had not planned anything special, everyone was just wearing their favorite clothes - which were nearly all blue!



I cropped the photo into an oval, matted it, softened the edge of the photo, put a shadow on the photo and the mat, added a swirl flourish in the corner, applied a woven texture to the swirl, added a ribbon and a label with the year, added a quote for a title and shadowed everything. One of my favorite things about digital scrapping is the ability to "audition" different colors and papers with a click of the mouse - no wasted paper! I probably will change this layout a few more times before I finally decide it is finished and ready to print.



The photo I scanned was printed on a textured paper and the scanner picks up the pattern resulting in a slightly striped effect. There was also some "noise" in the scan. To minimize and soften the impact on the photo, I applied an oil painting effect to the photo.



Here is the photo after I applied the oil painting effect - I am not sure it it shows clearly but you can click on each of these photos to enlarge them and see the difference.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain and I hope to spend a big part of the day working in my scraproom (between loads of laundry). I should be able to get to the filigree file and get it ready for sharing either tomorrow or Monday. I hope you didn't mind this little detour into a different type of designing that I enjoy. If you have any questions about digital scrapping please let me know and I will try to help.