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Guest Interview with Jessica Sprague
1. Tell us about the latest, greatest project you are working on. I just finished a very large project - the Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking special issue from Creating Keepsakes that hit newsstands the beginning of April. I have a few other smaller projects in the works, but this was a big accomplishment. :) The issue contains nearly 70 tutorials, written for Photoshop Elements (but adaptable to most other graphics programs), with step-by-step instructions and screen shots, along with a great, inspiring example layout. There's also a downloadable companion kit to the issue, so you can play along with the tutorials that require products (like a digital mask, a curving text template, and so forth). We're really proud of this issue, and I think it's great for BOTH paper and digital scrapbookers. 2. What project have you done you liked the best and why? I thought the Computer Tricks issue was great fun. I got to manage the entire project from start to finish, including choosing contributors and receiving their artwork, editing the step-by-step instructions, and writing all the other text. It was very cool to manage all of the details of a large-scale project like this. 3. Why do you do what you do? This is a two-sided question I think, since "what I do" is both personal and professional. I scrapbook for the same reason I started - to tell the stories of my life in pictures and paper and Photoshop and words. To have something for my kids to remember, and as a creative outlet for myself. I scrapbook professionally, teach classes, write tutorials and articles, create videos, and contribute to the digital and hybrid scrapbook community because I love helping scrapbookers learn to express themselves creatively using their computers. I find this very satisfying work to do. 4. Does digital scrapbooking play a role in what you do? Absolutely! 5. What's your most used tool? Photoshop CS2, followed closely by my Epson R1800, my Dahle paper trimmer, and my truly handsome stash of cardstock. 6. What's one secret that got you where you are today? I try to always look beyond the surface of things - to really TELL a story, or find a really unique use for a product I'm asked to use. I had a college professor tell me (as it related to my degree in English), when approaching a new project, to write down the first five things that come to mind, and then throw them away, because everyone will have thought of those things, too. Then write down the next five, and throw them away. And it's only after that, after you've been thinking about things for awhile, that the really solid, creative, unique ideas start coming. I like that advice. Of course, most scrapbookers are interested only in telling their own stories, or in using sketches, and so forth, and that's great as well! Don't get me wrong. But one of my 'secrets', I suppose, is that I really try to look beyond the surface of things when I approach a new project, whatever it is. 7. What question do you get asked the most and how do you answer it? I get asked a lot of questions. LOL! Among the most common is, "How do I print my layouts?" or, "What printer do you use?" and my answer is: I use the Epson R1800, with my own color calibration 'recipe' that I spent a LONG time tweaking. I pretty much squeal with delight every time I print something out now. I highly, highly recommend this printer. 8. If you could change anything about scrapbooking, what would it be? I think there is a gap - a divide - between digital and paper scrapbooking, with each side looking down on or acting somewhat antagonistic of the other. I would like for this mentality to disappear - for people to accept that scrapbooking is scrapbooking, whether it's done with a pen and photos, cardstock and patterned paper, or a mouse (or some great combination of any of these). The computer is a tool, just like a stylus or a die-cut machine. And any way you tell the story of your life, is scrapbooking. 9. What's one of your goals? My main goal, as it relates to scrapbooking, is to help scrapbookers gain more confidence with their computers. To that end, I've got some cool plans in the works for classes, as well as the always-free weekly Photoshop Friday tutorial on my blog. There'll also be more and more related items from Creating Keepsakes, both in the pages of the magazine and at the CK web site. So I suppose my goal is being accomplished! :) 10. Name something about you that you think nobody knows (that you don't mind sharing, of course)? My very first job was as housekeeper in a nursing home. And my second was as a fry-cook at McDonalds. In my current job (as mama), I am BOTH a housekeeper and a fry-cook. Funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same... 11. How can we keep informed about what you're up to? Check me out on my blog if you like - there's
a weekly Photoshop Friday tutorial, and lots of other fun: Or my new web site which launched in May at http://www.jessicasprague.com. Jessica Sprague is a contributing editor for Creating Keepsakes Magazine.
Scrap Girls Clubs The club section is a standard newsletter feature for the benefit of the large number of new subscribers that join our list every day.
What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique?
Layout by Durin Eberhart
Layout by Amanda Sok
Layout by Melissa Renfro
Layout by Erica Hite
Layout by Amanda Sok
Layout by Jan Hicks
Layout by Dee-Ann Decker
If you have praise, comments, or questions for any of our Product or Layout Designers, did you know you can send them a PM (private message) using the message board? It's easy! If you are a registered user of the message board, just click on the "PM" box at the bottom of any of their posts to send them a message. Or, to check out more of your favorite designer's layouts, visit the Scrap Girls Design Team section of the Layout Gallery.
Free Digital Scrapbooking Starter Kit The free digital scrapbooking stater kit section is a standard newsletter feature for the benefit of the large number of new subscribers that join our list every day.
* There is a "free download" button on the details page for each gift. You don't need to put them in your shopping cart unless you are shopping for other items.
Tutorial: Using ScrapSimple Alpha Templates and Layer Masks to Enhance a Heritage Layout Note: Tutorial written with screenshots from PSCS2 on a Mac. I have this wonderful old photo my mom sent to me of her family.
I'd like the digital scrapbooking layout to consist of browns and beiges, but I like the book cover spine from this violet paper. With the Marquee Tool, I select the spine area of the paper.
I hold down the Shift key and drag the brown spine from the violet paper onto the beige paper.
Now that I have my background starting to look good, I need to go back and fix the photo border. Because the photo has rounded corners, I'm going to crop the photo to make it neater. I select the Shape Tool and scroll down to the Rounded Rectangle Tool option.
I've dragged the Rectangular Shape Tool over my photo.
To get a selection from my new shape, I'll hold down my Command key (Ctrl key on a PC) and click my cursor on the right-hand box on the Shape layer.
Marching ants now appear around the photo.
While on the photo layer, I make a mask with my selection by clicking on the Layer Mask Icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette.
Now my photo is bound by the selection.
I'd like to have a brown decorative frame behind the photo. I've dragged another paper from the Bookworm Collection to be behind the photo layer.
To make a decorative frame, I select the Custom Shape Tool and load a frame from Valerie Randall's ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Frames 2101.
After creating my frame, I make a selection from the shape. With the selection, I make a Layer Mask on the dark brown paper by again clicking on the Layer Mask Button at the bottom of the Layers Palette.
After hiding the white shape layer, I can now see my nice new brown paper frame.
Now I'm going to add a title to my layout. I've opened a couple of PNGs from the ScrapSimple Alpha Templates: Enchanted.
I dragged the letter PNG onto the letter decoration PNG.
With my Marquee Tool, I select the "F" letter and jump the selection onto a new layer by typing Command+J (Ctrl+J on a PC). Next I select the "F" embellishment and jump that selection onto a new layer as well. I've hidden the letters and embellishment layers so that only the F and embellishment are visible.
I've dragged the F and its decoration onto my layout and positioned the layers where I'd like them.
To color my F initial cap, I lock the layers' transparent pixels by clicking the Lock Transparent Pixels option at the top of the Layers Palette.
I selected brown colors from my layout using the Eyedropper Tool and have filled my F and its decoration by typing Option+Delete while the layers were individually selected.
I've added "amily" in a nice script typeface to complete the word Family.
The layout is looking nice, but I'd like to add some interest to the background by working in another paper. I've opened another paper from the Bookworm Collection.
To blend the lettering paper into my background paper, I'll add a Layer Mask to my new paper. I click on the right-hand box on my paper layer. I'm selecting the Layer Mask to edit, and not the paper itself.
I make sure my foreground color is black and now I select my Gradation Tool from the Tools Palette and drag down from the top left to the middle of my layout.
My gradation has been applied to my Layer Mask. Where the Layer Mask is dark, or black, the lettering paper will not be visible in my layout.
The simple beige paper is now blended perfectly into the lettering paper. I can read the word Family, but have some nice texture at the bottom right of the layout. I'll add some more embellishments to the layout, as well as drop shadows, and I'll be done!
Layout by Erica Hite
Tutorial written by Erica Hite
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