Guest scrapbooking challenge with free printable download
For our first official challenge, I welcome a special guest: Mary Anne Walters! Mary Anne is a little like me in that she’s American but has lived here in England for quite a long while. Mary Anne also contributed to Scrapbook Inspirations, and runs UKScrappers.co.uk. But she also has a blog that she fills with technique-based posts, including lots of hybrid crafting and stamping. Please welcome Mary Anne and check out the challenge she has set for you!
Hello there and welcome to Shimelle’s weekend of scrappy goodness. Hope you are having fun and being inspired.
While I am not a primarily digital scrapper, I have certainly made digital pages before and enjoy the process. What I really enjoy more is making custom hybrid bits for use on my own pages. If I think they might be of general appeal I share them on my blog. Sometimes I’ll have an embellishment that I like from some other line, that doesn’t go AT ALL with the paper I am using so I’ll try to recreate it in a colourway that works. Or I’ll have an idea for an embellishment I want that doesn’t seem to exist, so I make it to match what’s in my head – that was the case with these.
I had the papers I wanted to use, primarily the shaped-edge piece from My Mind’s Eye – Stella and Rose. To make sure my elements matched perfectly I used my favourite trick – I find a web image of the paper and open it in PSE. Using the eye dropper to select an area of the paper to match I can then use that colour profile when creating my elements. Although most images are made up of scattered pixels in a variety of colours, usually I can get something that works well with the paper even it it doesn’t match it exactly!
See the end of this post for the download links.
I used them pretty much as they come, with the only trick being lining up the smaller circles to create a scalloped edging under my photo strip. I did consider making a digital scallop border, but to be honest I find it far easier to punch them out singly, ink the edges, line them up and stick them down under the edge of the overlapping paper rather than cutting around a deep scallop.
The circles are designed to nest, so either of the two smaller ones will fit inside the open area of the big one. They look fab if you pop-dot the smaller one. The big one can be punched with a 2” punch just inside the sunburst, so they will go right to the edge even if there is a slight variation to the punch size. Same with the smaller plain circles and a 1” punch. The word-circles also use the 1” punch but punch with a small border of white.
Of course you can resize them it something like Photoshop Elements if you need them to be bigger or smaller. Digital scrappers – if you open the PDf in Photoshop Elements you will see they have transparent backgrounds. SAVE AS a .PNG to use them digitally.
Just in case you want to match the fonts, the blue version uses Steelfish and the pink version uses Lobster 2 (both from Font Squirrel, great for CU-OK fonts and dings).
I’ll look forward to seeing what you make with them!
Mary Anne has designed three sheets of printables for you. Choose from Boy Circles, Girl Circles and Journal Boxes. Though of course you don’t have to choose… you can have them all!
Now for your challenge! Create a project (a layout, card, minibook, etc) using one or more of these printable accents. To enter to win, you’ll need to upload your page to your blog or a page gallery (like Two Peas, UKScrappers or Flickr) and link to your entry using the widget below. Be sure to link directly to the relevant page and NOT to your main blog URL.
One entry will be randomly selected to win a prize pack of scrapbooking supplies and printable elements for hybrid crafting! Entries close at midnight next Sunday (21st August 2011).
Feel free to use the comment section to chat about this challenge, as the entries should go in the linky widget!
Thank you for joining us Mary Anne!
Read more about: online-scrapbooking-weekend
Next post: Scrapbooking challenge :: Mix and Match Stickers
Previous post: Scrapbook shopping - free shipping code
12 August 2011, 13:26
I love those circles! Mary Anne, that layout looks great with those printables! I think I will print them all to have ;) Thanks again for a fun challenge!
12 August 2011, 13:30
looks like a great challenge… I’ll have to print this out when I get home from the hospital with my son on Sunday!
12 August 2011, 13:39
Do you like to print them on cardstock or photo paper?
12 August 2011, 14:01
Thanks for the free printables! I can’t wait to get home and scrap!
12 August 2011, 14:02
Great sheet of printables. Love them MaryAnne.
12 August 2011, 14:02
Oooh! Thanks for the great printables! I am not a digi scrapper, but I am sure I can find a great use for these in my page! Thanks for the challenge too!
12 August 2011, 14:04
Angie, my elements are usually flat in that I don’t add a texture to them digitally. So for these, I printed them on textured cardstock to give them a little oomph. But they can also be printed on heavy smooth paper. I don’t think they would be good printed on printer paper, for example, but heck, you can do what you like. It never hurts to try and see how you like it.
Mary Anne
12 August 2011, 14:24
I’ve not created a hybrid layout before so this will be a new experience for me! I’m looking forward to it!
12 August 2011, 14:35
Thanks so much for the printables, Mary Anne – they are about to feature on a LO.
Mini x
12 August 2011, 14:40
Love the page and will enjoy using the printables. Thanks so much for getting the weekend off to a rocking start!
12 August 2011, 14:58
What a great challenge to start with. Thanks to you both for this. I have linked my LO in Mister Linky xx
12 August 2011, 15:00
I’ve snatched all three of them ;) Love printable elements to go with my paper pads! Thanks!!
12 August 2011, 15:28
Love the printables, can see me using the journalling cards loads, thanks for sharing.
I’ve done my LO but will wait til the morning to photograph.
12 August 2011, 15:57
oh boy, I’m not a card maker, but I think these circles would look great on a card! I’ll be putting these cirlces on a layout for sure! TFS.
12 August 2011, 16:01
Love the boy circles and have just the beachy photos to go with them. Great challenge and one I shall rise to! Thanks MaryAnne and Shimelle x
12 August 2011, 16:05
love these… have printed them all off cause I wasnt sure which ones to use…. I went for the boy ones but the girl ones are next!!! thankyou xxx
12 August 2011, 16:44
Love the printables! Thank you. Thanks for the motivation to complete a LO too.
12 August 2011, 17:05
I ended up using all three printables – they went so well with the older Pink Paislee papers and Maya Road kraft coasters. Thanks so much for the printables!
12 August 2011, 17:49
Tip – check and make sure the scaling is set to none as mine originally printed to a strange size that didn’t work well with punches.
12 August 2011, 18:09
Great challenge, will get printing and scrapping tomorrow. Thanks
Lynn
12 August 2011, 18:17
Thank you so much for the printables. I love a product I can use over and over. I think I will be able to use all 3!
12 August 2011, 18:17
Look at me even sorting out my new crafty blog to post for this.
And hurrah finally used the Stella and Rose paper that I have stared at for months.
12 August 2011, 18:18
Relly, I couldn’t comment without signing in to google so I’ll do it here!
Love it!. Esp. like the flower cut from the paper. I have that (actually a sheet with blue ones all over it) and considered using it as well – now I wish I had :) I love the circles clustered too, And WHAT a great photo. The baby has the BEST smile – so adorable.
Mary Anne
12 August 2011, 18:52
Love how you have used these elements on your own page Mary Anne – really effective. I’ll enjoy playing with these. Thanks.
12 August 2011, 18:58
Thanks for the freebies! I had so much fun using them on my page!
12 August 2011, 19:08
Thanks for the freebies…I love them. Also, when I loaded my link, something went wrong and I don’t know how to change it. Sorry for the problem.
12 August 2011, 19:39
OH fabulous…I keep meaning to do hybrid and never quite getting round to it. It’s now nearly 1am so I am going to print – then go to bed!
12 August 2011, 19:45
Oh how I wish my printer was working, bummer. I really wanted to complete every challenge. These tags are beautiful and match my favorite MME line so well!
12 August 2011, 21:28
My printer is out of color ink, but I was able to work around the problem. I love the layout I was able to make.
13 August 2011, 00:25
Using digital embellishments on paper creations has been one of my favorite things this year. Thanks for the pages!
13 August 2011, 00:40
I had so much fun using the downloads! I think the boy and girl set work beautifully together. Thanks again Mary Anne and Shimelle!
13 August 2011, 02:01
Looking forward to this one. I don’t usually use printables on my pages unless it is sayings or definitions that I have typed out. I have printed off the free ones and they printed soooooo nicely.
If anyone here uses a laser printer, I tried a new paper for these and it printed beautifully. I used ‘Mondi’ Colour Copy Coated Glossy Paper and I was very impressed. Especially as it was a great price (where I live anyway!). I also printed photos on it and they looked almost like getting them professionally done. They also claim the paper is archival safe for 200 years and as I don’t think I will last that long, all will be ok :-) I am new to printing my photos on a laser so if anyone else has a paper I can try, please feel free to suggest it to me.
13 August 2011, 03:21
I love the circles, and journaling cards are always great! Thanks a lot! My printer is nearly out of ink, but I managed to print two last pages… so I can start now with this challenge! :-))
13 August 2011, 04:47
Brilliant! I loved doing this page and the printables were spot on!
Thank you.
Sue x
13 August 2011, 08:12
Can’t wait to get started on this challenge! My first hybrid too-just got a brand new printer on Monday!What timing~ here goes my try.Thanks,for the free downloads.
13 August 2011, 09:13
I’m beginning to worry my mojo isn’t up to this weekend! LOL I’ve given the challenge a go but might need to revisit my layout another day! LOL
13 August 2011, 10:39
Ack! Digi is out of my comfort zone! I may “explore” ;) this one though since I love circles.
13 August 2011, 11:38
hi took me ages but printed onto acetate and used them that way , happy with result i think lol
13 August 2011, 11:47
I printed them onto cream coloured card, and the colours worked well with cream. I used A5 card and told the printer to scale down and that worked well. I cut the circles out by hand and added spotty paper and circular stickers as well.
13 August 2011, 11:51
Thank you so much for the printables. Very generous to share with us all- can’t wait to use them :)
13 August 2011, 12:16
Awesome printables! Thank you. I’m always happy to throw a bit of digi into the mix.
13 August 2011, 12:38
Hi – I don’t know if my link has posted correctly as I have only set up a Flickr account so that I can take part today :-) In any case, I have really enjoyed this challenge and made a mini book using the printables – which I am going to use to highlight another page later on.
13 August 2011, 12:58
Your link has worked fine Sara :) Love the mini book!
13 August 2011, 13:34
Thanks for the freebies! I had fun sneaking in some pink on this page about one of my boys’ chores—recycling duty.
13 August 2011, 16:07
Angie and Mary Anne – I just printed off all three pages on a slightly heavier laser printer paper stock (28 lb), and they look great. Thanks for the printables, Mary Anne!
14 August 2011, 05:46
These printouts were fun to use. Love that I could play around with my circle punches again.
14 August 2011, 07:43
Sorry, Nr. 28 was the wrong link. :-(
14 August 2011, 08:31
Well, really enjoyed this one and it turned out I had the perfect photos for it! Love the idea of printing out my own embellishments! Fab!
14 August 2011, 08:51
Thank you to both of you. Managed to scrap another few older photos for this page….here. I have also linked in the linky box
14 August 2011, 12:30
This was great Mary Anne! Thanks for the advice on changing the colours!
14 August 2011, 14:15
Thanks for the freebies, they were so fun to work with!
14 August 2011, 14:31
I did something wrong when linking, so nr 36 is not right at this challenge! Sorry.
14 August 2011, 14:37
Thanks Mary Anne for the printables! I used the girl circles on a card and a page!
14 August 2011, 15:10
I hope I did this right! I’ll go back and check :) Thanks for the printables. I have lots more to use in the future!!
15 August 2011, 07:47
This is really a scraplift of the LO above from Kim Strother, as I loved it so much when I was browsing the gallery – this is my take on her LO using the printables.
15 August 2011, 09:27
Loved the printables Mary Anne will be definitely using them again on other projects
15 August 2011, 15:10
Loved using these.
15 August 2011, 16:34
These printables are great – just what I needed to complete a page that has been stuck for a while – thanks very much! :)
16 August 2011, 04:53
Wow, Mary Anne, these are lovely – thank you for the freebies!
The photos on your scrap layout made me smile – I have one of those at home! I like the design of your layout, with the bracket at the bottom and the circle-scallop. I also like the “double O” in the title and that great background of squared kraft paper. Thanks for a fab guest-post, I feel inspired to find time and “have a go” with these lovely printables!
16 August 2011, 11:27
My very first hybrid layout – thanks Mary Anne!
16 August 2011, 22:17
This was fun! The blue circles worked perfectly to accent my blueberry page!
17 August 2011, 10:38
Very nice moment with that challenge! Thanx for the freebies and the inspiration!
17 August 2011, 12:31
I used the text circles look and happy for this hybrid layout. Thanks for sharing your designs Mary Anne!
17 August 2011, 12:44
I had a lot of fun with this challenge and really thought of you Shimelle when I created it ;)
17 August 2011, 13:51
thanks for the printables, it was an interesting challenge.
17 August 2011, 20:59
Thanks so much for the printables! I just posted the card I made, and hopefully will make even more!
18 August 2011, 05:13
Mary Anne – Thank you so much for these great printables and thanks to Shimelle for showing us where your blog is (another added to my faves – I will never get anything done now) I loved this challenge, the photo is one of my two Aunts I had been wanting to scrap for ages, I used a bit of inspiration from Shimelle’s Miss Erin Sketch and was really pleased with the results, the photo I took shows the stickles up a lot more than it is in real life! I also used the journal boxes and the boy sheet on other layouts over the crop weekend, and feel sure they will be making an appearance on many of my future layouts!!! Thanks so much!
18 August 2011, 14:04
The printables are great thanks Mary-Anne! I have linked my layout above. My son is even having ago (but he hasn’t finished his as yet!)
20 August 2011, 02:01
thanks for the printables!
actually dug out my sewing machine for this one, but kept it simple. anyone else doing BPS word a day???
20 August 2011, 04:08
loved the printables. Thanks Mary Anne. first time for me to try this technique.
20 August 2011, 15:58
Thanks Mary Anne. This is the first time I’ve tried doing any hybrid crafting. I’ll definately be doing it again.
20 August 2011, 18:35
I enjoyed this challenge and LOVE those printables!! Thank you so much Mary Anne :)
21 August 2011, 18:57
Loved these! I printed all of them, but then I fell in love with just one journaling box and used it for the challenge. ~Jen
21 August 2011, 19:15
Thanks for the printables Mary Anne, they go so very well with my album colours!