Categories
Challenges New Releases

MouseScrappers Design Challenge #3 and Blog Hop!

Participants of Design Challenge #3 were presented with a swatch of six beautiful jewel-tone colors. There were no ‘theme’ restrictions for this challenge so participants let the colors inspire them. I’m now pleased to reveal the creations that these participants worked so hard to create!

One of the benefits of participating in this challenge is that each participant receives everything that every other participant creates! In addition, the participants also graciously agreed to let the entire package to be sold in the store, so it is a win-win-win for everyone! You can pick up their fabulous creations for only $3! Can you envision using these kits to scrap your photos? Here are some ideas: Morocco, Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, Aladdin’s flying carpets, DCL, Aquaduck, the beach, the pool, Splash Mountain, Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, The Seas, Nemo and friends, Monsters Inc., and Laugh Floor.

You can find the kit in the store HERE.  This incredible kit contains 15 mini kits, 2 alphas, and 1 template… total (zipped) size of this package is approximately 756 MB!

You can see larger images of the individual submissions in the Design Challenge 3 Gallery. You’ll also see some amazing layouts created by the MouseScrappers Creative Team already posted in the gallery. If you create a layout using this collab, please post it in the Design Challenge 3Gallery.

BLOG HOP!

Some of the Design Challenge participants are also offering coordinating freebies on their blogs!  The official start time of the blog hop is 9:00 am CST but these blogs are from all over the world so please be patient and try back later if there is nothing posted when you visit.

Here is the complete list of the stops on the blog hop:

Remember to leave some love for them when you download their freebies.

If this challenge sounds intriguing to you, give it a try! Any level of experience is welcome. See information for challenge #4 HERE.

Categories
Designer Spotlight Sponsor Spotlight

Sponsor Spotlight – Crossbone Cuts

Today’s Sponsor Spotlight is Tanya, of Crossbone Cuts! Tanya’s one of my closest friends and favorite scrappers, and I was SO excited when she decided to start designing! This week is her one year Designiversary, and I thought it was a great time for fellow MouseScrappers to get to know her better!

Tell us a little about yourself:
My name is Tanya and I am a 30 year old hair stylist/waitress from southern California! I have 5 fur-babies and one equally furry boyfriend =)

What got you started in designing?
On a whim I decided to enter a designing contest to see if I would actually like it or not. Turns out I LOVED it! Designing just kinda snowballed from there.

Where do you find your inspiration for designing?
All over the place! Since I am still in my first year of designing, I have been focusing on the “basic” holidays and trying to squeeze in making things that my CT asks for or kits that I personally need to scrap my own photos!

What do you like most about designing?
The satisfaction of actually finishing a kit. I moan and I complain and I get mad at myself with every kit. It is my process. Lol. But when I actually finish a kit, see it in use and have people tell me how much they like it, it is SUCH a good feeling. I put my blood, sweat and tears into everything I make with the hopes that people will love it as much as I do.

What do you find to be the biggest challenge with designing?
Finding my mojo to get started and picking a color palette. Oh man, I hate picking colors. I am very indecisive when it comes to colors and sometimes it takes me a whole day to narrow the colors down. Then there is the creative mojo. Most of the time I just stare at the computer. Just waiting. But when my creativity does decide to strike, watch out because I won’t stop until I am finished with what I am working on!

How many hours a week do you spend designing? Is designing your full time job?
Designing is not my full-time job. I wait tables part time and am a part time hair stylist. Luckily I have a lot of flexibility with both jobs which gives me tons of designing time. I am usually on the computer for at least 8 hours a day. Usually more like 10. A early night for me would be going to bed at 3am. I do try to not be on the computer on the weekends and actually interact with people and whatnot.

How do you balance your time?
I don’t. I am a time management mess. I do my computer work during the week and most of the time I don’t even turn on the computer on the weekends. Which leads me to be a stressed out mess by the time I actually do turn it on Sunday nights. I have a horrible memory, I have about 30 to-do lists and I forget to check them all. I really need to work on time management. Lol.

What is your favorite kit?
Right now, it is 30 Days Of Thanks. I just love the colors!

Who would you love to collaborate with?
There are lots of people on my list! I LOVE doing collabs. I think they are great for newer designers too because you really learn a lot when you work with a more established designer.

What is a piece of advice you have for those that are trying their hand at designing?
Learn your program, be prepared for TONS of trial and error and there is always something new to learn. You are never gonna know everything. Keep at it and have fun!

Who are some of your favorite scrap artists?
I really need to start browsing the galleries more. Every once in a while I will come across LO’s I love and if I remember I will pin them to my Pinterest for future reference. No one in particular. If I see a LO I love, I will comment and pin =)

What is a piece of advice you have for scrappers?
Remember that you are scrapping YOUR memories. With any luck, these pages are gonna be passed along in your family for a very long time so don’t worry about comparing your pages to other peoples pages. So you think someone can cluster better than you or you don’t think your shadows are realistic enough. Don’t worry about. Scrap for YOU and your family. It is the photos that they are gonna remember. Not that your shadows weren’t realistic enough.

What is your favorite thing about Disney? What is your favorite ride? Favorite character?
My favorite thing about Disney is probably just the magic of it all. Living so close to Disneyland and getting to visit as much as I do, I sometimes forget what it is really all about. Then something will happen and I will be reminded of just how special Disney and Disneyland is to me. I grew up at Disneyland. It was my weekend night hang out when I was in high school, I have hung out with every friend that I have ever had there and we have had family reunions there. Disneyland will always hold a special place in my heart. I don’t really have a favorite ride. It was The PeopleMover until they took it away. Still hoping it comes back someday =) My favorite characters are Roger Rabbit and Figment.

Besides scrapbooking and Disney, what is one thing you are passionate about?
Wait a minute! There are OTHER things in life?! LOL!

Tell us something no one else knows about you?
I have recently discovered that I share way to much info about my life on Twitter and Instagram so everyone pretty much knows EVERYTHING about me.

Be sure to check out Crossbone Cuts blog this week for all the fun celebration going on for her Designiversary!

Check out some Crossbone Cuts kits that are perfect for scrapping your Disney memories!

If you would like to know more about Tanya and/or her designs, you can find her in all of these places:
Crossbone Cuts Twitter
Personal Twitter
Crossbone Cuts Facebook
Personal Facebook
Blog
Pinterest
Instagram – TanyaH666

Categories
Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday – TTA

Categories
Tutorials

Organizing Your Photos For an Album

Here at MouseScrappers there have been lots of questions and threads about how to best organize photos, supplies, and albums.   Organizing is very much a personal thing, and no one system will work for everyone.   Your best system will probably be an amalgam of ideas from others that are adapted to suit you and your scrapping style.

I do not scrap chronologically.  I scrap whatever I’m in the mood to or whatever pictures will work for a challenge.  Boredom sets in easily for me so I bounce around a lot between themes and parks.  This is the system I use to help me keep track of which pages have been done and which still need to be done, as well as giving me an overall picture of where I am in the album process. I hope you can adapt some of these ideas to help you organize!

First, my photos are divided up by location.  Each park has its own section and there are sections for our hotel and travel, other hotels, and Downtown Disney.  Each page I want to scrap has a line under the location.

So the teal color is the start of a new location.  When I have finished a page, I grey it out.

This screenshot shows the theme of the page.  The second column is if I think I may want to make it a two page spread.  The third column is how many pics I have that I want to use on that page.

 

 

This screenshot shows the 4th column.  This is where I list any kits I may have that I want to use.  Sometimes ideas come up and I forget so this is a great way to remember what I want to use even if I won’t be doing the page right away.

The last screenshot shows all of the columns.  If I listed a kit I’d like to use I mark an X if I already have it.  No X means I need to buy it.  The last column is the ‘Done’ column.  When I finish a page I mark this column with a number.  1 means it is a one pager and a 2 means it is a 2 page spread.  This column tallies for me, so at the bottom of the spreadsheet I always know how many pages I have completed in the album.

 

At the bottom of the spreadsheet I have a box telling me I need to do 6 -8 pages a month to finish my album by September 2013.  I have figured on about 160 pages.  I have 46 done.  Then there is a list o f kits I may want to purchase.  When I have a little scrapping supply money I can look at my list and pick one or two up.

 

I hope these screenshots have given you ideas on how you can better organize your own scrapping.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  In the future we will have other MouseScrappers show you their organization systems, so stay tuned for more great organization tips!

Tukogirl

Categories
New Releases Site News and Events Store News

MouseScrappers New Releases – June 29, 2012

After a week off, we’re back. This week we have 6 new releases and 1 NEW designer! Isn’t that exciting news? And, our goal is to keep adding more designers until our store is full. Don’t you just love having a digi-scrap store that helps feed our magical addiction? Let’s dive right in and check out our newest eye candy!

Capturing Magical Memories

Mary must have water on her mind because she has another simply GORGEOUS nautical-themed kit! This week she takes us to white sand beaches and our favorite New England lakeside style resort. But you can use this kit for any beach or sand pictures. Or, what about your Caribbean cruise? It would be absolutely perfect for recording all of those sand castles your kids build this summer. Life’s A Beach Resort includes a kit with elements and papers, an alpha pack with 2 separate alphas that can be purchased separately, or you can buy it all as a bundle. Let’s take a look at this fun new release! Each preview is linked to the store so you can just click away and buy.

And for those of you who want it all, Mary has it all bundled up so you can save even more.

All of Capturing Magical Memories new releases are on sale for 30% off from Friday through Sunday.

Check out these gorgeous pages the MouseScrappers CT made with “Life’s a Beach.”

Designs by Amanda

We are so excited to welcome Amanda to the MouseScrappers Store! Amanda’s designs have a fun and whimsical touch. Her products will be the perfect addition to your magical vacation’s scrap album. For her grand opening in the MouseScrappers Store Amanda has added 4 new products for us. Let’s check them out.

Sun Shining Day is a bright and colorful kit. It’s perfect for meetings with your favorite duck, visits to the “studio,” or just photos from your summer days. Let’s check it out!

Look at this super fun Tomorrowland page Kim made using Sun Shining Day.

Next up, we have Autumn Splendor. This kit has gorgeous, muted fall colors. It includes both patterned and solid papers, a full alpha and a variety of elements. Can’t you just picture using it to scrap your fall photos from your magical vacation? Or what about the food festival? How about our favorite “snow” princess? You could even use it to scrap the colorful leaves in your backyard.

And check out this gorgeous page Julie made of the Magic Kingdom Halloween decorations using Autumn Splendor.

Amanda has also loaded 2 great alphas into her new store. First up, let’s take a look at her super versatile Glitterific Gold Alpha. This alpha pack has endless uses. I am totally addicted to alphas, they are one of my favorite stash items. Glitter easily adds sparkle to your page and makes it that much more magical. Think about parties, movies, New Years, princesses, pirates… You seriously can use this alpha pretty much everywhere!

And last, but not least, Amanda has the Honey Pot Alpha in her store. This alpha was inspired by everyone’s favorite cuddly bear with a penchant for honey and the rest of his friends from the 100 acre woods. But, the colors are versatile enough that they can be used for so many other pages.

All of Designs by Amanda’s new releases are on sale from Friday through Sunday. So, while welcoming our new store designer, you can even save some money.

That’s all for this week, folks! So, what are you waiting for? Please remember to not run, but safely walk to your first destination of the day – the MouseScrappers Store! And don’t forget the sales that both Capturing Magical Memories and Designs by Amanda are having end on Sunday, July 1st. Thanks for stopping by, and “see” you next time for our next edition of magical new releases.