If you haven’t completed a page for ages, feel no excitement about starting one or just don’t know what to do with your recent photos, you might be suffering from scrapper’s block. Ingrid (ingridfasquelle) here with few suggestions for curing this nasty ailment targeting unsuspecting scrapbookers from around the world!

The biggest reason why most people suffer from scrapper’s block is because they are overwhelmed. All too often, people spend too long mulling over a particular page, assignment or task and just get burnt out. When it happens to you, don’t panic! Remember that, luckily, this condition is only TEMPORARY! It happens to the best of us and there are some simple things you can do to help you to get through yours!

- Be gentle on yourself! Remember that scrapbooking is only a hobby, not a race or a competition and that every page does not have to be a masterpiece! Don’t feel intimidated by layouts created by your scrapping idols. Everybody can improve, just have fun! ;)

- Step away from the computer. Yes, I know, it’s often difficult to resist the urge to scrap but once you have your mind relaxed and stop trying so hard, your ideas should start to flow freely!

- Keep your photos and supplies organized. When you exactly know where to find your pictures, your elements and papers, you are
more likely to have fresh ideas and less likely to get frustrated looking for your things!

- Scrapbook with other people. You can get ideas from fellow scrappers when you simply don’t know where to start. Keep involved in the PC community even if it’s just posting comments on other people’s layouts. Have a look at various challenges and inspiration to jumpstart your creativity!

- Try something new. Forget the pictures and pages that are causing you so much frustration and learn a new technique, practice your scrapbooking skills, try your hand at hybrid or just read articles or surf the web for ideas and inspiration.

- Stay informed. about the latest trends and products in scrapbooking. Buy a new kit or paper pack! There are lots of great ones in our PC store!

- Give templates a try. PC’s Snap in a Scrap Templates are a great place to start. Just add some papers and your photos and then have fun embellishing.

- Start scraplifting. Scraplifting is a great way to kick your mojo back in gear. Surf the gallery and pick a page that inspires you and get to work. Remember to give credit to the original poster, of course! ;)

Phew…. What a list! I’m pretty sure that one of these tips will help you cure your scrapper’s block in no time and when that happens, I wish you..

HAPPY SCRAPPIN’!

Prayer Book
By: Joscie Cutchens

Aloha Minty Fans, it’s Joscie checking in again from Hawaii! You may remember from my last post that I sometimes have a hard time remembering things. This project was a quick one to create a little prayer journal. I like to have a little something to remind me of prayers close to my heart. Sometimes it’s a prayer for people who are having a difficult time, sometimes it’s a gratitude item to give thanks, really any prayers I want to remember.

I created the title for my little book by typing “prayers of my” in the 1942 Report font and adding the Written Word 2 “heart”. I placed it in the middle of the bottom of the page from the Jingle Bell Rock Paper Pack. I resized it to 8” x 8” and I printed it on Matte Photo Paper and set it aside to dry. I then fed the same paper into the printer, print side up and printed another Jingle bell rock patterned paper so I’d have both sides printed. I continued to print pages with the Grade Skool Graph Paper. I cut the pages into 2”x 4” strips and set aside. I took a few scraps of a Heidi Swapp polka dot transparency and trimmed it to 2” x 4”. I placed the pages in order and bound them with a bind it all. You could use a hole punch and a ring or any other binding system. You could also use this same idea and make any number of other mini books or notebooks.

I hope you’re inspired to make something and you share it in our gallery!

Until next time, Aloha! Joscie.

What makes a great layout? The perfect papers, the right words, amazing embellishments? Well, it helps…but what it’s really all about is your pictures. Mint Chick Kirstie is here to share some of her favorite post-processing tips. Take it away Kirstie!

Hi Mint Fans, Kirstie here to show you how to make your photos a little brighter and a little sharper using Photoshop Elements, but the same technique applies to all Photoshop users. Let’s get started.

Once you open your photo in Photoshop the first thing we’re going to do is defog it to take that soft edge off and make it look sharper by enhancing the edges of the image. To do this we go to filter>sharpen>unsharp mask and an option box will appear. Start with the radius levels first as this determines how far the sharpness will go from the edge. If you have a lot of detail a low number will be best. Then select the Amount % which I usually find is between 50-100% on most photos. Lastly is the threshold. I mostly leave this at 0 so that it sharpens all the pixels on the image. If you only want the edges sharpened then increase the number a bit. Remember that every image is different and will require different levels so play around with these levels to suit your photo.

The next step I take in processing my photo is to brighten it a bit if it seems to be underexposed. The first step is to duplicate the photo, layer>duplicate. Then we change the blending mode of the layer to screen. Now it’s time to play with the opacity level to suit your photo. If the opacity is set at 100% and your photo is still too dark then you can duplicate the layer and play with the opacity levels again. The more you do this though, the more your photos will start to look grainy. Once the photo is to your liking merge the layers and save it. When I save I always save as a new jpg file and NEVER save over my original photo just in case I need to go back to it for some reason.

If you still feel that your photo is lacking a little oomph then try popping the colour a bit.

Duplicate your photo, layer>duplicate layer and we’ll work with the duplicate layer. Apply a gaussian blur, filter>blur>gaussian blur. You can play with the levels to suit you but I like to set mine at 7.0. You then need to change the blending layer from normal to overlay and adjust the opacity levels to your liking. Once you have the photo to your liking merge the layers and save as a new jpg file.

You can play with this so much and get so many different effects. The different layer blending modes can make a big difference too.

Have fun and don’t be afraid to play around - just be sure to ‘play’ on a duplicate copy ;)

It’s Mint Chick Mary Jo’s Birthday today (woo hoo!!) and for her very special day she’s crafted herself a hybrid cake! Now that’s a real hybrid scrapper for ya. (”I’ll pass on the frosting, just hand me those rhinestones”.) Just kidding. She actually put this together a few weeks ago, but I thought I’d save it for today. Check out this crafty creation and how it was done.

Hybrid Birthday Cake
By: Mary Jo Johnston

This birthday cake is sure to bring a smile to anyone and doesn’t have any calories! It doubles as a gift box and can be displayed long after the birthday festivities have concluded. If you love the digital look of the Peppermint Creative Hot Mama Paper Pack, you’ll love it even more after you’ve printed it! The colors are spectacular and the texture fantastic. This birthday cake is definitely a little “girly” and the Hot Mama Papers were perfect!

Supplies Used:
Peppermint Creative Hot Mama Paper Pack
Bo Bunny Rub Ons
KI Memories Chipboard Candle
Prima Flowers
Darice Crystals
American Crafts Thickers
(2) Paper Mache Boxes

Instructions:
1.Measure boxes and cut patterned paper strips to cover sides of each box.
2.Measure the lid to each box and cover the edge with strips of patterned paper.
3.For the trim (on top box) cut a strip of patterned paper using decorative scalloped scissors.
4. Using a small hole punch, punch a hole slightly above the edge of each scallop.
5. Adhere trim to lid edge.
6. Embellish trim with decorative rhinestones.
7.Adhere letter stickers or rub ons to lower box with desired sentiment.
8. Adhere a chipboard candle and flowers to the top of the box to resemble a birthday cake.

Happy Crafting!
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In the spirit of my previous post where the Mint Chicks decided to scraplift some of your fabulous pages, they’ve now turned on eachother (evil laugh) and have decided it would be fun to scraplift one another - and they want you to play along! This is just a fun challenge to get us all to ‘try on’ some different styles, experiment a little and most importantly, make some fantastic pages. So what do ya say? You in? Great!

This week is Aggie (aggietha) week. All you have to do is pick your favorite page and scraplift it! Check out the links to Aggie’s delicious pages below. No shortage of inspiration in there, that’s for sure!

Peppermint Creative Gallery
DigiShopTalk Gallery
My Scrapbook Art Gallery

Don’t forget to link us up to the original!
Get to it…those pages aren’t going to make themselves people.

There just might be a little more to it than you thought!

Sparked by a Mint Chick in a creative slump, (yes, it happens to all of us) the ladies decided it would be fun to turn the tables and and let you (the talented scrappers who post in our gallery) inspire them. Each chick chose a page from the PC Member Gallery and did a lift. No rules, no restrictions. And as I gathered the pages to post and share, I was suprised to see just how many ways there are to scraplift a page! I’ve grouped the pages the ladies created together to demonstrate what I mean:

Original Layout by: flergs

Scraplifted by: Keela

Here (above) you have your classic lift. This is usually referred to as a CASE (copy and steal everything). Keela used the same design and the same kit as the original creator, Flergs. She changed up the elements and title but kept everything in the same place. The two pages are nearly identical and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. When you’re in a pinch and you don’t have time to fiddle with colors and elements, there is nothing wrong with finding a page you love and recreating it provided that you give proper credit to the original creator where applicable.

Below is another great example of a CASE. Missy and Keela prove that you can copy a layout completely and still make it your own. All four pages are just fantastic!

Original Layout by: goldengirl1

Scraplifted by: missys3lilbugs (Missy)

In this example below, Claire has duplicated janellemllr’s layout using a different kit and color scheme. This helped customize the page to suit Claire photos. This is probably how most people would define a scraplift.

Original Layout by: janellemllr

Scraplifted by: Shades of Bliss (Claire)

Cindy took a bit more of a creative license with her lift by using Dawn’s layout as a guide for image, element and shape placement. She’s used a different kit and color scheme and has included many addition elements to suit her page. It’s not quite as obvious that these two are based on the same layout.

Original Layout by: Dawn

Scraplifted by: cindy732003 (Cindy)

Megan used the same technique by taking the basic design from audiscrapsdigi’s page and adding to it,  changing the size of the image and adding many more elements around the frame.

Original Layout by: audiscrapsdigi

Scraplifted by: mturnidge (Megan)

MJ followed the same technique as Megan (above).

Original Layout by: sarah&cali

Scraplifted by: mj.johnston (Mary Jo)

Here I think that Kirstie took things one step further by puling her main design closer to the centre of the page. By using the basic design that ashleyhawkes85 has created, Kirstie created a completely different page. She’s used the placement of the photo and the journaling/title as a guide only.

Original Layout by: ashleyhawkes85

Scraplifted by: kirstiegai (Kirstie)

Below, aggie demonstrated beautifully that scraplifting does not have to mean copying. It can, but it doesn’t have to. Here Aggie took only parts of cindylee’s layout to create her own. You can clearly see where she was inspired (4 set postal frames, placement of title/text) and where she used her own creative license.

Original Layout by: cindylee

Scraplifted by: aggietha (Aggie)

See? There’s more too it than you’d think! Next time your creative mojo goes on the fritz, collect some of you favorite pages and start scraplifting. You never know what you’ll end up with!

Thanks to the fabulous scrapper’s who inspired my team! Thanks for posting ;)