Saturday, January 30, 2021

Puzzle Pieces Templates, Autism, Optimism, Hybrid Ideas and a New Freebie

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Donch'a wish there were more hours in a day?!  Like at least 10 more?  I've considered not sleeping, but that isn't really a great option.  Hehehe...I've been working frantically to get all kinds of new goodies in our shops.  Things that make you go, "OOH!" and "AH!" and "Awe!"

I've got some throw back templates for in the GingerScraps Shop.  I've added one new one to the pack and thought they'd be perfect for the upcoming holiday, Valentine's Day.  I've got an adorable, new gnome for in the Kreative Design Studio that you might just love, new planner templates and new planner printable stickers as well.  Holy wow, right?!

So as the sun peeps through the thick clouds, just enough to remind us it's there and after the dark comes the light, I'll introduce you to all of the new goodies, show off some fabulous pages from my amazing team and give you some ideas on how to use your digital scrapbooking designs off of the page, hybrid style!

Love You To Pieces Templates and Optimism from The Cherry

As you may know, both of my boys are on the spectrum.  One at the lower end and my oldest at the higher end.  My youngest is pictured above, at the beach in Spain.  His future is most unclear and he'll more than likely have to live with us his entire life, but there are a lot of good sides to these difficulties and differences and that's what the Optimism collection is all about.

If you've got kids or students with Autism, I've got another blog AuSumness that might help you out with some tricky situations.  As my boys grow older, our problems are either melting away or we are all just getting much better dealing with everyday issues.

There is a bright side to nearly all situations.  Sometimes we have to dig pretty darn deep to find them.
 

These templates are a touch challenging.  Especially, when it comes to shadowing.  That first one's shadows should be kept really close to the page and watch your intensity.  Play with the shadows and see the different effects you can get.  I went pretty intense with my shadows from the new template as you could see, above.  Below, I went really light so as not to distort the lovely faces on the photo.  Then I just liked this picture without the pieces. Hehehe...Keep scrolling to see more examples with this particular template so you can see what I mean.


Here's my little guy, again.  See those shadows are not very pronounced.  That little puzzle piece isn't all that easy to get a photo to fit in nicely.  Go for a picture with a lot of background and the feature is in the center.  That is a trick you'll use in most hard to fit photo spots like circles and hearts, too.


How's this for a cool idea?!  Shrink it down a bit.  I did the same for my first page, above.  Adjust it to just the size you need.

Rebecca McMean Designs

G and T Designs

There are so many things you could do with these templates.  For instance, if you wanted to put one paper or background to fit all of the pieces, like Cindy did, above. You could copy the layer style for one of the puzzle pieces, select all of the puzzle pieces, clear the layer style or shadow in this case, merge the pieces, clip in your paper of choice and then paste your copied layer style.  It would save a ton of time.

Designs from Tami Miller

If you think it will look too busy to fill all of the pieces with design paper, do what Evelyn did and use a design paper for every other piece.  I like that outline around the single piece as well.  It makes it stand out a bit more and lends contrast to the element.

Goodies from Dandelion Dust.

Above is a page from the talented, Felicity.  This was the example I wanted to show you with the gentle shadowing of the pieces.  Just enough shadow to see the pieces yet not distort the image.  Great job!  It even looks like there is no shadow on her face.

Gorgeous fun from Flerg's.

Jump Start Designs
I know several of our fans were all excited to get puzzle pieces templates to document their experiences with Autism.

Magical Scraps Galore

I just love Lisa's page!  It's so, so perfect and a great example to show you more fun ideas on how to use these templates.  Awesome contrasting colors, an adorable, little face and she's even composing a puzzle.  How fun?!

Here is our Optimism collection in action, again.  Loving the sass in Trisha's page.  Optimism is for any kind of documentation. I think it's really great for teens, tweens and boys, too.


GingerBread Ladies Goodies

Pretties from Lisa Rosas.

Designs from Connie Prince.

More with Optimism.

One more with Optimism.

Of course, you should always print out your pages when you've scrapped.  As if?!  I don't think I've ever printed out a digital scrapbook for myself.  I always make them as gifts.  That is just terrible.  What I sometimes do is scale down my pages to 8x8 or 6x6 inches, print them out on my home printer and slide them into an album.  I can't find the albums with plastic sleeves in Belgium and shipping costs more than the albums themselves.

It's always a treat seeing your work in a book!

I've designed a free quick page for you.  I know our fans just love quick pages.  Download, bring up in your software program, crop in your photo of choice and you've scrapped.  How insanely easy is that?!  Don'cha just love when something is easy?


An alternative idea for the quick page is this here.  It could be a card or a poster or even just an element for on a scrapbooking page.


Here's another idea for you.  Print and frame your pages to brighten a room.


If you are all about the bright fun whimsical whimsy of unicorns and magic and all things fantastically glittery, then ya might just like these new printable planner stickers.  They coordinate with the free sheet we gave away and it is included in the pack.  These stickers are rather large and saved in high quality. If you're wanting smaller stickers, slide the png sheets into your program, size them down to what you want and this way, you won't lose any quality.


Since our first pack of planner sticker templates have done well and many people have them in their carts, I made another pack. I like to use them myself, as you can see.  I've done the hard part.  Now you go and make them pretty.


Just in case, I made some coordinating papers.  So if you get all three packs, you'll be busy for hours designing your very own planner printables.  They will make such cute journal cards for your Project Life projects, too.


If you still have not found the perfect Valentines goodies yet, we've got several in the Kreative Design Studio, now.  I designed this adorable gnome.  I think he's just EEK-A-LICIOUS.  Actually, the colors totally coordinate with our Valentine's Collection.  If you purchased any of it, this little guy will fit, too.


Ya get all of this fun stuff and most of the shop is at 50% off!



I just love Project Life.  What a super simple way to scrap!  Even designing the goodies from these type of pages is fairly simple.  I'm showing off our Valentine products.


A big shout of thanks if you've purchased our quick pages and cluster frames.  If time is an issue for you, these will be so perfect.  Layer up our papers, slap on a cluster frame, insert your pic and BOOM!  Finished.  If that sounds too daunting, bring up our quick page, crop in your photo and you've scrapped even faster still.  Isn't that totally awesome?!


Two birds, one stone.  I used our Valentine's mock up to show off the cards in our collection.  Mock ups are a fantastic way to display your designs.  So much better than a dull preview.


Here are some other fun designs you can find at Design Bundles.


If you're looking for free stuff, they got a lot of it at Design Bundles, like this here.


Thanks so much for hanging with The Cherry!  I'd love to see you in our scrap-a-licious group.  We've got monthly challenges, you can ask questions, show off your crafty projects and I'm planning another scrap-n-chat.  It would be so awesome if you could be there for it.  It's not only free, but I'll be giving away a free kit to participants.  We always have so much fun and we were doing this way before this virus came onto the stage.  It's a Corona proof way to have fun.

If this whole current situation has brought you down, don't feel alone.  I've never felt so vulnerable and powerless in all of my life.  Optimism is getting harder and harder to come by as the lock downs never get lifted, despite the pharmaceutical intervention and constant promise of better days.  Dive into your hobbies and do the things you love to keep your mind busy and healthy.  We're here for ya if you need an ear to bend.

Take good care of yourself and happy crafting.

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