Saturday, February 27, 2021

More Hybrid Mini Album Ideas That Might Be Just Be Puurfect For You

Welcome to The Cherry On Top's, Hybrid Hipsters.

I've got Clever Monkey Graphics back on the stage and our gorgeous and sweet kitty, Pluisje.  (I know, right?!  It would be pronounced..pl-ow-sh-ya) He is by far, THE most photo friendly kitty we've had so.  Our boys just love him to pieces and they often get some great shots of him.  He loves the camera!  What can I say?  Just look at that face.  On a side note, both of my boys have Autism and we experimented with all kinds of pets and found cats, by far the best pets for both of our boys.  If you want to read more about pets and Autism, check out this blog.  It's an oldie, but a goodie.

I'm not that much into the glue and scissors any more.  Especially, now that I've been struck down with arthritis.  Grrrr....But an accordion album, flip book, match book or cornered ring album is put together so quickly and easily, it's totally worth the time which, by the way, can realistically be whipped up in around 30 minutes.

So let me walk you through a few basic and towards the end, I've got several more examples with blog links that lead to other tutorials and ideas for you.  Maybe even a few template freebies, that might be still up and running.

I always design my cards in an 8x11 format for easy printing.  (Don't forget I live in Europe.) Then I turn the image so that I can get more cards on one piece of paper.  This way you can get 6 instead of four and you don't have to work in an awkward position.

If you chose a white background, then all you have to do is duplicate the background and size it to the card shape and size you want.  I kept mine with straight corners this time instead of rounded ones.  It certainly is easier to cut.  You could do an inside layer with a rounded corner because you don't have to cut there unless, you are going to cut and layer traditionally.



So keep shaping and duplicating that background for as many cards and photo spots you want or even for as many extra layers you'll want with that same shape.  I've put a few extra layers or matting on some of my cards.  It's a great way to provide more interest and contrast or even to help balance out colors.

It is also SO much easier to crop in your photos this way rather than trying to resize it just the way you need.  Just use those corners so you don't distort the image or papers.

Use word art, papers and any elements or alpha from your collection.  Working with collections are a huge time saver.  If you have to go through all of your stash to match everything up just right, it could take a long time and the chances of it all coming together perfectly are pretty slim, too.  Collections keep your entire album cohesive throughout.  I totally recommend them.



Once you've layered up your cards just the way you want, check your print settings, choose a paper with some gloss or even sticker paper for the best results, cut and choose your method of binding.  There are SO many choices.  If you see I've missed an obvious format, link a sister up in the comments.  Scroll down to get to the blog with the format you want to use for your album, for the full step by step tutorial.  It may be easier than you think.

Just look how adorable!

I LOVE Tracey's journal cards.  You can do so much with them.

How's this for a selection of kitties?

If you want to take Tracey's goodies for a test drive, get this freebie from her group.


Here are some more accordion ideas for you.  The first one is digital!  Easier on your hands.  That's for sure.  Click on the image to learn more. 


I used our Puurfect kit for this tiny album. It's also very easy to put together.  Click on the image for the full tutorial.


Accordions like this are SO easy to make.  This image is also linked up.


For this project I simply adhered my accordion to a box.  It cleans up very neatly.  Yip!  There's a tutorial for this, too.


I turned an old bbq match box into yet another fun accordion mini and it's stored easily as well.  If you love Graphic 45 and minis, check out the full tutorial.


I'm always looking for other ways to use conventional items.  For this project, I used journal cards as pockets.  A totally different idea for you.  Find out more on that blog by clicking on the image.

I've got one more last example for you and it is SO fun.  I gathered all kinds of crazy pictures and used a fabulous scrap collection.  Yet another full tutorial for you to enjoy.  I hope you get a good laugh from the pictures, too.

If you missed our latest releases, here's a quick look for you.  Feel free to scroll back to other blogs to see more. 

The Bee My Valentine Collection is still just $5.  That's for the kit AND a pack of templates.

Then there's the What's Cook'n Bundle.  It too is only $5 for a kit and templates and quite the hot seller at the moment.  Thanks if you were a part of that.



And here is the re release of Revel In Ribbons from yesterday.  It's only $2 throughout the weekend.


Don't forget $2 Tuesdays!  See what you may have missed?!


Thanks so much for hanging with The Cherries.  We love when you do that.

If you are looking for something specific, needing help with scrap related issues or just want to hang with us, then join us in the group.  Show us your latest picture you want to scrap or your new puppy.  We'd love to see what you are up to.

Happy scrapping!










Saturday, February 13, 2021

Free Printable and Helpful Tutorial On How To Scrap Hybrid Style

Welcome to The Cherry On Top's Hybrid Saturday.

As you may have seen from yesterday's blog, we are celebrating my birthday.  There are coupons, awesome new collections, pages and pages of gorgeous scrapbooking layouts and of course, free stuff.  A lot of free stuff!  

Today, I'm showing you how to quickly design a sticker sheet to print and use with our collection, Bee My Valentine that we've designed with Art & Life Scraps.

Grab the free printable in our group.

Save $3 on nearly everything in our GingerScraps Shop.

So if you are a hybrid or traditional scrapper, then you too will love digital products like the ones we sell.  I'll show ya how you can quickly design a sheet to print and use on your traditional projects.

I'm using PhotoShop elements.  It's a super easy program to use.  It's not very expensive and it's a one time fee.  You do not need to subscribe and pay monthly. (Yet!)

Open a blank document in a printable size.  (I have a custom size of 8x11 so most people around the world can easily print our stuffs.) Slide in an element you like from the collection.  Square ones are super, super easy to cut after finishing.  If you don't have a cutting machine, it's really easy this way.  Size it to how you want it.


I simply dragged in my journal cards, tag and filled in the odd spots with smaller embellishments from the collection and sized them all to fit neatly on the page and to be cohesive on my project.


I want more journal cards.  Let me show ya how to design them really simply, next.  Go to your layers bar and duplicate one of the journal cards.  This way it is the exact same size as the others.


Then drag in a paper from the collection and put it on the layer over the card you just duplicated.  Click on "create clipping mask".  This will crop the paper perfectly over what is underneath of it.  If you've got a design paper, you may want to bump and move it around so it fits just the way you like.


You may want to back up or mat your card for more contrast and interest.  You could add a stroke by going to the "effects" tool or you could slide in a coordinating solid paper and position it to fit under your card.


Duplicate the card again, in the size you need and repeat the process.  I took one of Cindy's graphics, placed it over the card layer and cropped it to fit perfectly on it, then again, matted the card.


Just another card layer and some fun elements from the collection.  Don't forget to shadow!  They make your embellishments and papers pop. You can find the shadows under the "effects' tools.

You are ready to print!


You could merge everything all together and save it as jpg.  Now you have no more layers so you won't be able to make corrections.  It's best to save a layered copy in either psd or tif (tif is smaller) and another one in a merged jpg format.  Jpg formats are much smaller and will save space on your computer.


Here's a look at our collection.  There is so much in here, including a pack of templates from yours truly.  I certainly advise scrolling back to yesterday's blog and find out about all of the other freebies on offer and check out the fabulous layouts from the team.


Take advantage of this awesome deal throughout the week and thanks so much for checking out The Cherry!

Friday, February 12, 2021

Birthday Celebration with Amazing Sales, A New Collection, Scrapbooking Inspiration and Freebies

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I'm celebrating my birthday, today and you get the presents.  I've teamed up with super designer, Art & Life Scraps for a birthday bundle.  There's a newsletter hop at GingerScraps that we are participating in and giving away a sweet portion that coordinates with the new collection.  We've also got beautiful page inspiration on tap as well as your favorite and mine, freebies and hybrid projects.



This is the portion of the collection that I'm giving to our loyal and wonderful subscribers.  If you missed today's newsletter, no worries.  I'll be posting the link next Friday and the Friday after that.  You'll be wanting those extra papers and fun, whimsical elements in this freebie.


Here's a close up of the collection.


The templates...


And here are the pages from the team...


I just love this kind of shadowing.  The elements are limited off of the page.


Not into Valentine?  You certainly don't need to be to use this collection...



Cindy loves her doodles and so do we!  You can get such a great crafty vibe with them.


There are many really cool graphics in the collection that I'm sure you'll love.


Get creative with your photography or don't use any at all.  I use other people's pictures and even images I find on the internet.  Just like I use postcards for my traditional pages.


If you like the planner style pages, then you'll love our, "Planned" series of templates.  Esther used them for her page.



I just love Felicity's page with the puffy air balloon and banner.




Lisa had a great idea for the Bee theme in the new collection.


I love the quote and message in Roxana's page.




How ya liking those journal cards with the doggies?  The dogs are not mine!  I got them from Design Bundle's Dollar Event and added some effects and changed up the colors.  I think they are so cute and the way Theresa used them and the collection is such a great idea.


Just think of the many ways you can use this vibrant collection!



Jillian paired up the collection with our Subdued templates.  Super cute!


Cindy, from Art & Life Scraps has provided dozens of free designs available on her crafty page.



And now...for the Crafters!  What have ya done with our Man In The Moon cuttable design?  I used my template and some goodies from the Sleep Tight collection and designed this mock up/ adorable pillow as well as some flairs which could also be used to design key chains which apparently, are all the rage in the crafting world.

Since it's my birthday, I've put this collection at just $5 as well.  Pop over to the GingerScraps shop and check out all of the inspiration and grab it at this super price.  That's the kit AND the templates for $5.


Think off of the screen for your designs!



If you're looking for more fabulous free designs, check out the freebies at Design Cuts, our other shop, Kreative Design Studio can be found there, too.  I found this super cute design in the freebies section along with a lot of other freebies.


If ya got a tiny budget and want bang for your buck (as is The Cherry fashion) then this bundle is for you. I went to get a further peek and there are even bundles in the bundles!  You'll get hundreds of designs in this bundle.  I was shaking my head at the incredulity.


I took a few of my favorite designs from the bundle and brought them here to show ya.  Find these in the bundle, above.


So pretty!


Come on back tomorrow.  I'll show you how to use another awesome freebie, Hybrid Style with step by step instructions. Find this FREE printable in our group.


This blog is full of fabulous freebies, scrapbooking and craft inspiration.  I invite you to scroll back through and enjoy.  

If you are looking to be a part of something fun and active, then join us in our scrap-a-licious group.  Share off your projects, pages...get inspired by the other posts, do our challenges, ask questions and receive exclusive products there, too.  We'll be continuing the party over there, as well!

Stay healthy, folks and scrap your cares and anxieties away.