enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

simple graphic valentines!

I had the best time last week making simple Valentine's cards using my digital stamps. I'm not sure if you've noticed but LOVE is a big theme of these digital stamps. Which meant coming up with some sweet card concepts was way too easy.

using ELISEJOY digital stamps to create valentines from elise blaha on Vimeo.

I recorded a ten-minute video (you can watch above or click to see it larger!) that shares exactly how to make the six cards designs shown using PSE and my digital stamp set.

These techniques are versatile (meaning they can be applied to so much more than Valentines) and will hopefully help you get more mileage out of the stamps.

I printed the folded cards two to a page on white lightly textured cardstock (using my everyday printer) then cropped them down to 5x7 to fold in half. I'll be mailing them out to friends in red and kraft envelopes.

Still need a digital stamp set? Grab one here! And here's the install video and here are some other ideas for how to use them.

This week on ELISE GETS CRAFTY, I am chatting with Kelly Purkey about switching gears creatively. How you know it's time, steps to take in advance and (obviously) fear. Please consider subscribing to ELISE GETS CRAFTY in iTunes or stream here.

 

Other posts you might enjoy:

• creative books I always return to.
• big script art 
• hand carved stamp
• three things I know to be true / DIY projects.
• thoughts on rubber stamping 

 

tutorial : combining text & photos in PSE.

Happy Tuesday.

After posting my business cards yesterday I got a question about how I made the text look like the photo was visible underneath it. I filmed a quick (less than 5 1/2 minute) video to show how PSE can be used to get the look. As mentioned in the video, I have no formal photoshop training so everything I do is quite possibly the least proper method. But hey - it's effective! Watch below to see how I created the two graphics above.

combining photos & text in PSE. from elise blaha on Vimeo.

i love october.

crystal iPhone case, new Lotta Jansdotter fabric, kate spade idiom bracelets (ever since my wedding, these are my favorite gifts to give), original painting of a San Diego trolley car (I'm dreaming about this), "marriage is" art print, kate spade glitter pumps (though I wonder how this much less expensive pair would look?), dogeared rose gold earrings.

ps. I get questions every now and then about how I create these "I LOVE" collages. They are created in Photoshop Elements 9 & I filmed a seven minute video of my process. If you're interested, you can watch it here.

my week in the life album.

It's two months later, but I finally have my Week in the Life album to share. I took a pretty minimalist approach to the documentation process and just focused on taking a lot of photos and writing a blurb about what I did Monday - Friday. (You can see all the posts here : M, T, W, Th, F.) The plan all along was to get the text and images off the computer and into something but I didn't have a plan of attack.

Which is why I was pretty excited to make my second Kolo project a digital album. (You can see the first project I took on with Kolo here.) I uploaded my images to their photo book online program, selected templates, dropped in my photos and copied in my text. I spread the upload/design process out over a couple days (the program saves your progress) and the album shipped in about a week. I was very pleased with the quality of the printing. At the end of this post, there is a 5 minute video which shows how I used the program.

For my title page, I combined a self-portrait from the week and some of the text from this post about my thoughts on the project.

For me, this was definitely a project where the photos were the most important. I chose simple layouts and repeated them throughout the album. Not every photo that was taken each day made it in, but a lot did. I especially liked the template for a row of photos because I thought they told the best chronological story.

As mentioned, the only text in the book was what I jotted down here on the blog. I chose to keep it all in a block and paired it with photos from the appropriate day. Each day ended up with 3-4 two pages spreads depending on how many photos I had.

Overall, I am so pleased with the result. It was nice to upload, arrange and send to print. Because I didn't save any scraps of paper or handwritten thoughts, the digital format worked really well for me and this project. I will definitely be participating in Week in the Life again (hopefully capturing a week Paul is home next time) and may use the same format or experiment with something new. Because the program was so easy to use and the quality was good, I am going to be making another album (topic to be determined!) soon. I am also hoping to work with Kolo to develop more templates for the program. I will be sure to share when they are available.

using mykolo.com from elise blaha on Vimeo.

And as promised, here's the short video that shows how to use the backend of myKolo.com. I am happy to answer any questions in the comments!

disclaimer : the album for this project was provided free of charge by Kolo. Content idea and expressed opinions are all my own.

the she & he book.

I finally got started on a physical journal to hold my monthly "she & he" musings and photos.

It's laughably simple and that is completely the point. I wanted an album that I can update a few times a year forever and ever. And by forever and ever, I really hope I am right.

95% of the scrapbook projects I do are just for fun. I really don't think about the "future Elise" or our kids reading/looking through them. But this is totally different.

This album is our story. Elise & Paul. She & he.

I am including in this album the essentials : the text from my monthly blog posts, the life events, and for now, our weekly photobooth strips. 

Everything has a format.

Monthly "she & he" posts are printed on kraft cardstock in black 9pt helvetica font. And then on goes a photo from the month that was printed at home with a thin white border. And around the whole thing is a machine stitched line in white thread.

Life events get a page with a photo from the event and a blurb. I make big and mini albums for all sorts of events. This album is not to provide detail. This is to provide a time line. Again, it's our story in a simple form. These pages are printed on semi-gloss photo paper at home and then a machine stitched black line is added.

For the photobooth strips, I want to see how many I end up with over the next few months. I will probably sew them into place by stitching right on the plastic page protectors.

Supplies : album from Target, page protectors by American Crafts, kraft cardstock from Kraft Outlet, letter stickers & photo paper from Office Depot.

I'm excited to try and keep this up. A photo a month of our family (obviously future little ones would get added in) + a quick write up of what happened to us kept for years? That would be awesome.