My aunt's 90th birthday!

I need to get going on all my "heritage" photos I have.  But here is a family layout I just completed using Studio J.  These photos are more current, from last year.  I'm so glad my Dad thought of giving me some copies.  I really appreciate the opportunity to document my family history.  Hopefully some day my grandchildren will appreciate these.

More Studio J Layouts

I have several Studio J layouts I haven't posted yet, so I'm just trying to get caught up.  Here's another one of Lila's 81st birthday!

My Latest Studio J Layout - My Mom

I haven't done many Studio J layouts with my older photos, but here's one with pictures of my mom.  I wish I had more photos of her, but I love these.  

Crafting Chicks Giveaway

If you've read any of my other posts, you probably know by now how much I love Studio J, the online scrap booking program from Close to My Heart.  I'm a relatively new Studio J fanatic, and I think Studio J is so easy!  It gives me a great boost in my scrap booking because I can do so many beautiful layouts so quickly.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the traditional scrap book pages too, but I think having both options is such a great benefit.



Well, I'm glad to tell you, there are other Studio J fans out there.  Check out Crafting Chicks giveaway!  They love it so much they're giving it away, free!  They agree that it is so easy and fun to use, and want to share the experience.  So check them out, sign up for the giveaway, I'd love to have one of you win it.  Tell your friends!  And if you don't win, don't worry, contact me and I can get you started.  If you host a gathering, you can use your hostess rewards towards your Studio J purchase.  If you're not in my area, don't worry, we can do an online gathering.  Let me know if you're interested.

SVN Retreat 2010

This layout is of the Sperry Van Ness Retreat in 2010.  I used the Studio J online scrap booking program. I played around a bit with the paper styles and colors.  I also experimented with copying and re-sizing the embellishments.

My plan to get current (or at least closer to current) on my scrapbooking, is to use Studio J for the "new stuff". The older photos I'll use the traditional scrapbooking.

So here's a layout of my day at the pool with Pam and Charlotte!  I love this paper for pool pictures.  And Charlotte was such fun!

This layout uses the Dreamin' Kit from Studio J.  I tried the Double Mat technique on the photograph on the left.  

Love Your Layout

I didn't realize you could crop the My Stickease in the Studio J program.  I guess I never thought of it.  Another reason I love the Studio J videos that come out.  They really remind me to experiment and try new things.  Here's a video that shows how they cropped the stickease to make this beautiful layout.  You really need to try Studio J, and it's free!  Just click here to access it from my CTMH site.

Here's a great video from Close to My Heart Studio J, which shows you different techniques to increase the flexibility of Studio J.  It shows how to best use your photos and size them correctly in Studio J.  I love how they use to photo wells for one photo.  Check it out, it's very clever!

Studio J Basics

Do you or a friend want to learn the step-by-step basics of Close to My Heart Studio J online scrapbooking program?  Here's a video from CTMH that will have you scrapping like a pro in no time!

Photo Editing with Studio J

I used to think I needed to edit my photos prior to loading them into Studio J.  But Studio J provides flexibility for you to edit your photos right in Studio J.  You can edit settings, such as brightness and contrast, and many others.  This video helps you understand all the editing options available.  Close to My Heart provides many videos and tips for using Studio J, so you're never left in the dark!

Studio J Tips

The templates in Studio J are very helpful to get started on your scrapbook layout.  But you're not limited to the template design.  This video from Close to My Heart shows you many different ways to change the template, by changing the paper colors and designs, adding photo mats, deleting and adding accents and embellishments, and much, much more!  Enjoy!

Back-to-School Scrapbooking Layout Ideas

I've talked about Studio J a lot, and how easy it is to use.  But I love the tips from StudioJ.com!  They not only help me understand the flexibility in Studio J, they give me great tips on how to make my layouts more interesting.  Most of the time the tips are for techniques I hadn't thought of.  Here's a tip related to those back to school photos.

Take a peek at this this back-to-school Studio J^® layout by Joanne Watchak using the Class Act kit.  I love the way she added journaling along each of the two strips of ribbon. To get this look, just click on the Text toolbox and drag two new text areas onto your page, resizing them to fit along the ribbon. Change the background of each text box to "none."

Pattern: Snapshot™
Kit: Class Act
Courtesy of: Joanne Watchak

The middle box on the right page that Joanne filled with journaling was originally a photo well, while the vertical photo to the right of her journaling was originally a text well. If you'd like to change a photo well to a text well or vice versa, click on the well. From the pop-up menu, click on one of these buttons:

Converts a photo well to a text well

Converts a text well to a photo well.

You can switch back and forth as many times as you need until you decide what balance of photos and journaling works best for you. Remember, though, you can only change text wells to photos—new text areas that you drag from the Text toolbox cannot be converted to photos. 

Have you taken any back-to-school photos this year? Or maybe you have some photos from yesteryear lurking in the hidden corners of your hard drive. Either way, go into Studio J to preserve your schooltime memories. Once you've created a layout, post it online and leave them a comment with a link to your artwork. They'd love to see what you come up with!

Studio J Tip

Here's a fun tip from the Studio J facebook site. Use a My Stickease® image (like a heart) as an outline for embellishments (like buttons). Then, delete the My Stickease image, and you'll have a perfect design! I'm going to try it on my next layout.

(Image from Studio J Facebook Site)

More Studio J Layouts

I placed my order for my September layouts!  I'm really breezing through my digital photo backlog.  Here's my Christmas 2007 layout, using Close to My Heart Studio J.

Studio J 2010 Album

I often have just a couple pictures of an event or trip, sometimes not enough to do a full two page layout.  For 2010, I thought I'd just put all the 2010 photos in one album.  Here are some of the first photos for the year, all using Close to My Heart Studio J.

Studio J Layout - Uncle Bud's 80th Birthday

Here's a Studio J Layout, using the Lucky Paper design.  It's my Uncle's 80th Birthday party and Breanne's visit in July 2009.

Studio J Tip

So I got this tip from Studio J on Facebook.  I've only been using Studio J for a month and a half so these tips are very helpful to me.  If you want to try out Studio J, make sure you don't forget the StudioJ.com website and their Facebook page are great resources.  There are all kinds of video tips and techniques.  It's awesome.

Here's the tip.  Have you ever wanted to create a double mat for your photos in Studio J?  Well, simply create a text box, fill it with your preferred cardstock or Background & Texture paper, then right click it and select "Send to back". Depending on the pattern, you may have to play with the layering just a bit to get your new photo mat where you want it. I'll be trying this out this week!

(Image from Studio J)

Close to My Heart - Studio J Exclusive Papers

Are there any folks in your life who love to measure, hammer, paint, saw, or build? Check out Manmade, an exclusive, Studio J®-only kit created just for Studio J members.

Studio J blog | New Studio J® Digi Kit Spotlight: Build Memories with Manmade

studioj.com

Studio J® membership has its perks, and one of them is access to exclusive Studio J digital scrapbooking kits like Manmade. This distressed, industrial kit contains Background & Texture paper featuring plywood, paint spatters, crackled paint, rivets, steel, and more. The coordinating My Stickease® i...