Digital Scraps...a Bright Spot in my Day

I am truly enjoying digital scrapping! I find it relaxing in the evening; it helps me unwind. And I Scrapbook for the Mac makes this so very easy! It is more and more my go to software. This morning I was trying to make a page (about 4 years late....) and wanted a "look" that wasn't available to me. I decided to brave the draw feature of the shapes and here's what I did:

The technique that I wanted was a faded mask around the picture. IScrapbook makes drawing my shape easy!

 IScrapbook Software

Kits: Breath of Fresh Air, Basic Word Art

Stickles Crystal Glitter Glue

• I first selected a blank page. The default in the program is 12 x 12. (I think a large format printer is in my future!)

• I then formated the background to accept my choice of paper. Format: Background: Define placeholder.

• The once white background turns dark.
• I moved to the sidebar and selected "Shapes." I selected the one with the red dots and dragged it to my page. 

• I simply pulled the lines around, hit and miss to create the shape that you see. 

• Using the white sizing handles I enlarged the shape to my liking. 
• I want this to be the placeholder for my photo, so I select Format: Define as placeholder: photo. Now all I have to do is drag a photo to this shape. IScrapbook will clip it automatically.

• I want to save this template for future use. I chose File: Save as template....

• I name all of my templates with my initials, that way I always know that I created them!
• From this point I used the drag and drop feature of IScrapbook to add my papers, the word art and the borders. 
• To create the "grungy" faded look around the photo I added a mask. With the photo selected, from the drop-down menu I chose Mask: paintbrush and simply played until I achieved something I like! 
• I printed this page at 8 x 8 and added Stickles to the word art. 

The boy, the page and IScrapbook are always a brightspot in my day!