I am.

I can doodle on a pad of paper while on the phone but do I want these scratching on my scrapbook page?  I think not!

BUT, I like how stylized doodles look on scrapbook pages.  You know the ones I am talking about?  The flourishes and swirls that are so popular in scrapbooking right now.  I love them but I am too afraid of ruining a page.  And the more nervous I am about ruining a page the more like I am to ruin it!  These type of doodles feel more like mini drawings to me and not really like doodles from the subconcious.

So what's a girl to do?

Well, this is what I do.  I use these.  They come in a variety of different patterns and are made from a sturdy plastic-like material which means you can use them over and over and over.

I love that they come in a 12"x12" size and offer lots of variety within one page.  You can rotate them and flip them so the variety of "doodles" goes on and on.

I find that they add just the right touch to a page.  See the page below.  Really simple in design but with the doodled circles the page looks complete.

Or another example.  This page below uses two different templates.

A flourish type doodle in white pen and the wavy lines for my journaling. (I did actually doodle the scalloped frame around the photo - that I can handle!)

I love them as embellishment for my pages - not something to take over the whole thing.

And you can use them for other purposes too.  You could trace and cut out the designs or even use them as a paint stencil.

That's it,  my PSA for the day.  Let me know if you try it.  I would love to see. :)

(seriously, I should not be allowed to make blog titles!  I am just getting cheezier and cheezier!)

So I learned how to use brushes in Photoshop and how to make a brush so I figured I better take the plunge and learn how to use Actions. 

But I was scared.  Seriously, PS can be intimidating without someone to hold your hand!  Then I met Kay last week.  Never spoke to her before and there she was offering to hold anyone's hand who needed PS help on the Scrapsupply message board.  AND she was offering some PS actions for people to download and try so they could learn.  How nice is that?

So I thought, now or never!

So I downloaded her actions and saved them to a file on my computer.  But then I got stuck.  I couldn't figure out how to install them.  But Kay was there to hold my hand.

See the little arrow thingys - that is what you press to find the file on your computer to install them.  To run an action on your image click on the action you want to use and press the play button.  Then sit back watch the magic.  Pretty easy.  I don't know what I was so scared about!  Thank you Kay!

And the good thing - these actions were made for a higher version of PS then what I have but I was still able to make it work.  Some of the steps were unavailable but it still worked for me.

Want to see?

ORIGINAL PHOTO

COLOR POP ACTION

another action called MORE COLOR POP

And for the LOMO lovers...

I think I will play with the layers to make some adjustments but I am really happy with the looks I got.  I also think it depends on the photo to decide which action looks best - I am leaning towards the MORE COLOR POP for this one but it might be a bit too much for me. Undecided still.

And remember you can run an action more than once on a photo or different actions together on one photo.

And since you are going to playing with actions (right???) why don't you download the new free digital kit from Memory Makers magazine.  They released it for NSD and would be a great backdrop for you new action-ed photos!

Do you hate this as much as I do?

You have to cut apart the sheet so you don't accidently transfer a rub-on that you don't want to transfer.  And then this?

Trying to get the darn thing back in the package but of course it won't go easily cause it is all weirdly shaped now!!

This is how I solve the problem.

I cut them apart and staple the backing to the transfer sheet.

This way they don't get ruined because they are shifting off the protective backing and you don't need to scream everytime you have to put them backing in the packaging! (You've heard me, right?!!)

Pretty easy to move them around my page until I get the spot I want and then I just quickly remove the staple.

Simple but effective.

Happy Scrappin' everyone!

**Just editing to add - after I cut and staple them I toss them back in the original packaging.  This way they stay together, don't get damaged and I can easily store them.

I posted a quick tutorial here on how to make a simple tool to help with cropping your photos.  Hope it helps :)

cjr

I have a new article up about how to get great photos of your scrapbook pages.  Read it and leave some feedback and let me know if it helps you.

cjr