Day 5: Building a Family Tree Page in 10 Steps!

My ultimate goal for using My Digital Studio Software from Stampin’ Up!  is to begin recording Family History for my children.  I decided to scour the internet in search of the perfect Tree clip art for a family tree page.  I found a tree and quickly created my stamp – using Day 3′s tutorial!

The result was amazing… I was able to use existing designer papers and added an oval photo of my daughter Nicole.  The font I am using for the Title and Surname is Parchment… as you can see I am not quite done… but wanted to share!

Family Tree Recipe:

• Step 1:  Set your page background to: Basic Black Brocade Designer Series Paper
• Step 2: Punch out a portion of the page using: Curly Label Punch- Whisper White Background and resize punched area to be a little smaller than page size – leaving a small border of Black Brocade Designer Series Paper.
• Step 3: Place the Tree Image inside the Curly Label Punched area
• Step 4: Add a few pieces of text using the Parchment Font.  Set the colors to basic black or going grey.  I have the words Family Tree and Garcia (Surname) in this font.  I believe I set the first letter of the font to be 56 and the rest of the letters in word to be 48.  This gives it a nice look and allows your eyes to have a better focal point.
• Step 5:  Add an oval photo widget (set the shape to round and then reshape to be an oval.)  Center the oval photo widget to be on the trunk of the tree.
• Step 6: Drop the photo into the oval photo widget.  Resize photo so that entire face shows up.  Set the Photo color (using the Photo Effect tool) to black and white if you are using a color photo.  Set the photo to be matted with a basic black color mat – size 4.
• Step 7:  Place a black ribbon bow above the oval.  You will have to resize bow to fit size of oval.
• Step 8:  Using the Modern Label Punch, punch a label and set color to white with a shadow.  Punch as many as you need here for your family tree.  These will be used for the names of your family members and ancestors.
• Step 9: Using the Favorite Things category – find the Favorite things stamp – set to basic black and stamp the frame and resize to outline the Modern Label Punch.
• Step 10:  Add text (basic black color) within the Modern Frame punched area for each family member’s name.  I used Arial Narrow and added name and birth date/death date.
• You are done!  Voila – a Family Tree in 10 Steps!

As you can see… if you let your imagination go a little bit… you can come up with some really nice pages…

Day 4: Customizing My Digital Studio

Being that I am a graphic artist, I like having the ability to create my own stamps – sometimes from combining stamps and sometimes from pictures I have taken…  and with My Digital Studio you can customize… here’s a picture of some of the custom stamps I have created:

If you look closely, you can see that in My Digital Studio I have selected the Stamp Tool and have picked a Stamp Set called Maries Stamps.

This is a Stamp Set I have created by simply making .png files from some of my creations.

How to Create Your Own Stamp Set:

• Step 1:  Open up Mac OSX’s Finder tool and select Applications Folder.
• Step 2:  Next select the My Digital Studio Folder.
• Step 3:  Next select the Components Folder.
• Step 4:  Next select the Stamps Folder.
• Step 5:  Now, create a new folder – I created a folder called Maries Stamps.  The name of the folder will appear in the Stamp Menu while you are in My Digital Studio, so name it something good!
• Step 6: Copy the .png files you have created into the new directory you just created.
• Step 7: Open up My Digital Studio.  When the application starts, it will scan the My Stamps directory for any new folders and update the Stamp Menu.
• Step 8: Select the Stamp Tool and pick your new Stamp Set (directory) you created.  Voila – you should see your new images (.png) on the Stamp window.  Select one of your images and stamp it on the project’s paper you are working with.  You can resize your stamps larger or smaller.

It’s that easy… and by doing this, you can save yourself time in recreating stamp images that you like to use a lot.  What I like most is how easy it is to resize the image.

Note:  If you are making a stamp, make sure that you save the .png files as transparent so that they do not bring over the white background .

Day 3: My Digital Studio – First Digital Scrapbook

Oh I am so excited!  I want to create an album for my daughter’s events/ activities during her sweet 16 birthday year… kinda like a photo journal… Stampin’ Up! Style.

So I snarfed every photo I could find of my daughter on facebook and made a really cute scrapbook…  here’s a sneak peak… and oh it was so so easy!

My Digital Studio - Mac Version of Software

With My Digital Studio, everything is super easy.  I selected the Happy Bday Theme when I created the project and all the layouts were created for me.  How easy is that?

I think I made 12 pages in 1 hour and funny… I spent more time hunting down photos on facebook than I did working on the actual scrapbook!!!

I was able to export this to a Quicktime movie file that then I loaded on facebook to share with my friends and family!!!  I used the second best quality type: computer performance and set the speed at 3 seconds per frame.

I also used the printing services to print out the 11.5″ x 8.5″ photo journal.  I put extra pages in the back of the photo journal for my daughter to glue/ scrapbook her own touches… ie: guitar pick from her favorite band member or pictures with her friends that were not included in the journal digitally… the printing services couldn’t be easier!

I give this software 5 stars!!!

Day 2: Getting Organized

Part of creating a workspace is organizing… and boy do I need it!

I have so much stuff! I have to pare down a bit… and focus on digital scrapbooking with enhancements…

I ordered two of these organizers and a set of six black fabric boxes – going to do my digital art/ scrapbooking room as a black and white theme… with hints of color…

• Modular White Storage Cubes
• Foldable Black Fabric Baskets
• Damask Black Lamps

I have an L shaped desk that should provide plenty of space.

Have to think about curtains and decorating the walls a bit…  Thinking black and white damask!!

Now to get motivated:

• Life Script: How to Organize a Scrapbook Room

Day 1: Hello! Wondering where this adventure will take me.

Wow… it’s Day 1… and I wanted to create a blog about my faithbooking adventure.   I am wanting to document /journal / scrapbook my family, my mom’s family and my dad’s family.  I love the thought of searching for my ancestors and documenting how my mom and dad and my grandparents met and fell in love… really romantic stories.

So … I need a computer… and a printer… and a good graphics program…

Here’s my setup:

• intel core 2 duo 2.16 ghz/3 gb ram/160 hd/dvd-rw wifi/ 20″ monitor
• HP B8550 Photosmart Pro printer
• OS X Snow Leopard Operating System
• iWork 9.0  (use for journaling)
• iLife 9.0 (use for photo organization)
• Stampin’ Up! My Digital Studio (use for scrapbooking!)
• Gimp for Mac OS X(free open source software!!! – like photoshop)
• Lightroom by Adobe (for photo editing/ organization)

This should certainly get me started in the right direction… now to create my workspace…